After a long day at work, the last thing any of us need is to add on additional stress. Whether it’s the guy beside you that doesn’t seem to ever wear deodorant or the woman who gets of a machine and leaves a puddle of sweat on the seat. I for one cannot stand the machine hoarders who call dibs on strength training machine and it’s impossible to get them off, what’s worse is they spend 90% of the time on their phone! You’d think for what a gym membership is worth, you would experience a fast track training with zero problems other than working your muscles and sweating with abundance.
However, your stress levels are important in regards to your health, so it’s essential to find alternatives and manage the frustration in a calm and pleasant manner that is in everyone’s best interest.
Top Suggestions!
Ignore them completely.
It’s important to remember that we’re all there for one purpose, to train hard and stay fit! My essential stay away trick is to always pack my headphones, raise the volume on spotify and spend the hour or two focusing on simply improving my own body. If you’re worrying more about the people in the gym then you’re coming off track for why you joined the gym in the first place, it was to achieve your dream goal remember! With different ages and sizes everyone is there for their own needs, it’s sometimes none intentional that someone behaves a certain way or you have to accept that their characteristics are simply like that and away from the gym you’d never be around each other because personalities would clash like the clans.
Sometimes it’s a good idea to think outside the box, by throwing out cheeky complements here and there you’ll find that a lot of the people will respond positively to your kindness and return the favor later on or another day. They’ll notice what machines you use and politely remind you they’re almost finished and will save the machine for you to use after, trust me it works from my own experience. However, a lot of the time you must be patient and prepared to change exercise routine if your usual machine is occupied. By finding alternatives you will waste less time stressing and more time exercising.
Confession Time
There have been the occasional days where coping well with tricky situations was just too difficult, but what I found out was even more interesting. Some sarcastic comments are taken on board and the person seems to come back the next day completely different.
Important : Be very careful who you use these on and if they’re needed at all.
- Usually there will always be that one person who forgets their headphones and starts playing their music out loud to the entire gym : many gyms will play music in the background so you’d cheekily slip in there ‘ oh, do you not like this new song dedicated to Paul Walker?’
- People who coat themselves in perfume and aftershave : ‘ What an amazing smell, could smell you since I entered downstairs’
- To the Hulk that always throws the weights to the ground : ‘Was that too heavy? I could imagine myself not even being able to lift it let alone put it back down’
- But sometimes, you’ll come across them people who just don’t clean up after themselves and that’s the final straw : You’ve got to very kindly remind them that towels are provided at the entrance of the gym and for hygiene purposes it would be thoughtful of them to consider everyone else.
- Some members even leave their belongings all over the gym floor making it dangerous for others : A simple can you please move your things, be careful with your items would be a great solution.
- To the machine hoggers who spend their time texting : ask them kindly if you can swap after every set and work together. This might edge them to leave the machine all together, realizing that they’ve been on it long enough.
- Sometimes if you stand beside the machine you next intend to use, the person already on it will eventually get the hint to come off once they’ve completed their reps.
If you don’t like confrontation :
- Speak to a staff member and tell them your issue, they will do their best to solve the situation
- Speak to a manager, a manager would be the main source to place action on a major problem
- Always report any uncomfortable or intimidating behaviour
- Always report incidents whether they may seem a little threatening or majorly alarming to both yourself or someone else
- If someone has outstayed their reasonable time on a machine, either ask them politely to give someone else a few minutes or privately discuss the problem with staff or manager
- Report offensive or vandalizing behavior.