by Steve Lilley

Created on: March 20, 2009   Last Updated: March 26, 2009

Heath club etiquette is about the unwritten rules of the club, these are things nearly everyone can guess but most people choose to ignore for some unknown reason. For people who don't follow the health club etiquette it makes it an unpleasant experience for everyone else. It also has a habit of affecting other peoples workouts. This leads on to people not being able to complete their workouts, or the workouts taking longer than they need to.

The first one has to be people who hog the machines; if you are using weight machines and benches you should let people use them during your rest period between your sets. This means you don't hold people up and everyone can complete their programmes, in regards to cardiovascular machines there is the rule that during busy/peak times you should limit your use of a machine to just 20 minutes and not keep it to yourself for up to one and a half hours. This is especially the case when there are very few of the machine you are keeping to yourself. Not taking and using a towel in the gym, when you lie on benches or sit on machines and sweat it get all over the seat or bench, would you want to lie in someone else's sweat, as do you know what bacteria they have left behind? The same with not wiping equipment down when you have finished with it. It's the same as not using a towel. Remember you spend all your time in your sweat why be in someone else's.

Leaving weights on the machines (plate loaded machines) not everyone checks the weights and I have seen a few people stuck at the bottom of the machine with a few 100 kgs on their and they didn't look, and if they try lifting the weights of they would have landed on their toes. So please put weights back doesn't take long, also dumbbells and bars left lying around are trip hazards and can take forever to find the weight you want because people can't spend 30 seconds putting them back. Another similar one is those who take 6 sets of dumbbells and won't let others use them, you can only use one set at a time so why hog them all. Chatting on cell or mobile phones is another one; you're in a health club to exercise your whole body not your mouth. People don't want to hear your conversations, if you're busy texting or chatting on the phone are you really working hard enough to benefit from your workout. It's normally very busy and noisy in a health club so can your really hear the person down the phone or can they hear you? Save your phone calls for afterwards as no one wants to know what's going on in your personal life.

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