Gym culture question - ‘working in’

[jon-nyc]

When I was a yoot the idea of ‘working in’ - letting someone who wanted to use the machine you’re using do his sets between yours - was the default.

With young people it seems less so. I never ask directly, but I’ll ask ‘how many sets you got left?’ I find that if they’re 40+ they usually offer to let me work in, if they’re young they just answer the question.

What do you see?

[Mik]

In several years I’ve only been asked once. It’s just not done because you have to wipe down the equipment.

[jon-nyc]

Oh yeah, most of the people in my gym don’t. Unless they’re sweaty.

[kluurs]

It's been a while since I've worked out in a gym. I had Oprah's Stedman work in with me one time. One gym I worked at long ago had a healthy population of gang members and police working out there. I had an African American workout buddy who had both brands and tattoos. I only knew his name as "Snake". If you saw Snake, you wouldn't want to mess with him or his friend Conrad who looked like he could pick up a building. I remember working in one time when Snake and his friends were benching. They were doing a ladder workout on bench and on the downside of that - but as soon as I worked they started trash talking each other if someone couldn't outlift me. If I lifted 225 x 12, the next you thing you heard was "no, way you can lift that 12.." You then knew the guy would lift more than 12 if it killed him.

I've thought of rejoining a Planet Fitness to do a few things I can't do at home - might be worth the $15 a month to have that. Still, I hate waiting on equipment. I can work out far more efficiently at home.

[Mik]

I go around 1:30 -2:30 when it's starting to slow down. There's always something in my routine open, usually several.

[Klaus]

@jon-nyc said in Gym culture question - ‘working in’:

Oh yeah, most of the people in my gym don’t. Unless they’re sweaty.

Over here, it's the most reliable indicator of age. Over 65? 90% wipe. Under 40? 5% at most.

[jon-nyc]

@kluurs said in Gym culture question - ‘working in’:

One gym I worked at long ago had a healthy population of gang members and police working out there.

Across Austin Blvd I assume?

[Horace]

People just camp on equipment and you have to deal with it. The superset folk who camp on two are the new frontier of the social contract.

In high school working in was common.

At my community's gym, which I went to for a while after moving here, adult women might camp on one of the 10 pieces of equipment for 15 minutes at a time, and they might be chatting with a friend standing next to them for the whole time. They might shoot you an evil eye if you ask whether they might be done at any time.

[jon-nyc]

Yeah, I don't approach if they're chatting. More common here is people taking unreasonably long phone breaks between sets. When I nicely ask 'how many sets do you have left'? that usually speeds them up. It certainly does speed me up.

[kluurs]

I hated when people used to leave things on a bench which they weren’t using except as a giant stand for their phone and water bottle