No offense to people who go to public gyms, all of this is just my opinion. Well, there’s a lot of truth to it too, honestly, that people have no respect when they go to a public gym. Keep in mind that a gym is a public place. Which means, it’s for everyone. It’s not for you to make at home with and treat it how you want. I mean, here are the craziest things, I’ve seen people do at gyms.

• Not putting weights back
• Hogging equipment
• Asking to use a piece of equipment you’re on when you’re not done
• Dropping weights to the floor whether by accident or on purpose
• Slamming dumbbells on the shelves, when returning them

I can go on with the list. The thing that annoys me the most are guys dropping weights or slamming them on the shelves. These things are against the rules at the Greenwich Y but people don’t have a care to follow them. I understand the reason guys drop dumbbells because you have exhausted the muscle on the final rep and can no longer hold the weight, but if the weights are heavy, that’s what spotters are for. Get a spotter even with dumbbell workouts and he can lower the weights safely and carefully for you.

On top of that, I don’t see any reason why guys feel the need to drop weights or slam them on the shelves. I lift heavy dumbbells all the time, and I never drop them. I carefully lower them and set them on the floor slowly. It’s not that hard to do. Like I said before, a long time ago, guys feel the need to drop weights or slam them on the shelves ’cause it’s their ego. Period. End of story. They want to feel tough doing it ’cause they’re muscular.

Why do I think dropping weights or slamming them is bad? Well for starters, they create a distraction with other people working out in a gym. You could other injure yourself and other people. Those are why I think, it’s wrong.

Also, another thing that annoys the hell out of me is when I’m working on a piece of equipment, someone will come up and ask to jump in on a set. That happens to me sometimes. When I’m resting between a set, sometimes guys will come up to me and ask if they can jump in. They do politely ask, but it’s still a rude thing to do, in my opinion. Want to know what that tells me when guys do this? It’s like, “Hi, I’m a bodybuilder too, and I want to show off that I can lift heavier than you and I’m stronger than you”.

Leave your ego at the door.

This is why I like to go to the gym late in the afternoon, when the place is usually slow, so I don’t have to deal with this shit.

On top of that, I don’t go to the gym too much anymore. I go like once or twice a week now. I do most of my workouts at home. The only time I go to a public gym is when I need to do legs or back stuff. Chest and tricep stuff, you can do at home.

Kev