subject: Five Things You Need To Ensure You Don't Do When In A Gym Or Health Club [print this page] If you've been attending a gym or health club for a while now, it's likely that you're aware of the etiquette that goes with the membership and you abide by it at all times, whether you were told it formally or you simply picked it up as you went along.
Should you be about to sign up to a gym or health club, however, you can save any embarrassing issues arising by ensuring that you are fully aware of the appropriate etiquette, with the following points being arguably the five most popular.
1. Always wear the correct clothes - most gyms or health clubs around the country won't ask you to leave if you're not wearing shorts, jogging pants or trainers, but it's strongly advised for your own safety that you wear appropriate exercise clothing, as wearing jeans, for example, can be particularly restrictive in your exercises.
What's more, be sure that your clothes are clean - sweat is understandable, but mud and dirt isn't.
2. Never stay on one machine for too long - if you're in the gym by yourself, this rule doesn't apply as there isn't the possibility of someone wanting to be on the piece of equipment that you're on.
However, during busy periods - especially peak times - it's important that you limit your time on a certain piece of equipment to 30 minutes at most. You might have planned to go and do one or two hours running on the treadmill, but if the gym is packed full of people, it would be frowned upon if you didn't split your running time up into four 30 minute sessions.
3. Act as though you're in a library - gyms and health clubs can be particularly sociable places and you can meet a lot of new friends whilst working out. However, not everyone wants to socialise whilst they're exercising and therefore if you're planning on chatting with someone, first wait until they've stopped exercising. If it still looks like they don't want to chat, don't take it personally - some people want to do nothing but work out and then go home.
And remember to never answer your mobile phone in the actual gym area - it's annoying and off-putting.
4. Replace weights - after you've used a piece of gym equipment that uses weights, it's imperative that you replace the weights to what they were before you started using it (or return them back to the empty position, if it wasn't like this already).
Not only do people not want to have to walk around tidying up after you, but what would happen if someone tried to use the piece of equipment that you'd just been using but couldn't because the weight was too heavy?
At best, they'd find it difficult to change the weights. At worst, they'd injure themselves, with the chance of it being seriously.
5. Cleanliness is key - everyone sweats at the gym and no one should have any problems with this. What people may have problems with, however, is if you don't wipe down your equipment after you've used it.
Imagine if other people didn't do it and you went to use a piece of equipment that was full of sweat - simply put, it's not nice.
