Appropriate Etiquette at the Fitness Centre

After a warm, relaxing and indulgent week spent in Mexico over reading break I was not looking forward to hitting the gym upon my return.  Within two days of being back in Montreal and in the midst of a serious case of beach withdrawal I decided to make my way over to the gym for a long overdue workout.  Seeing as students had already gone on vacation I figured the pre-reading week congestion at the gym would have subsided, however, I was very mistaken.  The gym was just as busy as it had been before reading week. 

It was while I was waiting twenty minutes for a treadmill that I found myself extremely frustrated with not only the wait times for machines at the gym but also the behavior of my fellow gym goers.  Although the gym can be very busy at times I truly believe that if people practiced more suitable gym etiquette, things at the Fitness Centre might run a tad smoother.

First and foremost, the Fitness Centre provides laminated scheduling sheets for each and every cardio machine.  This is to ensure that everyone is able to access the machines fairly.  Notwithstanding the existence of these sheets, I witness countless episodes of people awkwardly and sometimes not so awkwardly interrupting someone’s workout because they’re signed up for a machine that someone else is using.  Signing up for a treadmill or elliptical takes less than a minute and can save you from having your workout interrupted.  Most importantly, if you are not signed up for the machine you’re using and are force to get off, do not simply go to the next available machine! Go and sign up so you don’t have to get kicked off for a second time! 

Secondly, the Fitness Centre is not a meeting place for people to socialize.  I am certainly not suggesting that people cannot speak to each other but that twenty-minute conversation with someone in front of the treadmill I’m using is extremely distracting and unnecessary.  So many people feel uncomfortable coming to the gym as it is and certainly do not need a stranger standing right in front of them for the entirety of their workout.  Furthermore, conversations in front of the water fountain, sets of weights, entrance or exit is not acceptable! Most people want to get in and out of the gym as quickly as possible and groups of people conversing in every corner of the gym is distracting and often bothersome. 

Lastly, a small list of less serious, but nonetheless distracting tendencies gym goers should consider ditching: talking on your cell phone, “forgetting” to wipe down the machine you just used, neglecting to put back your stretching mat and/or weights, bouncing the large exercise balls as if they were a basketballs and simply failing to remember that the McGill Fitness Centre does not only belong to you, but also to the thirty-two thousand other students at McGill!