quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by BigSwede:
6)The asshole that thinks it's ok to tie up two or more pieces of equipment.
...
You need to pick one

Depends. When I do legs I alternate between two machines at a time for six of my exercises. But I do my sets, two each, and get off the machines. If somebody wants to work in, I'm more than happy to let them.

There is also an advantage to alternating between protagonist and antagonist muscle groups.

What grinds me is people who occupy two machines or (sets of) weights for extended periods.

Yeah, especially when they spend half that time with their faces glued to their "dumbphone".

There is a certain group of people at the gym where I workout that spends virtually their whole time sitting on a machine, do NOTHING but babbling on their phones, in their native language.

And, unfortunately, the gym management appears to be scared of bracing the assholes about it.

Oh, and the assholes who hump a 50-60 pound barbell, while standing, and then just throw it down when they are finished. I have seen people get hurt doing that, usually some innocent bystander.

I guess they (LAFitness) have good insurance.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
At my age, my health problems, and my unsteady balance, I want to use a treadmill for walking exercise. Safer for me than trying to walk in my neighborhood.

Reading the preceding posts, y'all are convincing me that I do NOT want to join a gym!

Hold that thought.

I guess I’m lucky, I live within a few minutes of 2 gyms that are for us older folks. One is named Wellness Center, the other is the Healthy Living Center. Mature age folks, serious about their health, no kids strutting around trying to impress each other.

One is age restricted, you have to be at least 50 to join. It’s new, modern, well equipped, also has a wonderful salt water pool and a ton of social activities as well.

The other is owned by a hospital, originally set up as a rehab center, and is now operated by the YMCA but the clientele is probably 85% minimum 50 years of age.

I belong to and regularly attend both and a grateful they are available to me.

So, what I’m saying is, check around, investigate, go visit, try out, surely you can find a place where the youth, studs, young ladies dressed to attract, etc, aren’t being pains in the neck to be around.

If you have Silver Singles as a benefit of your Medicare supplement, great, Silver Singles will pay for your gym costs.

Good luck to you.

Additions to the list of pet peeves.

* Old guys who stand around naked in the locker room.

* People who stand in front of or actually use the dumbbell rack to work out on.

* Women who wear their full sized purse while working out. (this one shouldnt bother me but it does)

Stuff like this is why I don’t go to the gym.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:

If you have Silver Singles as a benefit of your Medicare supplement, great, Silver Singles will pay for your gym costs.

I think you mean Silver Sneakers? My doc suggested it, so I looked into it. It appears that this is offered with some Medicare Advantage plans, but not with traditional Medicare supplement, so it looks like I am S.O.L. on this one.

I am about to head out for the gym. I have found that mid afternoon is a decent time to go. I guess the gym rats head home for their PM snooze.

Besides, I have a bit of shopping to do.

^^^^^ Yes I meant Silver Sneakers. Thanks.

quote:

* Old guys who stand around naked in the locker room.

+ 1

You gotta change or take a shower? Cool. Standing around bare ass naked with your maggot crawling out of an afro pecker and sagging balls for all the world to gaze upon is both unnecessary and grotesque.

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:

quote:

* Old guys who stand around naked in the locker room.

+ 1

You gotta change or take a shower? Cool. Standing around bare ass naked with your maggot crawling out of an afro pecker and sagging balls for all the world to gaze upon is both unnecessary and grotesque.

What's worse is those standing around looking at old guys who stand around naked in the locker room.

My landlord provides a small gym for his tenants. Fairly well equipped and free, with 24/7 access.
I go around 2AM. It is deserted and I can have it to myself. I like to sing out loud to my music as I work out.
No one wants to hear that.

Oh boy.

1. People that don’t wipe down their bench/station. Spray bottles are all over the gym and paper towels. Don’t be a dirtbag. And don’t be an asshole and spread your sickness. That goes for a bar, dumbbells, anything. Just wipe down after use.

2. If you use chalk, wipe the chalk off when you are done. Wipe off the bar, the dumbbells, the plates, the bench, whatever. One guy at my gym, we call him chalk guy. Fucking chalk all over everything and it’s just him.

3. Re-rack the fucking weights. Don’t just leave the plates on the bar. Also put them in the right spot. There are these things called numbers so if your dumbass can read put the plates or dumbbells in the correct spot. Also don’t use dumbbells in some obscure corner of the gym, and just leave them. G damn I have spent 20 minutes looking for a 27.5 lb dumbbell so I can do military presses 2 months after shoulder surgery. And don’t act like a bitch when I tell you to re-rack your shit after 3 machines in a row have plates all on them from you. “I’m offended you are being condescending” no I’m not. It’s on the sign on the wall, every wall of the gym. “Wipe your station down and re-rack your weights”. Gym rules, and gym etiquette so get a fucking attitude with me when I correct you for being an asshole. Bow up and I’ll slap you like the bitch that you are. Also don’t tell me “As much money as they charge the employees can re-rack” Um no dipshit. That would mean hiring yet more people and dues would go up more. I asked one asshole that said that if the sales person put a gun up to their head and made them sign the gym contract. He didn’t answer and walked off. Yeah that’s what I thought.

4. Get off your phone and in general quit camping. Are you there to bullshit surf on your phone or get some work in. I’ve got shit to do after my workout. Please don’t hold me up. Get off your phone. I’m tired already of waiting on you while you play your game, face time, text, surf Fakebook, take selfies. Go home jag off. I see people that spend more time on their watch workout app, or phone app than doing work.

5. Groups of younger clowns working out together. Some things I use, like hack squats, there is only one of them in the gym. It’s always some young fools, 4-5 of them working out together. They will bogart the hack machine for half an hour. And none of them even do hacks correctly, they’ll do 1/4 reps with a bunch of weight. That’s not how you do it Einsteins. Take a class, hire a trainer, go on YouTube. Learn something for a change.

6. Old folks using something like the rear delt/fly machine like it’s a piece of cardio equipment. Those cables aren’t made for you to max rpm them back and forth. The cables will bind or break so you slamming them back and forth 100 times in a row with no weight does nothing for you. It’s not a piece of cardio equipment.

7. Same for the adjustable cable stations. 2 cables, adjust up, down and side to side. It’s constantly broken because idiots invent their own bs exercises on them and break the cables. We have 2 that go up and down and only one rotates. The one that rotates I need to use for my PT/rehab on my shoulder that had surgery and someone keeps breaking it. You’re an asshole.

8. Parading. This is mostly women but some men also. Get right in the middle of people doing work showing out. Newsflash you aren’t in shape.

9. Yoga pants. Don’t wear them if you have mash potato ass, or fat. Be a grown up and put some sweat or track pants on. Same goes for booty shorts. I really don’t want to see your cellulite. Reminds me of the scene in weird science with Bill Paxton. For God sakes would you cover yourself? Showing your ass, even if you are good looking is a sign of insecurity and I’m there to work out. At some point I think women will just come in, in thongs to work out. That’s awesome at the lake or the beach but I’m in there to lift, it’s not the marketplace. Go sell your ass down on the corner honey.

10. Shitting in the locker room. My goodness to heaven, have you ever heard of a courtesy flush? Why do you want to sit in a stall with your nasty, disgustingly smelly shit, just festering up the entire locker room. I don’t know what some of them eat, but my goodness, just waste some water. Keep flushing and the smell just goes away. It’s not rocket science. Also don’t leave the toilet covers all over the floor. I’ve walked in there and seen 20 of them just festered out all over the floor. Also don’t leave a commode full of shit and TP. Do you not know how to flush? It’s not a porta potty idiot. Flush your shit. Do you do this at home too?

11. Pissing all over the floor in front of the urinals. I have to tip toe, and go massive spread eagle just to take a piss.

12. Powdering your nutsack in front of everyone. Shaving your back with an electric razor. And oh yes programs, people cutting their got damn toe nails. Then there are the people who spray a whole bottle of axe body spray. I swear to God I thought I was going to have to go to the ER for aerosol contamination. It was in my lungs.

13. Using the air dryer to dry your balls or butthole. I’m washing my hands and you are spreading your cheeks open in front of the hair dryer. If you want to get ready for your boyfriend or your prostrate exam do it at home please.

14. Mother fuckers coming in from the pool and can’t dry your feet or body before you come back in the locker room. Water everywhere. Weightlifting shoes are very flat soled and a slip and fall can happen easily. And it’s all tile in there so that could mean a concussion or you crack your fucking head wide open. Mirrors are all around and as I turn to dry my hands you’ve got your butthole almost touching the air dryer on your tippy toes. Dry your butthole with your towel.

15. Newbs. Get out of the way of the people that are serious. You are in there with brand new shoes, brand new gym bag, brand new everything. It’s totally obvious, you look like an idiot, and you clog the gym up to hell this time of year and you never stick around. Whey even try? Go home and play on your phone. You aren’t doing anything but clogging up the gym doing nothing and getting in the way. If you want to learn ask and people will help you, willingly. You’ll get some good advice and some bad advice and nobody knows your body like you do. Start small, go in with a set of exercises and do them. Keep doing that. Some of these people are the equivalent of being at the gun range and you are getting swept. I’ve had them angle a bar with plates and had them land on my feet when they fail off. This is not the way you do this and you are going to injure someone. Use collars, the gym has multiple sets.

16. Don’t do 10-15 sets on something for half an hour and refuse to let people work in. “I waited my turn you can wait yours”, um no, this is not gym etiquette. I do 3-4 sets on anything I use with 1:30 intervals. I’m not going to be there long but you are welcome to work in as long as I’m not taking 3 45lb plates off the smith squat rack, lowering the bar, so you can put 10 lbs on only to have to pull that back off, raise the bar back up, load 3 plates on each side, back and forth because you want to do some bullshit exercise you invented.

16. If using cables on the cable jungle and it’s rush hour, don’t take up 2 cables. There are individual cable machines as mentioned above for that shit, at the back of the gym and there are 3 of them. I’ve sat down and waited for 15 minutes Because of this. Just don’t do it. You wanna do that go at non-peak hours.

17. Don’t drop your 45lb dumbbells from 3 or 4 feet high letting them clang on the floor because you think you are Arnold. That goes for the meat heads with 100 lb dumbbells too. If you can toss them then you have the effort to set them down. Same goes for the 45 lb bars. Go to a CrossFit gym with that shit.

18. Can you spot me bro? No I can’t. I’m not spotting you when you are obviously an idiot. And no I’m not going to have you hand me your phone and record you doing sets either. Handle your own business. A professional bodybuilder needs a spotter. Drop the weight so you can do the 6, 8, 10, 12, 15 reps yourself. You are trying to do too much weight. Even then, bring someone with you then. I never, ever, ask for a spot, because it’s pointless. If you plateau, superset, do pyramids. Spotting is something that just isn’t needed imo, but if you think you need it, then don’t get pissed when I tell you no because I had shoulder surgery, have 3 anchors in my shoulder and I’m not dropping another 5k on surgery re-injuring myself to help you do your dumb shit.

Cliffs: clean your shit up. Re-rack, in the right place. Be courteous. Most of this is common sense. I feel for the crew that has to clean the locker room. Those stalls are some of the nastiest things I have seen in my life, right up there being at a sporting event, and walking into a stall and seeing vomit, and a toilet full of diarrhea.

quote:

Originally posted by smschulz:

quote:

Originally posted by Rev. A. J. Forsyth:

quote:

* Old guys who stand around naked in the locker room.

+ 1

You gotta change or take a shower? Cool. Standing around bare ass naked with your maggot crawling out of an afro pecker and sagging balls for all the world to gaze upon is both unnecessary and grotesque.

What's worse is those standing around looking at old guys who stand around naked in the locker room.

Their goes my lunch!!

Many years ago I joined a gym in a neighborhood I could afford. I had just started working in the prison system. After my first workout I showered. About halfway thru I looked around and saw six or seven guys covered in ink. The water went off, and one stepped up and called me by my title, and politely informed me that if I wanted to withdraw from the gym, Walt would gladly refund me, because many of the other members were parolees. I thanked him for his advice, and got my refund. Ever since, I work out at home. We make it a point to have a house with a room big enough for the equipment my wife and I use.

This is why I always use a 24hr gym and go past 10 or 11pm. Usually the place is empty. I currently live on an Air Force base and have access to their 24hr facility- nothing but professional and courteous patrons, not to mention some super fit ladies.

Wife and I belong to a 24/7 gym. We try to work out after work hours (1700-1830), but have not been able to either find parking or an open machine since the first of the year. We have been hitting the gym at 0400 on Saturday mornings. So, this week (today), we decided to hit the gym at 0200. It was enjoyable with only 2 people, other than us, working out. We're going to try Mon & Weds at 0200 and Sat at 0400 to see if that works for us!

After 25 years of working out the same gym, I have come to 3 conclusions:

1) If you joined in January, the odds of you maintaining your membership past March are about 1 in 20.

2) 80% of the people I observe look the same month in and month out/year in and year out. They join as a social activity - and they think the no pain/no gain thing means no effort = no sweat = I don't have to change my clothes after my pseudo workout.

3) The shortest memberships are usually from those who try to jump right into CrossFit and find themselves in PT within 4-6 weeks.

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
After 25 years of working out the same gym, I have come to 3 conclusions:

1) If you joined in January, the odds of you maintaining your membership past March are about 1 in 20.

2) 80% of the people I observe look the same month in and month out/year in and year out. They join as a social activity - and they think the no pain/no gain thing means no effort = no sweat = I don't have to change my clothes after my pseudo workout.

100% accurate. Most in there don’t do anything. They think by just being there and going through simple motions, their body type will change. It won’t.

Mid January through mid February are the worst. Used to, people would come in immediately after the New Year and make it their resolution. Now it takes a few weeks for them to come in as they procrastinate their resolution. But they last a month. Right now all the people with brand new shoes, wardrobe, bags, it’s insane. It never lasts. Less than a month to go and it will be back to normal.

Dropped Planet Fitness at ten bucks a month once I got Silver Sneakers through my Medicare Advantage Plan. So much nicer. PF was always crowded, their 24/7 was only on weekdays, closed most holidays and their wi-fi sucked big time despite many complaints. They were "working on a solution" for the last four years.

Once Silver Sneakers came into play I went back to a true 24/7 gym. During the day there are a few retirees there. About half of the time I go during the day or like last night went up at 11:30 and spent an hour there. Wi-Fi works like it should, TV's you can actually change channels. drinks in the cooler are on the honor system.

Another thing, small to many but to me is dress code at PF. There it is posted no street clothes, gym type clothing only. Screw that. Depending on the time of year I might ride my motorcycle there. So unless I want to change clothes once I get there it's either ride in sweats or shorts, neither are my choice of riding gear. Plus, wallet retention. Most sweats have no provision for a wallet so it's either leave it in the car or saddlebag or use one of their lockers, neither are a comfortable option for me. At least at my 24/7 gym I can wear anything I desire, only rule is during inclement weather not to wear the shoes I walked in with on the machines, change to a clean pair. This I will do with no problem.

The 24/7 I do to does not have all the amenities of the social gyms, that is fine for me. Not the place I want to hang out at all evening anyhow, do my workout and leave.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:

If you have Silver Singles as a benefit of your Medicare supplement, great, Silver Singles will pay for your gym costs.

I think you mean Silver Sneakers? My doc suggested it, so I looked into it. It appears that this is offered with some Medicare Advantage plans, but not with traditional Medicare supplement, so it looks like I am S.O.L. on this one.

Up until a year ago, UnitedHealthcare Medicare supplement plans (for traditional Medicare) included Silver Sneakers membership as part of their letter plans. We used it to go to a local gym about a mile from our house.

They dropped it in 2019, but have now added something called RenewActive as of 1/1/2020. If I recall correctly, their Silver Sneakers plan restricted you to specific gyms, but this new RenewActive thing lets you sign up for as many gyms as you want simultaneously, all at no charge.

I'm guessing the plan only pays out on a visit-by-visit basis so, since you can't work out at more than one location at a time, it doesn't care whether you sign up for one gym or 25 (the latter is how many different ones exist where I'm located). They describe it in more detail on their website. Too late to switch plans now, but might be worth checking out when the Medicare window opens up again in October 2020.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
At my age, my health problems, and my unsteady balance, I want to use a treadmill for walking exercise. Safer for me than trying to walk in my neighborhood.

Reading the preceding posts, y'all are convincing me that I do NOT want to join a gym!

I see ads on FOX business for silver sneakers gyms. Is this a thing that might work for you?
Sorry I haven’t paid much attention although I’m fast approaching that age. I have a workout room at work mostly all to myself everyday.