Top 10 Stupid Things People Do in the Gym

As a personal trainer in Silicon Valley for many years, I’ve seen it all.

I’ve seen people snoring on the workout bench, folks smoking while on the exercise bike, but that’s the one-off stuff you tell your significant other about when you get home.

Then there’s the more common antics you see every day as a fitness professional. Most of us come to develop our own list of pet peeves, whether we want to or not. When you spend as much time in the gym as we do, you tend to see the same behavior over and over from certain types or the same individuals.

We usually don’t discuss it with “civilians” but I’ll let you see my list of “stupid gym tricks” that make me shake my head, and probably yours too. How many of these wince-inspiring, eye-rollers have you witnessed at your club?

Top 10 List of Stupid Things People Do in the Gym

10. Grunting like they’re still going up the evolutionary ladder.

9. Women that doll themselves up and strut around the gym in full makeup like they’re at a singles bar.

8. Guys that build up all upper body and no lower body. Chicken legs!

7. The lone middle-aged man with a strange grin on his face amongst all the women in the jazzercise class.

6. Putting all the weight plates in the gym on the leg press machine, doing two reps, and then leaving all the plates on the machine for the next person.

5. Having to use the same exact cardio machine every day or their day is ruined. (Never mind that there’s 10 identical machines right next to it.)

4. Doing 500 reps of crunches on the ab machine and calling it a workout.

3. Taking calls on cell phones while working out. Because everyone within 15 feet really does want to know what you think about your friend’s loser boyfriend. And we’re sure your colleagues are really enjoying your heavy breathing on that conference call.

2. Dancing and singing out loud in the gym. This happens more frequently than you would think.

1. Driving around the parking lot of the gym for 20 minutes to find the closest spot.