Sign what sign?
I am in the gym about 5 days a week for about 2 hrs. today as I walked from the cardio area to the Free Weight section I noticed what I had been noticing all week.
People don’t replace their weights after they finish, the seated calf was loaded up, the leverage incline press was loaded up there was a pile of loose plates next to the Smith Machine and the EZ bar on the preacher bench was fully loaded with another pile of loose plate on the floor next to it.
I walked up to a gentlemen I always see around this time and asked if he was the mgr or owner he smiled and said owner. He introduced him self and I asked if I could make a suggestion I explained how often I was in their and complimented him on his gym then pointed out the weight which had not been returned.
I explained that I had 20 some yrs around the industry and while I understood he couldn’t stop this from happening as a whole maybe some signs posted appropriately as reminders etc. you know the whole power of suggestion type thing people see the signs think your watching etc.
He looked at me as if I was critisizing him personally which I by no means was, this is a very nice and very clean gym otherwise and everyone is polite etc. But loose weight plates on the floor, fully loaded machines and bars are a safety issue and liabilty as well as inconveniant.
he pointed behind me and said we have a sign I turned and behind the Smith machine next to the hand santizer despenser was a small sign just bigger than a deck of cards that said something about replacing the weights when you were done.
We small talked for a while and I saw this was not going the way I had hoped so I personally unloaded everything and finished my workout.
It is what it is, hopefully when one of the elderly women that comes in there trys to pull a sewer lid off the machine part of the after school bench press crew has left on she won’t hurt herself.
February 19, 2008 at 12:14 pm
I once worked out at High Energy, a relatively serious gym in Delaware. I underweighed the smallest guy in there by around 50lbs. The gym had an onsite welder who would add additional bars for plateloading. The really big guys there used to stack 100lb plates, vertically, at neck-level on the 45-degree leg press. I’d struggle to pry them up & they’d point & laugh at me. This type of inconsiderate behavior is why I work out at home now. A little consideration seems harder to find these days! Best of luck with your training!
February 19, 2008 at 12:34 pm
If you were the smallest guy there I would hate to see the biggest! To hell with them man, it looks like your puttin in some serious work.
February 19, 2008 at 12:39 pm
Yes I had the same experiance at the very first real gym I ever trained at which was inhabited by powerlifters and super hvywt class bodybuilders. Evry day of the yr they loaded 100 pound plate on the plate loaded machines and left them there.
It never ceses to amaze me.
February 21, 2008 at 6:16 am
I work out at a german gym, and people are just as inconsiderate. The younger kids are the ones you have to look out for. When i see one walk away without removeing the plate, i raise my voice so they know i’m talkin to them and point at the wieghts. If i did it in a place where people understood english, somebody might take the gesture in a serious way, but for some reason no german has called me out yet. I also calculate the size of the person i’m yelling at
February 22, 2008 at 5:50 am
I bet it’s the old lady and not the high school crowd who is the culprit!
Some super strong elderly woman just trying to cause trouble.
Seriously, the owner isn’t expecting too much if all he has is a playing card-size "sign" telling people to return their weights to the racks.
Gold’s in Carlisle has some pretty good employees. The one girl, though, actually stripped the weights from the "racks" on the sides of the Smith machine and took the 35’s and 45’s to free-standing racks. I thought that was overkill. The bar on the Smith was empty.
February 22, 2008 at 5:53 am
Smith Machines should only be used for coat racks no sense in leaving good plates on them.