Fit Friday – Gym Etiquette

With the New Year and all the new gym memberships for those resolutions to stay healthy I was thinking at the gym today that there is a lot I don't really know about gym etiquette, especially when I first started working out! The gym can get pretty intimidating as far as using the equipment much less knowing what is what and where it goes when your done with it. So I asked my trainer, Dave from Go Workout, this morning for a few tips and I also googled a few to help you get your new year in the gym started right!

• Don't hog the machines. Be mindful that there are people potentially waiting on you to finish with a machine so they can do a rep. Don't sit on the machine and talk on your phone or talk to someone else in the gym and hoard the machine.
• Don't talk to someone in the middle of their set! I finally understand this one! It's hard enough trying to concentrate on the weights that I am lifting, my form and remembering to breath all at the same time much less trying to talk to someone else about what they are going to do this weekend. Wait until the set is finished and then ask someone what their weekend plans are! These weights get heavy and I don't really want to drop them on my toe!
• Wipe down the equipment. Lets face it, if you're doing it right, you're going to sweat like a hooker in church on the treadmill/elliptical/stairmaster/etc... they have wipes by those things... wipe them off when you're done! No one wants to use it after you've sweat all over it, and what if there's a hot guy waiting to use the machine after you and he sees that you didn't wipe off your sweat? Not a good impression!
• Put the weights back where you got them / their appropriate spot. Most weights are put together by weight and in a particular order. It goes a long way to put them back where they go for the next person who wants to use that weight.
• Lay off the intense cologne / perfume. Nothing is worse than already breathing hard from an intense workout and someone doused in cologne / perfume starts working out nearby and I can't breathe.
• Don't be that creepy flirty guy. Seriously, there's a weird guy that keeps staring at my ass when I run on the treadmill a few times a week. I can see your reflection in the tv screen on the treadmill! I'm there to workout and get in shape, not have some creepy dude oggle me from the stair master in the back. (I'm sure it's the same for a lot of women in the gym)
• Don't go to the gym sick. If you're sneezing all over the equipment people are going to treat you like you should be quarantined and stay far far away!
• DON'T SLAM THE WEIGHTS. My trainer constantly fusses at me for this! It messes up and even breaks the weights on the machine. Yes the workout was intense but lower down slowly and easily! (This one is really tough for me because usually by the end of my set I'm ready to be done with it)

Have any more to ad? Comment below, I'd love to hear them!