Every gym has (at least) one. I bet you could describe your resident gym weirdo to me in detail right now.
The gym can either be a great place to meet like-minded individuals, or the place you go to ruin your reputation in the surrounding area.
Want to avoid becoming The Weirdo at your gym?
Here are a couple of tips:
Don't talk politics within 0.08457 seconds of meeting someone. In practice, this means: Please do not introduce yourself to me and then tell me you're avoiding the Tampa area for the next year because you think the Democratic Party is going to pay al Qaeda to bomb a major city. I try really hard not to assume things but I will probably form the impression that you are a little cray cray.
Similarly, don't talk about religion. Here's what a natural, smooth conversation does not look like:
Dude: Are you a powerlifter?
Yeah! I'm thinking about competing in July actually.
Dude: Oh that's cool!
(long pause)
Dude: So what religion did your parents raise you in?
Don't do super weird things with the equipment. A caveat: sometimes you have to modify gym equipment to suit your goals. A good example of this would be doing floor presses in an isolated corner of the gym with a spotter or two (rather than in a power rack), or using a leg press machine to do calf raises. Those are both totally normal. However, if you're boxing with one of the cable machines for more than, oh, ten minutes, we need to talk. Or, you know, not talk, actually, because I'm going to be a little wary of you.
Don't stand at the window of the group exercise room and stare at the girls' butts. I understand that most red-blooded males may take a glance or two. But if your face is like an inch away from the glass and you stand there for 30 minutes, I'm sorry, you're coming across as a major creep.
What would you add to this list? What's the weirdest thing you've ever seen at the gym?
PS: Thank you all for an amazing discussion on yesterday's post! I am really lucky to have such an intelligent & thoughtful community here =)
Bahahahaha this is great! your dialogue about religion made me crack up!! That happened to me once with some random evangelist guy at the gym-- talk about awkward haha
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend my friend!
Thanks hun!!!! You too! =D
DeleteOMG there has been this new weird guy recently - the one I mentioned wearing the tight shorts that are....well... short. I don't even know if what he does counts as lifting. I wish I had a video of the biceps "curls" he was going yesterday. At least I get a smile out of it and then of course wonder what crazy things I do!
ReplyDeleteI used to do some preeeetty strange things!!! I also know that I still do things that confuse people... floor presses? I am the only person I've ever seen perform those in my gym. EVERYONE was staring at me afterwards...lol
DeleteHAHA this made me laugh! So there's this skinny, older guy at my gym who wears the tightest bike shorts ever. His workouts are hilarious. He's in there every day, doing some random full body workout, and he uses the adductor machine three times a week (while grunting!). Anyway, today Rob and I were doing tricep pushdowns and he tried to give Rob advice! He told Rob to stand up straight and not lean forward. Oh, it was hilarious! The look on Rob's face... I wish I had it on camera.
ReplyDeleteBut, yes, my gym is full of people who seem to be doing random exercises all the time. I saw a guy on the stepper yesterday literally praying while he climbed.
You would be SHOCKED the types of people who try to give Max advice!!! He was doing rest-pause leg presses once and this man who was completely new to the gym (never seen him before or since) and was doing some extremely strange exercises himself (bicep curls on a bosu ball, anyone???) came over and told Max that if he kept his feet too close together, his quads wouldn't grow. Uuuhhhmmmmmm....
DeleteUnfortunately, Sable, people will find any excuse to interject a political argument, usually with hyperbole, no matter what the subject is. I had someone go on a political tirade with what started out as a conversation over who would win the Stanley Cup.
ReplyDeleteWhat drive me crazy is the guys. usually older, who insist on doing everything in the locker room naked. Now I don't consider myself a prude, but is it absolutely necessary to not only do everything naked (like watch the game in the locker room tvs,) but also try and start a conversation with me about if I saw Jered Weaver's no-hitter. Yes, I did, now please put some pants on! And there are people who use the hand dryers in the locker room bathroom to blow dry their, er, privates.
Bonus creepy: The dancing games that I play on at the arcade has two pads for each machines, both right next to each other. Normally, players only use one, as the second one is for another player or for the rare player to play Doubles (where one person uses both pads.) I don't mind people who watch me play, in fact I think it's kind of cool, but what annoys and creeps me out are the people who will actually get on the pad that I am not using (and is not being used at all) and just stare at me. I have really over-sensitive peripheral vision, so if someone is on the other pad I get distracted and can't focus, but it's worse when they are starting right at you for about two feet away!
Were the Bruins involved in that discussion by chance? ;-) haha
DeleteAnd ohhhhh lordie we in the women's locker room have a similar problem O_O I have no problem with people CHANGING but like... don't walk around nekkid in there for like 20 minutes. TOTALLY unnecessary.
I hate being watched while I work out too - it makes me so self-conscious and really messes with my mindset!
This is hilarious! We have a lot of regulars I've gotten to know. Usually I have a lot of older gentlemen giving me running tips or stopping me to tell me what pace I'm running on the track. I sometimes like the interruptions and friendliness. We do have a lot of people who are at the gym FOREVER. Every time I go, I see them there, and I go at lots of different times. Maybe they're thinking the same thing about me too. But it seems weird when you never leave the gym but never seem to actually be working very hard at the gym. Like you are there five hours, and I saw you talking to people and walking slowly on the treadmill. And this is a young fit person, not an elderly person. Just kind of random, but I like wonder what they are up to.
ReplyDeleteWe had one dude at our old gym in Montana who would work out - LIFT!!! - for at least 3 hours. We knew for sure because I would go to the gym at 2 between school & work & he'd already be there, and I'd pass Max on his way in at 3:30, and he'd still be there at 5 when Max left. Said dude competed in a BBing show we attended annnnd he was tiny. Like, almost no muscle at all. It was kind of sad.
DeleteI do like friendly interruptions! Just not OVERLY strange ones. haha
haa, I have a guy at my gym who likes to hit all the benches and such and do Tai-Chi/Boxing stuff in the middle of the weight section instead of in the mind/body/yoga room. He ever hit a machine so hard he dislocated his shoulder! He's also VERY LOUD and uses curse words more than regular words when he talks. There's another guy who lifts in jeans....after spending a half hour talking waiting for his Nos to kick in. I'm sure I could be called a weirdo too, just cause I'm always so happy.
ReplyDeleteDo we go to the same gym!?!? We have a guy that does that too! Lately he's been boxing with the metal thinger at the end of the cable attachment... if you know what I'm trying to describe hahaha.
DeleteWhere do you want me to start?
ReplyDeletePeople who use the stepper backwards? People who ONLY bench press with their feet elevated? People who only do triceps before hitting cardio... every day? People who have to use the same recumbent bike every day, who have to use the roman chair every day, and then get annoyed when someone has taken their machine?
How about the random pot-bellied white guy in a wife beater singing profane rap songs TOO LOUDLY while deadlifting very little weight?
Ugggghhh YES to all of these except the last one. I've never seen such a thing and hope I never do. haha!
DeleteOh, man… I happen to go to the most expensive gym in the city (it’s just the most comfortable considering that I live in the suburbs) usually it feels weird. Despite people wearing brand clothing most of them are clueless about any exercise; I’m not even talking about weight lifting. Usually I’m the only who lifts. The rest occupy cardio machines and benches were millions of crunches are performed; so I guess I’m the weirdo in there. Haha.
ReplyDeleteI don't fit in at our commercial gym either... I'm hoping I can afford to create my own home gym one day!
DeleteThe own gym. The dream. One day I hope we both have one.
DeleteOh boy don't even get me started! I feel like it's always a freak show at my university rec center. And the boys don't feel shy one bit about gawking at the females. I try to ignore but it is something I would rather NOT deal with! Oh well, I just remind myself why I'm there and focus on what I'm doing!
ReplyDeleteUgh I bet it's just awful there!! =( Do you get to use a regular commercial gym at home over the summer?
DeleteWell, there's one dude in my gym who's a little weird. He spends some time (not sure how much) reading the muscle mags finding a routine to do for the day, then he goes and does it with a lot of enthusiasm but perhaps not a lot of effort put into form. However, it's between sets when he's walking around the weights section looking at everyone else that's the really weird thing.
ReplyDeleteI suppose I could be considered weird, too, with my mobilization warmups, and warmup sets. I'm pretty sure no one does any mobilization in my gym, and only a few do warmup sets.
I literally cannot imagine going to the gym not knowing what I'm going to be doing. I psych myself up for my workouts all day...sometimes I even dream about them the night before! I just would not be able to do it.
DeleteTwo days ago, at friggin 5 am, some dude i had never seen at the gym, let alone at that time when I'm usually knee deep into my workout, decided to come and tell me that my form on everything I was doing was horrible (verbatim). He then proceeded to quiz me on where I got my exercise routine (?) from, because according to the very expensive evidence based research journal he subscribes to, all the exercises I was doing were proven inefficient. I got pretty upset that I would get interrupted by some weirdo so early to tell me that deadlifts, walking lunges, front squats, slds, snatches, bulgarians, etc were actually not good as per his research reading. After lifting in college for swimming with weightlifting coaches and being a sort of form nut myself, it was hard to resist punching this guy who interrupted me to challenge what I was doing, at 5 am, when he himself was sporting some less than impressive (read scrawny) physique and doing db curls on a machine. what do you do?!
ReplyDeleteFirst time commenting, I love reading your blog, fellow transplanted floridian lifter (from Blacksburg,VA)...keep it up!
Hey Alondra!!! =) Thanks for commenting! I love your name =)
DeleteI don't know how you get rid of people like that =( People still approach Max & tell him the 568756 reasons what he's doing is wrong - and they are, without exception, much, much smaller than he is. I don't get it!!!
ohmygod, i've seen sooooo many gym weirdos! there was an old dude who talked (screamed) politics TO HIMSELF! he'd literally start yelling at the gym tvs! and of course, he had to be spewing the most closed-minded ridiculous crap! ugh!
ReplyDeleteOh God. hahah that's a little unnerving!!! O_O
DeleteLove this post! I have to comment, however, that if everyone was 'appropriate' then what would keep us entertained? :-) Reading everyone's comments, I can't believe how many of you have had people come up to you and criticise what you are doing. How rude!! I do sometimes see people and think "What on earth are they doing?" but I would never go up and openly criticise them.
ReplyDeleteToo true!!!! haha! I would have no gym stories if it wasn't for the weirdos! ;-)
DeleteI would never and have never approached anyone doing something strange either - I'm glad that everyone in the gym has made the decision to do something healthy & I'd never want anyone to feel judged, ya know?
haha! this is a great post. i love the don't talk religion commentary. how awkward! this is certainly the last thing i want to have brought up when i'm working hard and sweating. well for that matter - at any point during the day, but ESPECIALLY at the gym!
ReplyDeleteI hate when people bring that type of thing up to me at work, too - it's SO incredibly uncomfortable.
DeleteNot really a 'weirdo' thing but when someone is wearing earphones don't talk to them unless there is an emergency. I was running the other day listening to an episode of "this american life" on my ipod. It was a very emotional episode and at the climax of the piece. I was running and listening raptly when some dude approaches from behind to run next to me and is talking to me. I take my earbuds out and he asks how far I'm running and if he can do some "run/walks with me". Um, NO. I was soooooo pissed. I had just missed the culmination of the story (nearly an hour into it) and I can't fastforward/rewind. Boo!
ReplyDeleteAHHHHHHH how incredibly frustrating!!!!!!
DeleteI rarely wear headphones when I train but I can't imagine the audacity someone would have to have in order to think it was okay to interrupt someone listening to something to ask a silly question like that. Ugh.