Hitting the gym should be something that you look forward to. It’s an opportunity to relieve stress, meet new people, and best of all get in shape. Everyone wants to look and feel their best, and the gym is a great place to start. With all the various equipment and styles of training, also comes plenty of opportunity for mistakes. If you don’t use the gym properly you’ll find yourself frustrated, without results, or injured.
With the newfound popularity of the fitness lifestyle, it has become more relevant than ever to revisit the fundamentals of fitness.
Here are a few helpful rules to live by to not only maximize your success in the gym, but tick off as few people as possible along the way.
Don’t grunt the entire time
Look, we get it: You’re lifting sooo much weight. But no one is impressed: “Lifting heavy weights is hard, but if you’re grunting on every single set—you’re a tool,” says James Shapiro, an NYC-based NASM-certified trainer. “No one is impressed, you’re awarded no points, and no one will talk to you. Please relearn how to breathe properly, which will also help you make greater increases in strength and lean muscle.”
Don’t set up camp by the weight rack
There’s an unspoken “no-lift zone” in every gym, and it’s called the weight rack. In fact, consider five feet all around the weight rack off limits for your workout. “If you start a set of bicep curls while standing right in front of the rack, you block the entire gym from accessing the weights,” says Dani Singer, a certified personal trainer. “Grab the weights you need, and find an open spot on the weight floor to perform your workout. Stay out of the weight rack area, unless you’re grabbing or returning your weights.”
Don’t belt out a tune
You’re in the zone and your playlist dishes up your favorite tune. What do you do? Start singing? No, thank you. You’re not at home in your shower and everyone outside your headphones can hear your hums, whistles, not to mention profanities as you try to rap alongside Cardi B. “Please, no singing at the top of your lungs,” says Bartolini. “Nobody needs to hear your ‘na-na-nas!’” Yes, you can have fun during your workout, but not to the point of distracting others.
Don’t give unsolicited advice
It is highly frowned upon for an individual to give another gym-goer advice that is unsolicited. It can be a big distraction and may offend the person that is being given advice. Every fitness enthusiast has their own methods of training and will not be open minded to the opinions of others.
This is especially true if the person giving advice is in worse shape than the person he is giving advice to. To avoid any awkward encounters, don’t give someone advice unless they specifically ask you for advice.
Don’t waste time on sets with phone
Anyone who spends a decent amount of time in a gym will soon come to the realization that many gym-goers spend most of their gym time on their phone.
Not only is using your phone during a gym a waste of time, it can be a major distraction. Immense focus is required to train with intensity. Only when a workout is intense will it have any sort of benefit.
Don’t record someone
Now that everyone carries a camera around 24/7, it can be far too easy to capture people and share it—whether they look silly while using an exercise machine incorrectly or are wearing a workout outfit you think may be inappropriate. Not only is this one of those things to never do at the gym, but you shouldn’t do it anywhere.
“In your desire to have a good laugh with your friends at this person’s expense—or worse, on social media—you seriously violate gym rules and common decency,” says Steven McDaniels, director of fitness and recreation at Beacon College in Leesburg, Florida. “Instead of recording and making fun of them, why not make them feel a little bit more welcome be saying hello or offering assistance.”
Don’t talk too much
Add “be careful striking up a conversation with a stranger” to your list of things to never do at the gym. “If the person is serious about his or her exercise program, he or she will be bothered by a lengthy conversation and try to sneak away from you to resume his or her workout,” says McDaniels. “Exercising already burns a lot of time, which people are usually short on. If you must chat, make it short, sweet, and to the point.”