12 Rules of Gym Etiquette
Respect every person’s right to exercise without negatively impacting their experience.
If you’re anything like me, you want the gym to be your happy place to improve your fitness and/or physique.
You don’t want your day ruined by some dickhead.
Which is why we have unwritten rules for the gym. Simple etiquette that most experienced gym-goers follow to help everyone have an enjoyable experience.
The Oxford Dictionary defines etiquette as “the customary code of polite behaviour in society or among members of a particular profession or group.”
Like any culture and community, these principles are created by the people for the people, to ensure everybody has an enjoyable experience without it being negatively impacted by someone else’s behaviour.
Don’t be that guy… (or, girl)
In this article, we explore 12 rules of good gym etiquette. Think of these like the 12 commandments of the fitness community.
1. Re-rack your weights
After you use them, put your weights and other equipment back where they belong!
It’s basic manners to put something away after you use it — we’re taught this as children.
It should go without saying, but it’s the first rule of gym etiquette that people commonly break.
Please, don’t leave your random weights laying around.
Dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells… put them away. It’s rude as well as dangerous — ever tripped over a 46 kg dumbbell lying in the middle of the weights area? I have.
Similarly, don’t leave machines loaded up with hundreds of kilos of weight. That means someone else has to unrack and put away your weights. That person might not have the same strength and it could be quite difficult for them to put away 20kg plates.
Moreover, if you find a weight/piece of equipment somewhere it shouldn’t be, put it back. Easy.
2. Don’t stand in front of people doing a set
Blocking someone’s view of the mirror is a big no-no.
There’s a reason that any gym has a mirror behind its dumbbell rack — as well as checking out your gains, the mirror is for people to watch and perfect their form performing an exercise.
If you see someone about to perform a rep with a heavy barbell, try not to walk in front of them and stay out of their peripherals.
Similarly, don’t stand right by the dumbbell rack to do your exercise. This blocks other people from accessing them as well as potentially standing in front of someone else using the mirror.
Do your best to stay out of the line of sight of people and if you have to walk past somebody, make it fast.
3. Don’t hog the equipment
“How many sets have you got left?”
In crowded gyms, there is sometimes a very small amount of equipment that isn’t already being used.
It can be very difficult to follow a workout as programmed, otherwise, you’d spend more time waiting than working out. So, we often have to substitute exercise.
But to ensure everyone gets an opportunity to use popular equipment such as the squat rack or bench press, don’t hog the equipment!
During peak hours, don’t train in a group. Don’t spend 10 minutes between sets scrolling social media, oblivious to the waiting queue.
You know the worst thing you can do? Super-setting when the gym is busy.
Honestly, there’s this personal trainer at my gym who does multiple supersets with clients right at peak hours. She often uses the squat rack which is hot property and then takes the client to the other side of the gym, leaving their “stuff” in the squat rack. You can see people walk over and scope it out, waiting to see if someone comes back. They could be gone for 10 or 15 minutes sometimes — it really is both ignorant and arrogant.
Everybody pays a gym fee so deserve equal access to equipment.
Try to avoid using two or three pieces of equipment that are far away if you do superset try to avoid it during busy hours.
If the gym is empty, it doesn’t matter how long you take.
But, if your behaviour impacts other peoples’ ability to do their workout, then that sucks.
Invite someone to work in with you if they’re waiting for your equipment and it isn’t going to affect your workout too badly — which is most of the time.
Sharing is caring.
4. Ask if somebody is using a piece of equipment
If a piece of equipment looks like it is being used then it probably is.
Is the equipment loaded with weight? Is there a towel laid out on it? Drink bottle, training belt, or mobile phone next to the equipment?
If any of those is a yes, wait around to see if someone is using it. Or, ask someone nearby.
The person might have gone to the toilet or gone to fill up their drink bottle.
Don’t just move their stuff out of the way and start using it equipment yourself. If the person is taking a long time, ask them how much longer they have to try and push them along.
5. Don’t stand around waiting for a piece of equipment
Benches or squat racks all taken?
Instead of standing so close to someone that they can feel you breathing as you wait for their equipment, go use something else.
It’s extremely awkward feeling someone’s gaze and presence as you’re trying to focus on doing your sets. It’s not your fault they happen to want to use the same piece of equipment. It’s not cool to feel unnecessary pressure to speed up your exercise to suit somebody else. That is unless you’re taking an extremely long time.
Figure out how to modify your routine or go stretch or something. You can easily replace one exercise with another.
It might actually benefit you to try a new exercise variation.
Ask the person how much longer and if they have just started, leave them alone. If it’s their last set, stand a safe distance away.
If they have the only squat rack in the gym, just ask them to let you know when they’re done.
If you want to maximise your results in the gym, here are 11 rules for a great workout.
6. Respect personal space
Similarly to loitering around waiting for equipment, don’t invade people’s personal space.
Yes, gyms can get overcrowded, and space can be of a premium.
But make an effort to respect people’s personal space.
As well as being dangerous to use weights near somebody, it’s very uncomfortable to exercise when you can sense somebody is in your personal space.
To exercise safely, we all need a buffer zone of a couple of metres around us.
So be mindful of allowing people their space — especially if they were there first.
Honest to God, as I’m writing this, some little fucker just snuck past me to rerack a weight in the squat rack I was using for overhead presses. He doesn’t wait 30 seconds for my set or walk around to put it on the other side…
He gets right into my space as I’m about to lift! I could have easily unracked the weight to do my first set just as he dunked under me into my squat rack.
I can’t even fathom it.
7. Don’t drop weights
We’ve probably all seen some dickhead doing curls with a barbell or 8 kg dumbbells to drop them from midair after their last half-hearted rep.
How to instantly gain enemies in the gym…
The only time to ever drop weight is Olympic lifting in the right gym, or deadlifting on a deadlifting platform. Even then, it’s a controlled drop.
Structurally, equipment doesn't respond well to being repeatedly dropped. Especially cheap barbells — which many gyms use!
And nobody thinks you’re cool dropping your weights, I promise. They think you’re a dick. Don’t be a dick.
Leave bar dropping to specialist Cross Fit, Olympic lifting and powerlifting gyms.
8 Don’t be a creeper
Don’t stare.
I know that if an attractive member of the opposite sex struts past you looking amazing, you can’t help but peak. It’s human nature.
But, don’t stare.
If you think you’re being inconspicuous checking someone out in the mirrors — newsbreak! They can see you too.
And it’s creepy. So, don’t stare at anybody trying to do their workout.
The same goes for people of the same sex as you. There’s a guy at my gym whom I never talk to, but stares are me all the time and it makes me feel very uncomfortable.
If someone is doing a heavy deadlift or squat, it’s okay to admire it. But, don’t watch someone as they move around the gym
Equally, don’t try and pick up dates. Asking for the occasional number or IG handle is probably okay, occasionally. But, don’t make a habit of hitting on people.
9. Wipe equipment down after you use it
Don’t be that person leaving a sweat patch behind.
It is honestly disgusting.
Especially in this age post-COVID outbreak.
Even if you have only just started your workout and you don’t think you’re sweaty — wipe shit down. Even if you’re not leaving sweat behind, it can’t help to wipe up any germs you might leave on equipment, right?
It’s fairly basic gym etiquette.
Some gyms ask that you bring your towel to wipe things down. But, in most gyms now there is no shortage of paper towels, wipes and sanitiser/disinfectant spray.
As well as cleaning up after yourself, if you notice it is a bit sticky, wipe down equipment that others have used.
Help make the gym a safe environment for all.
10. Don’t come to the gym smelly
You’d be surprised at how many people wear the same gym clothes all week… Or just don’t shower in general.
This should go without saying, personal hygiene is so important when you’re near people.
And, just in general, to be fair.
Wear the same gym clothes more than once? Nope. Don’t do it. For humanity’s sake.
If you’re someone who doesn’t wash regularly, you grow accustomed to your own smell.
Everybody else won’t appreciate it.
Spraying some deodorant over yourself after a day’s work and on top of previously used clothing isn’t going to mask the smell for very long, if at all.
Don’t stink up the gym.
11. Don’t strip half-naked to check yourself out & take selfies
Do you know what’s the worst? People stripping naked next to you, to admire themselves in the mirror.
In everyday life, this behaviour would be pretty alarming.
What if some random guy stripped down to their undies in the supermarket to check themselves out in the reflective glass of those long freezers?
That would be next-level weird.
Common in bodybuilding circles to strip down to undies for Instagram videos. Young people growing up see this and think that this is appropriate behaviour in a commercial gym. #factcheck — it’s not.
It's super awkward for anybody else when someone strips down to their undies to take a selfie or pose in the mirrors.
It's cringe-worthy!
Somebody clothed taking repeated selfies is equally annoying- once you notice it you can’t help but notice them and it becomes quite distracting.
Try and avoid between-set selfies.
Save selfies for a quiet gym or the bathroom mirror.
12. Don’t talk too much
I would like to think that the majority of people who are going to the gym are more concerned about making progress than chinwagging.
But now that I think about it; during my 15-plus years in the gym, I have noticed that many people SEEM (not an acronym) to put equal effort (if not more) into talking with the other regulars as they do into their working sets.
A personal story here — I was a real estate agent for some time (nearly 5 years) and a huge part of the role is prospecting.
Prospecting basically means meeting people, letting them know you’re in real estate, and keeping up conversations.
I soon realised my workouts started taking a lot longer.
So, I turned the other way and started to avoid conversation as much as possible in the gym.
I’m definitely a bit of a gym snob now.
People probably think I’m a bit of an asshole. But, at least now I can complete a workout in an hour.
PS — if someone is wearing headphones, it probably means they don’t want to be disturbed.
Summary
In conclusion, this article has explored 12 rules of good gym etiquette. In other words, the twelve commandments for exercising in a gym.
These are:
- Re-rack your weights
- Don’t stand in front of people doing a set
- Don’t hog the equipment
- Ask if somebody is using a piece of equipment
- Don’t stand around waiting for a piece of equipment
- Respect personal space
- Don’t drop weights
- Don’t be a creeper
- Wipe equipment down after you use it
- Don’t come to the gym smelly
- Don’t strip half-naked to check yourself out & take selfies
- Don’t talk too much
There are probably many others, like how okay it is to hang out naked in the changing rooms… But, we’d be here all day!
Just treat other people using the gym with respect. Respect their time and respect the equipment.
Don’t infringe on anyone else’s gym experience. Your workout is no more important than theirs.
Thank you for reading.
If you enjoyed the content, you might be interested in this article about people you meet in a gym.
