Gym Etiquette: Peace and Quiet or Grunt and Groan?

Have you ever been in the middle of a set, and someone close by, is making loud grunts and groans, then you see that the weight that person is using, is not enough to even warm up with?

This happened to me today, there was this young guy, maybe 20 or so, and in great shape, who was doing a set of bench press, and he had a 35 on each side of the bar, along with 3 of those little bitty things, like 2.5 pounds or something, and he was grunting as if he had 500 lbs on the bar! Luckily, I had already finished my heavy set, before he added the second pair of tiny plates to the bar. I was doing a set of dumbbell pullovers, then the grunting started, and since I had seen what the kid had on the bar, I lost my focus and laughed so hard I almost dropped the 75 lb dumbbell on my head! Thinking that the noise would soon stop, I waited, but, the kid added that third tinker-toy to the bar, and did another set with his massive 130 lb load, while making even louder grunts and groans, the only thing missing was the usual fart that accompanies that much effort, when he finished that set, after all of that noise, I would have thought him to be done, but no, I saw him grab 2 more of those plates, that honestly could be used for key chains, I was sitting there, my towel over my face laughing, I couldn’t take it any more!

I wasn’t the only one, there were two or three others also laughing, one guy, doing dumbbell shoulder presses, dropped his and almost fell off the bench he was sitting on. I couldn’t take it anymore, I didn’t want to embarrass the kid, had I stayed any longer, I would have wet myself laughing! I couldn’t even finish my workout, I had lost my focus, and laughing zaps my strength, so I just called it a day and left.

The moral of the story is simple, if you are a “vocal” person, and train in a setting where others have to hear you, keep it down, anyone can see the weight you have on the bar, and unless it is heavy, keep your little girl sound effects to yourself, it is just rude, funny, but rude.

Join the forum discussion on this post

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.