The Viking's Pet Peeves - Part 1

Pet Peeves - Part 1 - In the Gym

Kicking off a small 2 part series on biggest pet peeves; in the gym and in your databases. Today I'll touch on 5 of my biggest pet peeves and irritations in the gym. Give it a read, if you have more or something unique, sound off in the comments. Alright, starting with the least annoying and going up, let's get after it!

1. Loading every plate you can find to do tiny reps - There's always someone who takes every 45 lb plate they can find in a vicinity to load on a bar or machine. Sure, that looks impressive, but not if you do a half or even a quarter rep for 3-4. I'm sure there are some folks who will read this and immediately have a visceral reaction. "That's a valid form of training!" To a degree I'll concur with that. There is some science that suggest doing a larger weight for a half rep can increase muscle growth, however when done under slow movement and tension. Not for super quick "baby" reps! Couple this with not working up to that weight, just going straight for it. Personal pet peeve, just load a manageable weight and get that full range of motion intended for the movement.
2. Performing movement directly in front of the dumbbell rack (usually with a mirror) - Look, I enjoy watching myself lift as much as the next gym goer. Seeing muscles pop under tension, knowing your getting that good pump on! I kindly suggest you back up several feet from the rest of the dumbbells the rest of us need. Now, in my experience, a polite "Excuse me" or "Mind if I sneak in here right quick" is sufficient to back the offender up a touch to retrieve the desired weight. Every now and then though, you'll encounter that one person who feels you're violating their personal gym space by dare encroaching on weights in front of them.
3. Dropping weights from the top of a movement OR purposely throwing them down - Look, I recognize the gym is a loud environment. You're going to hear the barbells and plates smack the ground after an explosive deadlift. That's a natural auditory sensation. No, what I refer to here is when a lifter as at the top of a movement and rather than setting the weight down gracefully, they're purely let go of. Or worse yet, throwing them because you're so excited to have completed said lift.
   What I observe most often is the scenario of someone using a flat or slight incline bench for dumbbell presses. Naturally, we've got to go ultra heavy and pick weights that are at the top of the capability range. They've grinded out 8 good strong reps, go to sit up and fling the weights forward and or down. "The floor is a rubber mat and the dumbbells are rubber coated as well, what's the big deal?" Over time, especially with those large weights, the impact will start to bend the handles. Trust me, I've seen it. You think those weights are incredibly durable and they are, but they can only take so much impact before that bar will give way and flex. Secondarily, at least our weights currently, just have a rubber coating over the actual iron weight. The coverings are cracking and several have had the end caps pop off entirely. You know, the end cap that denotes the size of the weight you're picking up. 
   Now, there is a caveat I will throw in on this one. Speaking from experience, during a shoulder press once I felt a small pop and the shoulder gave out causing me to drop it. Valid. You experience a sudden pain or failure, yes drop it. I'm more referring to the knowingly and repeated dropping of the weights from on high that irks me.
4. Not wiping down equipment after using - I do not care if you've been in the gym for 1 minute or 1 hour. If your body touches any part of a machine that I later will be pressing my body on, wipe that down! Most gyms now, and especially post Covid, have multiple sanitization stations with spray bottles and paper towels. Our gym has 9 scattered throughout the facility and I still see people (face it, men mostly), grossly dripping in sweat get up from a station, grab their gear and walk away. Ewww, no sir! Take 30 seconds to clean up after yourself. I don't feel this is a big ask. 
   When am I visiting a new gym, the first thing I do is take inventory of wear the wiping gear is. I can safely say that in the last 6 years of gym going, every one has had at least two stations for it. If your gym does not, grab a pack of those pre-soaked Lysol wipes and keep in your gym bag. I simply cannot make excuses for this one. Do better.
5. Put your equipment away when done - I cannot believe that we have this issue as adults. What do we learn in Kindergarten? Don't hit our friends, don't be mean and put your toys away. Yet daily....DAY-LEE, I walk in to warm up and the kettlebells are strewn about, dumbbells are randomly placed around the facility, foam mats lie unattended on the turf, plates and bars from last night's training session are untouched.
   This gets under my skin like nothing else in the gym. When you get a piece of equipment out, do your work, put it back where you found it. Wish I could count the times I've had to go on a scavenger hunt around our 24,000 square foot facility desperately seeking the item needed to complete my workout for the day. It's not in the bin where one would expect to locate it, no, that'd be too easy. Let's leave it in the forgotten corner.
   We have a set of Hyrox sleds kept near the turf for practicing the push and pull for races. Several times I've come in to find them left out and fully loaded with plates from the night before. Like the gentleman I am, I'll unload and put the sled away so as to free up more space on the turf for other activities.
   But the worst, and for the love of doughnuts I mean the worst, is leaving weights on the floor in front of the empty rack! Kudos to you, at least the weight was brought back to where it belongs, sort of. No lie, last week when I came in, one of the kettlebell racks was completely devoid of any kettlebell. Zip, zilch, both shelves empty. Yet on the floor in front of them was every measure of kettlebell you could want. I was dumbfounded. It doesn't even have to be in order, just put them back. 

Perhaps dear reader you feel I'm overreacting. Well, that's conceivable. They are personal pet peeves after all. But I know we all have them. I'm interested to know some of yours. Please comment and share.

Then come back next week if you're so inclined to hear my top 5 pet peeves when it comes to databases!