Gym Bunnys and Gym Rats!

OK, I am going to rant about all the gym rats today. These are the people who spend entirely too much time in the gym and workout more than required or even a healthy limit.  They are the ones that post status updates to Facebook every time they workout.  During their three hour workout, only about 20 minutes of it was needed or effective.  This is not to all of you, but you know who you are.  I HEARD you, you know.  Your comments about how “You can’t wait for all the New Years People” to leave – and all the complaints about how CROWDED the classes are, how it’s too hot or too cold, or how there are not enough parking spaces.  God help you that you have to walk an extra 50 feet only to come into the gym and walk 5 miles on the treadmill.  I saw the dirty looks when I took my turn on the machine, and took the weights, and the Bosu ball, and we ALL heard you freaking out about how someone took YOUR locker in the locker room. No, it’s ok, really, I didn’t want to use any of the three benches that you’ve absentmindedly sprawled your phone, wallet, keys and drink bottle over. Excuse me, if I jump in for a set while you run your mouth to your neighbor about how everyone else besides you sucks.  We know how annoyed you are that it wasn’t possible for you and little cliquey friends to sit together or side by side as you workout and gossip and make plans for lunch afterwards.   I have something to say to you.  Grow the hell up!  As a trainer, this is my job.  Trainers have to navigate around the morons and jerks everyday trying to teach and lead people to a better lifestyle.  We don’t own the gym, just like you don’t.  However, have a little common courtesy and respect when you visit the gym.  They gym is not a nightclub!  It’s here for you to get your workout in and get the hell out.

The gym isn’t here JUST FOR YOU. Yeah, you pay your monthly membership fees like everyone else, but that doesn’t give you the right to monopolize five different machines or four sets of dumbbells.  You don’t deserve respect because you bought a gym membership!  Yes, many, many new people join gyms and start new fitness journeys in January.  It’s the time for fresh starts and boy, does the fitness industry market to them.  I’m fully aware that only about 30% of these new signers stay on at the gym after February or March. Did you ever stop to think that maybe people like YOU are the reason they quit and give up?  Maybe, just maybe, your attitude of entitlement at the gym gives them pause. Maybe your smartass comments and whispers and lack of support help make the decision to stop going to the gym easier.  It’s the entitled gym rats, the ones that workout for three hours a day, the ones that perform the same routine time after time, the ones that think they have it figured out, that are the biggest reason people fail on their fitness journey.  These are the same inconsiderate idiots who can be found jumping rope in the middle of the walk-way preventing other members from passing, and go into freak out mode if they have to pause to let you pass.    These individuals with an over-inflated sense of self-worth and compounded by a low level of intelligence, do not realize how moronic they appear to everyone.

Everything about them screams disrespect!  You want to know how to earn respect in the gym?  Be considerate of others.  SHARE!  Probably the first thing you ever learned in kindergarten.  You aren’t the biggest, baddest, fittest or strongest!  And it’s not going to mess up your routine if someone wants to jump in for a set.   You earn respect in the gym by getting after it, by being modest, by being consistent, by continuing to grow both within the gym and outside of it.

What you fail to realize is that myself, the trainers who earned theirs through blood and sweat, the ones who have devoted their life and career to fitness, that all think you’re a grade A douchebag.  You aren’t entitled to anything, you don’t deserve respect, and you shouldn’t expect kindness because the only thing you’ve brought to the gym is a narcissistic attitude and a ‘me’ mentality that undermines the whole sense of community that makes gyms thrive.