Reagarding Gym Ettiquite

For a long time, I was not a fan of gyms. The glaring lights, sweaty people, loud machines, awful dance music - it was not an environment in which I felt comfortable. And besides, I was constantly working out for cheerleading in high school and college, so the gym was not a place I necessarily needed to be either. However, as I've grown older and stopped cheering, I have also grown rounder, chubbier, plumper if you will. I jumped up 2 pants sizes in a matter of months. I hated the way I looked and the way clothes felt on my body.

Therefore, it was quickly becoming clear that the dreaded gym was iminent for me. About two months ago, I checked out a few places in the area and settled on LA Fitness. The staff seems helpful and there was not an abundance of muscle laden meathead guys or skinny bitches, for lack of a better term. I jumped in with both feet, excited and ready to start my fat loss and muscle gain journey. I have been going to the gym at the very least twice a week since I joined, and often take part in the fitness classes they ofter. I must say, I have become a bit of a gym mouse (you know, gym rat but less big and scary.) During this transformation, I have also learned quite a few rules on gym ettiquite, which I will share with you now:

1. Don't stare. Period. Some people (me) are chubbier, some people (me) sweat a lot, some people (me) have a hard time catching their breath on the elliptical, some people (not me...) accidentally end up singing to their ipod out loud, and some people (definitely not me...) like to check out their hair in the huge walls of mirrors. Whatever your personal workout style, please, don't stare at others doing theirs.

2. Please do not dress to go to the gym, as though there might be a representative from Cosmo there, looking for new exercise trends. I understand that some people might come straight from work and therefore have makeup left on. However, there is a definitely different between leftover work hair and makeup and obviously doing your hair and makeup (with abundant product) to go exrecise. You are at the GYM: you do not need to match, you do not need to be a walking advertisement for Under Armour, and your fellow gym goers do not need to see you in SPANDEX SHORTS. This goes for males and females.

3. If you think you're going to meet your soulmate while working out at the gym, you might consider looking for a new soul as well. That's all.

4. When someone gets on the LAST GOOD ELLIPTICAL (the one without those dumb arm things that I can't use because my arms, and generally my whole body, are too short) don't give them the death stare just because it's right next to yours. If you didn't want anyone to use the machine next to you, you should have hired someone to sit on it, or better yet, bought one to use in the privacy of your own home. You're at the gym. It's a public arena. Deal with it.

5. And last, but definitely most important. If you absolutely MUST go to the gym with a friend (or THREE, as the more-than-middle-aged women at my gym tend to do), please do not stand around in a pack, blocking the machines, and talking loudly about your gross baby fat. This is not middle school, standing in circles with a group of females is no longer the cool thing to do, or the way to show how popular you are. It is annoying.

Sorry for the negative tone of this post. I just really felt like I needed to save my blogger friends from embarrassing themselves at the gym in the future, by falling into one of these terrible gym no-no's.