I was a Gold's Gym member for 5 years and really enjoyed the place for the most part. The equipment was cutting edge, they had tons of free weights, the gym hours were good, etc. The problem is that Gold's attracts a certain segment of the fitness population. I'm not sure where these Neanderthals come from, but these guys are obnoxious. I want to point out some of this bad behavior, so we can begin to put it to an end. I know that Gold's isn't the only place where this exists.



1) Dropping of Dumbbells After A Set is Complete: This is bad for the equipment and is just idiotic. It does nothing to increase muscle mass and if anything could cause them to injure themselves or someone lifting close to them. Their main excuse is that they are lifting heavy weights. Why is it true that I can quietly lift 100 pound dumbbells and one of these retards is making noise with 60 pounders?

2) Grunting Like a Freak During Sets: What is up with the weird grunting sounds? I can understand that if someone was attempting a personal best at an extremely heavy deadlift that there could be a bit of noise, but these guys are doing it on isolation exercises. Seriously, nobody wants to hear this stuff. The guys who drop dumbbells are very likely to be grunters as well. One of the things I like to do to entertain myself is grab a much heavier weight than them, sit next to them doing the same exercise while completely silent. I will then ask them why they feel the need to lift with such drama.

3) Not Putting Away Their Weights: There is nothing worse than walking into a free weight area with dumbbells all over the ground and half loaded barbells. This is really a selfish behavior, because it shows blatant disrespect for the gym members as well as the employees. This is a really big problem in every gym I have worked out in. It is especially bad in places that are considered hardcore gyms, but certainly isn't isolated to these places.

4) Standing in Front of The Dumbbell Rack During Sets: This is just plain lazy behavior. Have you ever seen a guy grab a set of dumbbells and then proceed to do a set of shrugs or lateral raises right in front of the rack? The problem is that nobody can access those weights during his set. This happens to me all the time. I will squeeze right in front of the person and grab a set of dumbbells just to piss them off. This angers them every time, but I explain to them that is they weren't working out right in front of the rack this wouldn't be an issue.

5) Super-setting With 3-4 Pieces of Equipment: This isn't a problem as long as the person who does this allows you to do sets when they are on a different piece of equipment. The problem is when they believe that they should be able to use that equipment uninterrupted for long periods of time. This should be outlawed in the gym! Unless it is during a slow period, the rule should be one piece of equipment at a time.

Summary: Gold's Gym is a great company, not trying to bag on them at all. It is in these typical hardcore gyms where the worst behaviors occur. My point in this whole article is to reach out to gym members and the staff to try and prevent as much of this bad behavior as possible.