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November 03, 2006
Touchy!
A fellow in New York was expelled from his gym for grunting too loudly:
Some gyms forbid hogging machines and or wearing flip flops. At one gym, grunting is grounds for expulsion. Albert Argibay of Beacon, N.Y. was escorted by police officers from a gym this week for grunting — which is against Planet Fitness' rules for maintaining a non-intimidating atmosphere.
"Perhaps I grunted, perhaps I didn't. It's open to interpretation," said Argibay, a 40-year-old corrections officer. He said he had his headset on when he was lifting 500 pounds on a squat machine at the gym in Wappingers Falls, about 80 miles north of New York City.
Planet Fitness, which has 120 locations across the country, markets itself as a place where anyone can feel comfortable in its "Judgment Free Zone."
Its rules, posted around the gym, state members cannot wear bandanas, grunt or bang weights on the ground. When an offender is spotted, a "lunk alarm" sounds to warn the member.
To me, it's a little extreme to boot the guy from the gym for grunting, especially if it's his first offense. Nevertheless, rules are rules, and I think grunting is definitely an asinine thing to do at non-musclehead gyms. Of course, gyms, like most places, are pretty big bastions of rudeness.
Here are some of my gym pet peeves:
1. Standing in the running track. It's for running. If you're not running or walking, don't stand in it picking your nose, idiot!
2. Using a machine for something other than its intended use. There's this one machine at my Bally's, I don't know what it's called, but there's only one of them even though it's really popular. You have to be really on top of things to get it before someone else does. So, sometimes there'll be people who are using the machine as a base for doing leg stretched and stuff. I want to smack those people.
3. Playing music too loudly. I don't want to hear your Garth Brooks songs coming out of your iPod, mkay?
4. Filling your water bottle in the water fountain. It takes a minute to fill the bottle. Don't do this when people are waiting to get a drink of water.
5. Excessive nudity. If you have to be naked in the locker room, for Christ's sake, only be naked for as long as is necessary. There is this one guy who is always prancing around naked in the locker room; another guy who I saw standing in front of the mirror and shaving naked; and of course the people who stand under those electronic hand dryers to dry their naked bodies. I mean, if I could somehow be invisible and see this go on in the women's locker room, that might be okay for me. But guys? Put Mr. Johnson away.
There are many other pet peeves I have, but I can't think of them right now. You'll be sure to hear about them as soon as I can remember!
entry no. 641
Posted by oz115 at November 3, 2006 04:58 PM
Comments
Sounds like you are a little touchy, Planet Fitness might be perfect for you...
Don't knock others who are comfortable with their naked bodies. There are many different cultures out there, and most of them aren't as nudity-phobic as ours. Didn't you ever have to take gym-class or after-sports showers? Get over it. Your junk is the same as the other guys.
As for filling the water bottle. Ideally there would be a sink somewhere, but there isn't, so we wait in line, and do what we have to. Think of it this way, once the bottle is full we won't back at the fountain. I could just as easily point at people without water bottles and say how annoying it is when somebody keeps going back every 5 minutes.
I do agree with your other 3 points though. iPods, walkman's, whatever, they are *personal* stereos, I don't want to hear your crap. As an ex-runner, I absolutely HATE people on the track that don't belong. They are fun to bump into though...
-G
Posted by: G at November 4, 2006 10:16 PM