What Is Proper Gym Etiquette?

In most of the country, things have finally returned to pre-covid normal. Gyms are open again and no longer require a mask while working out. However, two years of social distancing and working out from home seems to have made people forget proper gym etiquette.

Whether you are new to the gym or a veteran gym-goer, there are a few basic rules all lifters must follow to be a respectable member of the iron society.

Proper gym etiquette isn’t hard to master, and there are only eight things you have to remember:

1. Rack your weights

If you use something, put it back where you found it. This one is very well-known and very intuitive. I don’t care if you’ve never stepped foot in a gym before; this is basic human decency. Besides, every gym has a sign reminding you to do it, so pleading ignorance is not an option.

Littering weights around the gym is wrong for many reasons, but leaving your weights on the bar is just as bad. Maybe the next person to use it will be an old lady who can’t (and shouldn’t have to) put away your 45-pound plates.

2. Wipe off your sweat

You should wipe off every piece of equipment you use, especially in our “post”- covid era when people are extra sensitive to germs. And no, the gym towel is insufficient; use a sanitary wipe.

If you’re like me and hate cleaning off gym equipment, then just prevent it from being a possibility. Tailor your workout routine around squats, deadlifts, floor presses, and pull-ups. If you don’t use a bench or a machine, there is almost no cleanup required.

Although nowadays, it has become proper gym etiquette to even wipe off your barbells after using them.

3. Personal space

If there are ten open treadmills, you should leave at least one between yourself and the next person. It’s polite. The same goes for benches in the weight room, lockers in the locker room, and urinals for the men.

Unless it is absolutely necessary, you shouldn’t be within six feet of someone at the gym. This isn’t just polite; it’s also wise. People go to the gym to literally swing and throw around weights. Keep a safe distance.

4. Yes, you can work in

No one using something at the gym wants to share it, but let’s face the facts: it’s 6 p.m., space is limited, and you’re both trying to get a workout in. It looks like you’re gym buddies.

All it takes is saying, “Hey, do you mind if I work in with you?”. Eight out of ten people will say yes. Ten percent will tell you it is their last set, and it’s all yours after. The other ten percent are human garbage, and it is better not to have to interact with them anyway.

Be friendly about it, too. You don’t have to spark a conversation but if you choose to have a prolonged interaction with someone, take your headphones out.

5. Yes, I can spot you

This won’t involve interrupting your workout. If you are doing some high-intensity interval training, nobody is going to ask you to spot them. If someone asks while you are doing anything else, politely tell them you will after your set and then spot them during your rest.

If you say no, and that person gets hurt, you’re partly at fault. It sucks, but that is the reality. Size doesn’t matter here. A 100-pound female can spot the biggest guy in the gym because the lifter should really only need, at most, about 30 pounds of help.

On the other side of the coin, don’t ask for a spotter if you need lots of help or want to do negatives or something that will make the other person do a lot of heavy lifting. Suppose that type of thing is required for you to exercise safely; it is your responsibility to either make a friend or BYOS (bring your own spotter). Please don’t ask a stranger to do it.

6. Don’t smell terrible

Look, you are at the gym. There are going to be some smells. But that is no excuse to let hygiene fall by the wayside.

Wear clean-ish clothes. You don’t have to shower and get dressed for the gym, but if you wouldn’t wear it outside, don’t wear it there.
Don’t have a stinky gym bag; there are products for that.
Clean shaker bottles as soon as you use them because old supplements smell nasty.

7. Keep your advice to yourself

Everybody loves when someone with no expertise tells them they’re doing something wrong. So don’t give your weightlifting advice to people who didn’t ask for it.

Tell one of the gym’s staff members if you think someone will hurt him or herself.

On the other hand, be careful about whose advice you take. There are a lot of buff-looking gym bros who’d love to share with you their pseudoscience about getting jacked. So let me save you some time; you don’t need to take creatine or amino acids. They may help a little bit, a real little bit, but consistency is far more important and doesn’t cost $90 a bottle.

In addition, even seasoned gym goers have lousy form on some exercises. Deadlifts, planks, and shoulder presses are the most common butchered exercises from gym vets. If you need help learning the proper form for any exercise, contact me, I’d be happy to help.

8. Don’t block traffic or the dumbbell rack

Be aware of where you choose to do your exercises. If you are standing too close to the dumbbell rack, you are getting in the way of other people’s workouts. Grab your dumbells and take a few steps back.

If you are standing in the walking lanes, you are just in the way. I understand you may have limited options when the gym is busy; if that is the case, most gyms have an open stretching area. Bring your dumbbells in there and do your workout there instead.

This list is far from the end-all, be-all of proper gym etiquette, but these eight practices will establish you as an upstanding citizen of the iron society.