Here are seven rules of gym etiquette you should follow if you want to display basic human decency while you’re at the gym.
And if you don’t care about that, then at least you’ll know you’re better than everyone else while you’re getting jacked.
It shocks me to see how many people don’t know these things or just blatantly ignore them even though they may have been going to the gym for months or even years…
1. Put your weights away
Putting weights away when you’re finished with them is the most basic rule of gym etiquette out there.
That’s why many gyms will even display a plaque or a sign that says this.
It’s the simplest thing you can do that makes such a huge difference.
And if you want to take this to the next level, you can put other things away in between your sets while you’re resting.
Equipment that you didn’t even use in your workout.
If you know where things go in your gym and you come into the gym and it’s a mess, in between your sets of bench press, you can pick things up and put them away.
Put the bands back on the hooks where they go
Re-rack other people’s plates that they may have left all over the place.
It helps you hit your step goal, it’ll help you burn more calories, and when people see you doing this consistently, it creates a knock on effect and suddenly your gym just becomes much cleaner.
Be the change you wanna see in the world, my friend.
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- stick to a workout plan for more than a week
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2. Be mindful of others
The gym is just a public place like any other.
You wouldn’t go into a dentist’s office and be ignorant of the people around you.
Other people are using that same shared space as you.
This should cover all the basic stuff that I shouldn’t really have to say, but I have to say it anyways.
not leaving your gym bag and your Gatorade bottle and your training log and your clothes all over the place.
Keeping your music at a reasonable volume in your headphones.
Not everyone loves listening to Shania Twain as much as you do.
Same thing with your phone calls.
Probably best to keep them brief or take them outside unless you really want to discuss your personal life publicly with everyone else in the gym around.
Basic hygiene also falls into this category.
It’s a good idea to wear clean clothes, use a shower (with soap and water) regularly, wear deodorant when you go to the gym, and avoid wearing strong perfumes or body sprays.
You just want to smell good, not great.
Grunting and moaning in your workouts…
Sometimes it’s involuntary, I get it, you’re training hard.
It happens, but let’s just keep it reasonable.
It shouldn’t sound like a tennis match is going on.
Maybe you train at a hardcore gym where people are screaming, moaning, and grunting.
But for most gyms, it’s not the vibe.
3. Respect the equipment
Gym equipment is expensive.
The building and its foundation are also expensive.
Avoid dropping weights when you’re in the gym, especially when it’s just completely unnecessary.
If you’re incline pressing the 55 pound dumbbells, you can just bring them down to your knees and put them on the ground.
Don’t drop them from a height and letting them fall on the floor.
It’s an easy way to damage the floor and damage the equipment unnecessarily.
Same thing with the machines.
You don’t need to drop the cable row and let the weight fall down and slam on the stack.
We’re sharing the equipment and it belongs to someone.
Just because you’re paying to rent it doesn’t give you the right to destroy it.
4. Give personal space
This should be common sense for anyone with basic social skills, but here’s a reminder for the lizard people out there.
Don’t linger close to people in a way that makes them uncomfortable, especially if they’re doing lateral raises or they’re doing an exercise like squatting.
You need to give them space for them to feel confident that they’re not going to bump into you.
If you can help it, try to avoid walking in front of people when they’re training, especially if they’re looking in the mirror and trying to focus on their technique.
This also includes spotting people.
If someone wants you to spot them, they will come and ask you for a spot.
I’m not talking about like emergency jumping in and helping someone who’s trapped under a barbell. That’s different.
But recently I saw a video of Geoffrey Schofield, he’s doing an incline dumbbell press and he starts struggling on the last rep and some dude just jumps in and starts helping him get the rep up.
I’ve literally never seen that happen. It was goofy.
So, here’s a reminder, don’t spot people unless they ask you to do it.
5. Don’t give unsolicited advice
Speaking of doing things that people did not ask you to do…
If you go up to someone and you start telling them that they’re training incorrectly, or that they could be doing something better or differently, you’re making a lot of assumptions about that person.
You’re making assumptions about their injury and training history.
You’re making assumptions about their training goals and maybe some workarounds that they’re working through.
You just don’t know.
And do you really have that good of advice to share with this person despite having no context on who they are, what they’re training for, what they’ve been doing?
I’ll hear people give the excuse of:
“Well, I saw him lifting in a way that was unsafe.”
The truth is that there are not a lot of things that are inherently unsafe to do in the gym.
Outside of extreme cases like the equipment is not set up correctly or it’s maybe damaged and the person didn’t know about that, there’s really just not that much going on that’s point blank dangerous.
But people feel like they have an idea of what’s unsafe, like deadlifting with a rounded back, and so they want to go up and display their expertise and save that person from injury when they just don’t know any better.
Now – interacting with other people at the gym is not always a bad thing…
6. Ask to work in
It’s always best to ask to use a piece of equipment when it’s in use.
You can always approach someone and say something like:
- 1. Hi
- 2a. How many sets do you have left?
- 2b. Do you mind if we take turns on that machine?
Odds are good they’ll say:
Oh, I have just one left
or
Yeah, you can work in since I have a few more sets left.
It’s just way nicer than sliding into their machine when they stand up to check their phone.
It’s common courtesy to ask.
And if you’re going to ask someone how many sets they have left, it’s best to wait until they’re finished their set.
If you want to take this one to the next level:
When you are using a piece of equipment or a machine and you can see that someone’s hovering and watching you, waiting for you to be done, do this.
Take your headphones out.
Ask the person:
Hey, are you looking to use this machine? You can work in with me.
Or
I just have one left. I’m almost done!
That’s called giving the gift of going first.
7. Don’t lift in front of the dumbbell rack
It’s a high traffic area where people are going to be locomoting and moving heavy weights from point A to point B.
It’s not designed for lifting.
It’s designed for picking up dumbbells and putting them back where they went.
So once you pick up your dumbbells, take them over to your station and do your exercise.
Then bring them back when you’re done.
I should also mention that wiping down your equipment when you’re done with it is considered basic courtesy in many gyms.
Many gyms have spray bottles with a cleaning solution and towels available so you can wipe the sweat off the equipment when you’re finished with it.
This has become increasingly common, especially after COVID.
Some gyms just aren’t really into cleaning things and wiping things down.
If that were my gym, I would bring a personal towel for myself to lay down on equipment because I’m a sweaty bastard and I leave the bench soaking wet when I’m finished.
That’s just gross for other people.
So if your gym has disinfectant and cloths, just spray your stuff down when you’re finished with it and wipe it down.
Follow these 7 rules, and you’ll be welcome in any gym you go to.
Hope that helps.
-Matteo
PS: in case you missed it, The Fat Loss Accelerator registration opens on September 13th.
First dibs on the limited spaces will go to the people on the priority list
If we sell out on day 1, the program won’t be available to the public.
