A Beginner's Guide to Gym Etiquette
Hi New Year's Resolutionists! Welcome to the gym. It's super crowded, so it would be great for everyone if we all followed proper gym etiquette.
- Always, always, always rack your weights properly. Most racks are arranged from lightest to heaviest. Please put stuff back, and put it back in the right spot. If one person doesn't follow this, it sets off a chain reaction of no one putting things back in the right spot and before you know it, it's impossible to find the weights you want.
- Do not treat gym equipment as furniture. The bench next to you isn't for you to store your stuff on. Keep your stuff next to you, on the floor next to the wall, or in the locker room. It's also not a chair for you to sit on to chat to you friend in. Or for you to use to scroll through Instagram for 30 minutes. Yes, breaks are fine. Please keep them brief. If you're not using the equipment to work out, you're keeping someone else from actually using it.
- Do not give unsolicited advice It’s great that you’re excited and want to share your knowledge. The ONLY time you should ever give unsolicited advice is if you are an experienced and knowledgable lifter and you see someone who is doing something that could result in severe injury. If someone asks you for advice, of course you can answer it. But then it's not unsolicited now is it?
For all my gym veterans, I KNOW it's annoying that the gyms are full. Please be as welcoming as possible and try to remember that most of the new people don't know gym etiquette. It takes time to learn all this stuff!
Good job and good luck to everyone aiming to better themselves this year!
