5 Rude Behaviors To Watch Out For At Gold's Gym

I was a Gold's Gym member for 5 years and really enjoyed the place for the most part. The equipment was cutting edge, they had tons of free weights, the gym hours were good, etc. The problem is that Gold's attracts a certain segment of the fitness population. I'm not sure where these Neanderthals come from, but these guys are obnoxious. I want to point out some of this bad behavior, so we can begin to put it to an end. I know that Gold's isn't the only place where this exists.

1) Dropping of Dumbbells After A Set is Complete: This is bad for the equipment and is just idiotic. It does nothing to increase muscle mass and if anything could cause them to injure themselves or someone lifting close to them. Their main excuse is that they are lifting heavy weights. Why is it true that I can quietly lift 100 pound dumbbells and one of these retards is making noise with 60 pounders?

2) Grunting Like a Freak During Sets: What is up with the weird grunting sounds? I can understand that if someone was attempting a personal best at an extremely heavy deadlift that there could be a bit of noise, but these guys are doing it on isolation exercises. Seriously, nobody wants to hear this stuff. The guys who drop dumbbells are very likely to be grunters as well. One of the things I like to do to entertain myself is grab a much heavier weight than them, sit next to them doing the same exercise while completely silent. I will then ask them why they feel the need to lift with such drama.

3) Leaving Their Weights All Over The Place: This is really an obnoxious behavior, because it shows blatant disrespect to the people who work in the gym. They believe that people should clean up after them. There is a certain guy in particular, who is really guilty of this. You guess it, the same guys who drop their weights are the same ones who typically leave them there. This is a really common problem in every gym. Let's show the gym faculty some respect and put our own weights away!

4) Standing in Front of The Dumbbell Rack During Sets: This is just plain lazy behavior. Have you ever seen a guy grab a set of dumbbells and then proceed to do a set of shrugs or lateral raises right in front of the rack? The problem is that nobody can access those weights during his set. This happens to me all the time. I will squeeze right in front of the person and grab a set of dumbbells just to piss them off. This angers them every time, but I explain to them that is they weren't working out right in front of the rack this wouldn't be an issue.

5) Using Many Pieces of Equipment at Once: If people allow others to work in and use the equipment, that is fine. The problem is when someone believes they have the right to tie up 2+ pieces of equipment for extended periods of time. This isn't an extremely common behavior, but one I have seen nonetheless.

Summary: As I mentioned before, I like Gold's Gym and I've worked out at over a dozen of their facilities. Theses types of gym members are in every gym, but places that are considered more hardcore like Gold's just seem to have a higher concentration of these guys. It is important for me to point out this stuff, so gyms can be friendlier and more productive. My hope is that gym owners will limit this type of behavior in the future.