The gym is a place where people can convene in one location to lift weights and feel a sense of reward and athletic progress. Whether you are new to the gym experience or a seasoned weight lifting veteran, you have probably experienced some of the things that being in an enclosed area with a large number of sweaty, agitated people has to offer. And being a part of such a thing is one of the most rewarding experiences in your lifetime. Going to the gym offers an immediate reward after your workout, because you know that you are working towards a goal and that your hard work will pay off.
However, when your workout is disturbed by some unruly, savage person who assumes he/she owns the place, it threatens to unravel your focus. Your immediate response to such a situation is that of perplexion and a small amount of anger. Annoying people are everywhere, and they seem to only multiply in a gym environment, where it’s filled with opportunities to disrupt people’s workouts (whether that come in the form of flashes from cell phone cameras as a lifter takes a selfie, or the notorious act of using a squat for everything but squats). Maxwell Rickard (11), a student and accomplished wrestler at Vernon Hills High School, states that in the scenario of someone using a squat rack for arms rather than legs he will, “Politely ask the guy how many sets he has left, and if he says any more than three, I would inform [him] that curling bars are a thing in the gym.”
People who don’t know what they’re doing in the gym are the #1 cause of frustration. When you walk into an environment where people are hyped up on pre-workout hormones, and you’re in there as an obvious newbie doing unorthodox workouts only your best friend who took weights once and dropped it would have taught you, you’re going to have a bad time. So you might as well learn a few things in this article before you go venturing out to your nearest gym to aggravate more people who can most likely bench you as a warm up.
First things first: mirror space. The free-weight section of the gym is designed in such a particular way to satisfy all of your protein junkie needs such as heavy weights. This being said, you should learn to love the free-weight room and its significant amount of mirror space. Whether you’re using the mirror for form or to fill your egocentric, self loving-needs you need to learn one thing: do not take people’s mirror space. Using the mirror is the one chance lifters have to escape from this cruel world so they can focus on their gains, so it’s safe to say that it’s sacred. To quote the Holy Bible of Gains, our savior Brosus says, “Do not covet thy neighbor’s mirror space!” (Arnold 3:43).
If you were in the bathroom and were washing your hands and someone came up behind you and put their arms around you to reach the sink to wash their own hands all the while they’re gazing intensely into the mirror, would you be okay with that? Weights teacher and football coach at Vernon Hills High School, Dave Schroetter, said “I don’t really use the mirror much, but if there’s 50 feet of mirror that no one else is using, and I’m working in about a 2 ft section when someone walks right in front of me or behind me and starts working out, yeah that’s gonna irritate me.” Although understanding how awkward and creepy the situation is, Mr. Schroetter follows up with a statement that sums up the realistic environment, “You know, most of the people I run into at the gym are pretty cordial, and most of the time people know if they’re in your way. However you can’t control that 10% of people who just do whatever they want and act like they own the place.”
In order to be a humane member of society, you have to follow certain rules, like putting weights away when you’re done are essential and keeping the environment clean and safe. Schroetter says, “You have to respect the place that you work, and if you’re in the gym you have to clean up after yourself. The first thing I tell my guys (Weights Class) is when you’re done with your set, you need to put your weights away otherwise it’s ten push-ups for every pound you leave on the floor.” If you or anyone else you know are part of that particular 10% of people who seem to not care about keeping the gym environment clean, don’t be surprised when the next time you ask somebody for a spot they say no. Unless you’re the type of person who goes to a place like Dick’s Sporting Goods and decides to try on every pair of Nikes that you can, leaving the room looking like the aftermath of a hurricane, you really have nothing to worry about at this point.

-Pre-workout: substance filled with caffeine and a superfluous amount of unpronounceable chemicals to be ingested before your workout so you can get hyped up
-Holy Bible of Gains: scripture for the Church of Saturday Lifters
-Squat Rack: if you use the rack for anything but squats and are at all confused on what the word “squat” means you should seek medical attention immediately. Lifting dyslexia can surface in young adults and can be treated by studying the English dictionary; preferably the difference between “squats” and “curls”