The gym is a place to focus on yourself. It is a place to put on some tunes, lift heavy things, relieve stress, and grow.
However, the existence of social pressure is undeniable. And it is only natural given the fit, young population that tends to congregate in these fine establishments.
How you react to this pressure says a lot about your character. Do you puff out your chest and waltz around? Do you run, hide, and quiver in the corner? Or do you rise above the pressure and simply take care of business?
Avoid the five mistakes below, and you already have a foot up on the average chump.
1. You Flex… A Lot
Yes, you have biceps. Congratulations. Please don’t put on a show, flex, and admire them in between every set. If you’re small, it’s just embarrassing. And if your big, people already can tell – no need to prove it.
Even worse is the stealth flex. You know, the guy who’s constantly flexing his arms as he walks around the gym – whether it’s to the water fountain or the bench. We can tell you’re flexing. And the cardio bunnies are laughing at you, too.
2. You Don’t Rack The Weights
Ignore this piece of advice if you want everyone hate you.
After you finish benching or squatting, take 30 seconds (far less for the average guy who makes this mistake) and put the weights back where they go. People notice, and we don’t want to clean up after you.
Even worse, people will assume someone is still using the equipment.
3. You Wear Silly Clothes
I’m going to assume you’re not wearing jeans and a polo to the gym, although I saw a guy doing that yesterday. He was awesome.
That said, the term cut-off has been taken to new heights in recent years. There is no need to show off your pepperoni nipples in public. Sleeveless is fine, but the line needs to be drawn. Preferably before the nipples.
4. You’re A Mute
This isn’t the library. If you think someone might be using the squat rack, just ask. No need to creep around and sniff the situation out. Also, no need to be a hero and start un-racking someone’s weights while they’re getting some water.
By the same token, the gym is not the bar – if you’re going to chat for more than a minute, please stay clear of the equipment.
5. You Curl In The Squat Rack
Don’t do it. Period.
Next time your’re at the gym, take a quick look around. How many people are breaking these simple rules? Do yourself a favor, observe them, and set yourself apart.
Read More: 10 Reasons You Can’t Build Muscle
The people who lack the common sense to figure this shit out aren’t going to be reading this article.
I’ve taken to playing lots of loud trance in my earphones so that I don’t have to bother with what everyone else is saying and doing.
#2 pisses me off the most. You get it the most at mainstream gyms because it’s full of amateurs.
how is this boring mundane crap an article ??? I guess anything passes as masculine as long as the word gym is mentioned a bit, there used to be so much more original thought in this site…
how is this boring mundane crap an article ??? I guess anything passes as masculine as long as the word gym is mentioned a bit, there used to be so much more original thought in this site…
do u even lift bru
yeah Bro, and do you fight ? or have you ever been in the army ? I know NO, otherwise you wouldn’t complain about something so stupid and trivial as other people’s gym habits…
So you dont lift then.
Also, being in the army has FUCKALL to do with gym etiquette. If you think its stupid and trivial to clean up after yourself, that is a reflection of your character, NOT the author’s.
I have the same question….
Amen to this – especially not putting your weights back. Between sets I am always tidying up around me. It makes me feel like an obsessive/compulsive idiot but I don’t want people to think that I was the pig who left everything lying around.
Also, take all of your weights off the bar bells when you are finished. Congratulations for benching 100 kgs or squatting 200 – you are a champ, but then what if the ladies want to come and use the bars? They are put off by having to take off 20kg plates before they can have a go. The number of times that I have cleaned up the squat rack after yet another lazy dolt has left a heap of plates on it, then next thing you know one of the lovely ladies is using it now, its a win-win for everyone.
Remember the last set is you cleaning it all up for the next person.
Lol if you can’t lift a 45 lbs plate you have no business at or near the squat rack.
Amen to this – especially not putting your weights back. Between sets I am always tidying up around me. It makes me feel like an obsessive/compulsive idiot but I don’t want people to think that I was the pig who left everything lying around.
Also, take all of your weights off the bar bells when you are finished. Congratulations for benching 100 kgs or squatting 200 – you are a champ, but then what if the ladies want to come and use the bars? They are put off by having to take off 20kg plates before they can have a go. The number of times that I have cleaned up the squat rack after yet another lazy dolt has left a heap of plates on it, then next thing you know one of the lovely ladies is using it now, its a win-win for everyone.
Remember the last set is you cleaning it all up for the next person.
1,3 and 4 who gives a shit. 2 and 5 are proper failures in etiquette.
In the past i would have said grunting too, but then as i lifted more and more i realised unless you release that tension with a loud grunt or scream every so often you are going to do yourself in
I’ll leave 45’s on the bench, I figure 90% of guys warm up with a plate so there is no point in taking them off
I also assume leaving 45’s on each side is the most helpful course of action.
I always clean up the plates for one reason. I use a local SnapFitness, and usually go in the early to mid morning after work (3rd shift). I’ve seena cop working out once, but other than that it’s old people on the treadmills.
I wouldn’t want to be responsible for a granny breaking her hip.
Ok, ok, no curling in the squat rack. Ok, I’ve heard it a hundred times now and I got it, I promise. Honest. Really. I won’t. Now can you do me a fucking favor and learn the difference between “your” and “you’re”? Because mens sana in corpore sano, but also viceversa. Jesus fucking Christ on a power rack.
Heil Twatler! people still grammar-nazi in 2013?
As long as there are gym nazis there are grammar nazis.
I never knew what people were complaining about until I saw that photo. I thought people were curling dumbbells in the squat rack for some reason.
I’m probably going to take a lot of flak for this, but I also say no music. No headphones, earpieces, nada. I don’t like to unplug myself from my environment. And that’s what headphones do. Focus on your sets, form, etc.
At my gym, if you don’t wear headphones, you’re stuck listening to the gym’s XM music stream, usually pop shit.
Yeah, I know. I have the same problem, but for me it’s a trade-off. On an unrelated note, Roosh put out a fantastic tip on quality earplugs in a recent posting on rooshv.com. I wish I had had these years ago. Read paragraph number 18 in this article:
http://www.rooshv.com/25-lessons-from-25-flags#comments
And aside from the earplug tip, I think this article is the best summary of foreign-country game you will find. Matches my experiences to a T. Any beginning gamer overseas should laminate this article and staple it to his forehead.
Depends on the music…I listen to hardcore rock that gets me into the mindset. Our gym usually plays pop stuff as well and that is just deflating.
A good set of Rammstein certainly helps but more for cardio than lifting.
Agree 100 percent with this. Yes, the music at the gym sucks–but just tune it out. Headphones at the gym are for women on ski machines—not for guys trying to get strong.
i dunno man. im not there to talk to everyone and pay attention. im there to get in the zone, focus and do the shit i go there to do. gotta have my training music.
as far as the etiquette in this article, couldnt agree more.
I completely disagree. The people without the music are usually the people who are doing ANYTHING but work out. I wear my headphones to jack my energy/enthusiasm and go harder. If a woman has her hair down and no headphones, she is there to pick up men, plain and simple. The men who don’t wear headphones are looking for those women. Enough said. As a woman, if my hair is up, my headphones are on, I am taking little to no break between sets, I have chalk on my body and am going hard, stay the FUCK away from me. Don’t look at me, don’t talk to me, don’t even think about me…just back the fuck off. Please and thank you dumb fuck.
It’s cool that you’re working hard, respect…. but you don’t have to act like a cunt. I know what you mean though and honestly I can respect your dedication to make your pump as effective as possible.
Testosterone is awesome and makes us what we are, men. Use it, but don’t abuse it. If you’re a beast, that warrants enough respect… if you’re a beast attempting to be an asshole, rest assured someone will strap you on eventually. Who knows, perhaps you encourage the latter because you simply enjoy a good confrontation.
penny
penny
You can curl in the squat rack if you look good enough. I do.
it’s more fun to squat into her curls…. while she helps polish you off…. and you admire her rack…. you don’t have to get tired and sweaty for that, and it doesn’t require a subscription.
one reason you’re a schlep = because you go to the gym – gyms are for women.
save your gym subscription money for serious things like weed, coke, condoms and cocktails.
steal a few house bricks from a local building site
do all the reps and squat diddlies you need
stay off those silly machines that make you look like a hamster, go steal some poor students brand new mountain bike and shop lift a couple of pairs of Nikes… you’re good to go.
and yes you can go running in Jeans and a Polo… Bruce Willis does in all his movies… hell James Bond wears a Tux while he’s jumping out of planes….. if i ever go to the gym, i’m going to wear black tie like James….
Bruce is a real man (at least in the movies). Real life he has 4 daughters (no sons) and his super hot wife left him for a younger man ops…..
I guess that’s another thing worth saving gym money for…..
hair loss products…. you don’t want to end up like Bruce…..
you’re fat as shit aren’t you
no i’m one of those lucky guys, skinny like a long distance runner, with ultra high metabolism, that looks in the mirror and loses weight…. running on adrenaline and brain power i guess… i need a 4000 calorie arctic diet to even hope of putting on a few kilos and if i get food poisoning or the flu i lose kilos by the hour….
I wouldnt call that lucky.
great post
6. Dont inject steroids in your veins while you are at the gym. Tends to freak people out. Feel free though, to bust out the glass pipe and take a couple of hits of ice, nothing like meth to pump you up for a workout.
jelly faggot
While I agree with the racking weights when you’re done philosophy, and do it myself – BIG fucking deal if others don’t do it! You’re at the gym to lift weights aren’t you? Well, taking weights off and racking them is lifting weights isn’t it? This is almost as pathetic as the guys that hang around the front of the parking lot for 15 minutes to find a parking bay closest to the the gym entrance. God, stop being such little bitches.
The problem is that nobody knows whether you are done or not. Maybe you are just getting a drink of water.
well if your there to lift …….then lift the fuckers back where you got them, bitch
Don’t forget spending more time on the phone sitting in the bench than doing a workout
Weight-lifting gyms are 20th century. Do CrossFit, or something like it. You won’t have time to complain about other people’s etiquette. And you’ll look fit instead of looking like a meat head.
Dom got you covered.
http://www.youtube.com/user/BroScienceLife
This article just sucks. This is nothing more than a “Seinfeld” type routine about pet peeves. I expect better from ROK. I really hope ROK doesn’t start picking up articles about gym etiquette, dojo etiquette, cock washing etiquette in the showers, etc etc Ok I want to join in with a pet peeve rant…… guys who wear mma shirts are fags, guys who wear backwards baseball caps are fags, guys who shave their arms are fags, guys who wear jeans with goddamn embroidered designs on the back pockets are fags. I wonder how many gym etiquette whiners do those things?
Fuck gym etiquette. The phaggotry is strong with this one.
Article:”It really upsets me when a person does x behavior.”
No one gives a fuck.
I didn’t even know you COULD curl with the squat rack.
That reminds me, what about the guys who pull the lat pulldown behind their head? That’s a neck sprain waiting to happen. You wouldn’t do a pullup like that, I don’t know why people think it’s a good idea. (But then again maybe I’m ignorant to something here.)
Gyms suck you should workout outdoors
Avoid looking like an idiot at the Gym? Jesus! When I am doing my stuff at the gym I am so focused that I don’t care about what other people thinks. Besides some basic gym etiquette I am there to do my thing not to please some opinionated people.
No cellphones in weight room. I can’t believe how many men don’t follow this rule.
I always start my workout with Squats and a couple weeks ago, some idiot was pulling a #5 – and of course, he was also on the phone. He must have been doing some exotic workout that required him to flex first, do about 3 or 4 reps while grunting loudly, look at, then call/text someone inbetween sets, and do like 10 sets. So, I just grabbed a bar and did my squats in the real world – light weights and rep heavy.
I do #1. Not to look cool (although I am beginning to look beastly ; ), but more for function to see how the workout is affecting my vascularity and pump. It’s part of lifting… #1 is only silly if you’re doing it to look cool.