The Mind-Muscle Connection

Sometimes you just have to wonder what people are thinking. Can they possibly be this incoherent about etiquette or even basic courtesy?  Is a west coast lifting environment different from an east coast lifting environment? That is a question for another day, but for now I have some advice for some specific people who will remain nameless.

1. If you are done working out, get the hell out of the gym, or at least go hang out with your friends somewhere else.  If you are going to sit on a machine and hold court over your past week in high school, you’re wasting people’s time who have shit to do still.  You shouldnt have to be asked to move, be courteous and have some etiquette and move your crowd to somewhere where there isnt a possibility that people will need to get around, through or by you.
2. Don’t have your belongings on 6 pieces of equipment at one time when you are working out (or pretending to work out).  Use one machine and if you need to do more than one exercise, let other people work in while you are in between sets.  Don’t just disappear and then come back expecting to have all your stations still unused. Other people are trying to get done so they can get home and start recovery. 
3. Don’t do shrugs in front of the dumbbell racks, in fact, dont do any exercises on or even near the racks.  Get your weight and get the hell away from them. Other people need to use those dumbbels and dont need to dodge someone while returning 120s to the stack.  If the weight is that heavy that you cant walk with it, drop the weight and do the exercise right.
4. I dont care if you want to read a magazine, book or your email between sets, tis your progress that you’re affecting, but don’t do it on a machine that other people are waiting to use.  If your rest periods are 5+ minutes, then come to the gym at midnight, or dont use popular machines.  Save the reading for the cardio machines
5. Do not use a popular machine for some auxillary exercise when all other like machines are taken. For example, doing curls on a barbell bench press when all other benchs are taken.  Chest is a popular muscle group and barbell bench is the king of chest exercises, more than one person is bound to want to do that exercise on that station at one time.  Do curls with a free weight bar,  just becuase you are too lazy to bend over to pick up the bar, doesnt mean you need a station for it.

Thats all for now, I’m bound to have more later until the New Years Resolution crowd dissipates.