"Congrats on the whole new year new me @ the gym thing but y’all can stop now? ya f**king up my schedule."
"My gym is disgustingly packed, bloody new year noobs."
"I’d like to encourage everyone who made a New Year Resolution to give up now. You tried. You’re cluttering up my gym, go home."
"Gyms should have hours closed off to New Years Resolutioners. It’s too busy for us daily goers. If you want to start your new year the right way. Really dedicate yourself and go to the gym between 5 and 7am or 11pm and later."
This is just a Salt Bae sprinkling of the tweets I saw last week as gyms reopened after the holiday. New year, old complaints. I can only imagine being excited to start my fitness journey and running into this on Twitter - much less face-to-face. Talk about a motivation smasher.
But let's unpack this narrative real quick.
First, it's nobody's gym. Unless your name is Katherine Equinox or Brad LA Fitness (Is he French?), the gym does not belong to any single person and in fact, people pay the same amount of money to belong to said institution. Nobody has any more "right" to fitness than anyone else.
Second, nobody - and I mean NOBODY - has ever hit or maintained their fitness goals alone. Coaches, trainers, friends, YouTubers, you name it: they all contributed to the successful paths of the people squatting anvils over there in the rack. So maybe instead of kicking ladders, we help the "n00bs" climb up. The lower rungs are the hardest.
Finally, if these folks were so gifted, so incredible as to be able to dictate who else is allowed in the same space to lift the same weights, I guarantee they wouldn't be getting their reps in at Planet Fitness.
That said, there are things you can and should do to be a good gym citizen:
Be realistic about your comfort level. If you're so intimidated by the gym that working out there is uncomfortable for you, don't go. One of the reasons I love the UncleBod system is that Robbie can craft a plan that you can do at home (or anywhere really) with resistance bands and body weight.
If you do join a gym, familiarize yourself with the workout you plan to do and the equipment it requires before you go. Watch YouTube videos on correct form and pay close attention to how to set up machines. If you're hip to Uncle Bod, watch the videos of each exercise in your app.
Ask for a tour of the equipment. I've never been to a gym that didn't have a trainer or two to help people learn the equipment. It's literally their job.
Be aware of the people around you. Cardio machines are generally limited to 30 minute sessions. If you're done with your 30, look around to make sure nobody else is waiting before you re-up. If you're resting between sets, get off the bench or out of the cage or off the machine in case someone else needs to use the equipment. Keep your headphones off noise cancellation mode if the floor is busy - it will help you hear if you're in the way. If you sweat, wipe it off the equipment.
And for God's sake pick up your stuff. Re-rack your weights, put your floor mat back after you wipe it down, return plate pins to light or un-pinned settings and hang up handles, bands etc. Leave it better than you found it, because even the gym rats aren't always great about this one.
At some point you will get to a place where the gym feels familiar. As you're nailing your fitness goals to the wall, remember what it felt like when you first walked in. It's really easy to slip into the mindset that new people are a serious inconvenience and maybe some will be. But if your attitude can make even one person's journey a little bit easier, you're on your way to being an elite athlete rather than elitist a**hole.
Commentaires