If you have a gym membership, please tell me if this is normal.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

Never experienced that at Planet Fitness and liked going there.  But IMO if a person is not actually physically on a machine when I go to get on it, then they're NOT on it. I would not give it up either.  That's just me though.  

 

ETA: It's not proper gym etiquette to try and reserve a piece of equipment by putting your stuff on it.  You're either using the machine or you're not.  Don't put your crap on it unless you want me to go to the staff and have them have you remove it.  It's so rude!!!

Edited January 19, 2018 by 1GirlTwinBoys

[kiwik]

At my gym, it is common for people to put their gym bag or water bottle and keys or other personal item(s) on a machine to "reserve" it for themselves, while they're using another machine. It bugs the crap out of me, because the place is always crowded to begin with, and then you have people trying to keep you off of machines that they're not even using!!! Sometimes they don't even bother putting something on the machine at all, they just come up to you once you've started using an obviously empty machine and complain that they were using it (it was empty) or that they were "saving" it (with the invisible forces of their minds, apparently).

 

Once, I even saw this tall, beefy, 30-something muscle-head male run up to a timid, frail, little 70-something year old woman, YELLING at her that he was still using the empty machine that she'd just gotten on. While that was a one-time thing (at least in my experience), I am routinely approached (always by a man) and told that the empty machine I've just gotten on was "his". It is really obnoxious. Women do the thing where they try to save a machine with their personal items, which is bad enough, but they don't have the audacity to chase you off of an empty machine.

 

So, basically, I just want to know, is this something that I have to learn to live with? Is this normal? Is this just standard gym etiquette and it only seems terrible to me because I'm old and cranky? I could bring it up with management, but I honestly don't know what they would/could do about it. Should I start looking for another gym? Because between that and the fact that they keep it a stifling 74 degrees in there, I'm feeling pretty much done.

 

The two nearest gyms to me are a Planet Fitness and an Anytime Fitness. Any experiences with those?

It would be completely unacceptable here though I have seen workout partners alternate.

[OneStepAtATime]

Over the years I have been a member of several different gyms off and on.  I have never seen that.  Management has enough staff that someone is at the desk to greet and get people in while other staff members wander through the gym, making sure people follow the rules, equipment is being used correctly, they answer questions, etc.  There is never just one person working.  At the gym I joined recently, (after a long hiatus from gym membership) all members are shown how to properly spray and wipe down the equipment after they are done and are told no reserving machines, no leaving their belongings blocking someone else's use of a machine, no loud music played (at least without headsets), etc.  All explained clearly and in a friendly manner with the rules also posted in various places around the gym and quietly but firmly reinforced by the staff.

 

Write a formal letter of complaint, explaining in clear, non-combative language what the issues are.  If you know anyone else that goes to that gym see if they would be willing to do the same.  Agreeing with others, this sounds like poor management by the gym.  Change needs to come from the administration.  If this negative climate is already ingrained in some members it will be very hard for you, as a single person, to get anyone else to shift without management stepping in and forcing a change.

 

If that doesn't work can you switch gyms?

[Janie Grace]

Never. That's terribly rude and selfish and would not be tolerated.

[solascriptura]

That’s not normal and would annoy me to no end. I do think that certain gyms attract a certain clientele. Maybe try another gym or bring it up with management?

[TechWife]

I have never seen that. I have only belonged to hospital gyms, though. The culture may be different. At one of them, the treadmills were always busy and so they had a time limit of 30 minutes and they had sign up sheets for those machines. Another one always reserved a certain number of their machines for cardiac rehab. It was understandable but also annoying in that we were all paying equally for the use of the gym.