I don’t work out in commercial gyms too often but when I do I am shocked at some of the habits people have and what gyms allow people to get away with. While you can’t make people change, you can change yourself. If you do hopefully others will follow your example. So here are some items of what I consider proper gym etiquette.

1. Rerack your weights.

Not doing this this should be grounds for revoking gym membership. This is simply picking up after yourself. Something we all learn to do as children. It takes very little effort and helps the next person. Some people might say that the person before them left the weights scattered around so they are just leaving it the way they found it. That leads us to our next item.

2. Rerack someone else’s weights.

It won’t kill you to pick up a small area you are in. Lead by example. If someone left your area unorganized then organize it when you are putting your weights up. It only makes sense. Who cares if you didn’t make the mess? Be better than that. Most people who have a normally functioning brain will feel bad seeing you pick up after them and won’t make the same mistake again.

3. Give your equipment to people who need it more than you.

If you are doing curls out of a squat rack for convenience there is nothing wrong with that. However, if someone is waiting to squat it is a deadly sin. Squat racks are for squatting. The same goes for deadlifting in front of a rack. You can deadlift anywhere. So you have to walk a few extra steps with weight. You are in a gym. Don’t be lazy.

4. Wipe down the benches and seats you use.

Gyms are breeding ground for bacteria. Additionally no one wants to deal with your sweat grease.

5. Don’t be an intimidating asshole.

No one cares how big you are or how much weight you can lift. Everyone starts somewhere. Just because you have 15 years of experience under your belt you don’t have to make the 15 year old feel more stupid that he or she already does trying to work out for the first time not knowing a clean from a curl. You aren’t in the gym to put on a show. You are there to workout. So is everyone else.

      6. Leave the girls alone

I watched 3 different guys hit on a very attractive girl who was working her butt off. She clearly was not interested in a date and was there to get work done. It was a gym after all. I can’t imagine how distracting that would be. And remember mirrors work both ways fellas. She can see you staring at her like a creepy stalker.

Be courteous.  Get your work done.  Go home.  Then everyone is happy.

Goals

Don’t go into a gym just to workout. Have a purpose. Have a goal. It shouldn’t be something you do just because you think you are supposed to do it. What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to be leaner? Be stronger? Look better? Just get a good sweat?

You should have two basic types of goals. Long term goals and short term. Or you can look at this as general and specific.

Looking good naked is a long term, broad goal.

Losing 5lbs by the end of the month is a specific goal aimed towards that purpose.

You accomplish the long term goal by accomplishing many small goals. Most of the time people have long term goals and they think they can just show up in the gym and they will happen.

Here is the important stuff…

•  Short term goals must be specific and realistic
• Long term goals are general and realistic but can be a reach
• Have a plan
• Tell people what your goal is. Be accountable. Don’t keep it a secret. It is too easy to get out of if you do.
• Find people with similar goals.
• Don’t have too many at once and keep in mind some will work against each other. (Example: Lost weight gain. Gain muscle. But if you lose weight you will lose muscle. Pick one to concentrate on)
• Body goals are accomplished outside the gym as well. Remember it doesn’t end just because your workout did.
• Take action. Be ready to adapt if you plain is failing. Don’t give up or spin your wheels just because you had the wrong approach.

If you have been don’t have a plan or a goal you will fail because you have nothing to accomplish. Write it down. Share it no matter how embarrassing it is for you. The only real reason you don’t want to share it is because it gives you and excuse to give up and fail and no one will know. Don’t be that person. Be brave.

For an expanded version of this click here

This is a long process.  If you are serious about having a better performing and/or better looking body then you will be working out for a long time.  I always tell clients to think about months and years rather than days and weeks.  Beginners will make tremendous gains in a short period of time.  This is the exception.  Olympic Weightlifters are happy if they add a few kilos to their total per year.  Bodybuilders will normally compete around the same weight most of their careers and anyone who has worked for more than a year consistently knows how long it takes to see real gains. 

Once you get to a certain level gains are made in small baby steps.  Yes, there are exceptions to this but I am talking about advanced lifters or fitness enthusiast.  When I get new people even if they are experienced they make large gains quickly.  This is simply because I am correcting the mistakes they made in the past and they are introduced to organized training.  Once that honeymoon is over they will stagnate. Then you find some small way to improve.  Then stagnate again.  Welcome to the world of working out.  You should always strive for improvement but that doesn’t have to be a bigger arm, leaner legs or more weight.  It can be small things like better form on exercises or to work on flexibility more.  Think about it…

Let’s say you can bench press 315lbs

If you could add 5lbs to your bench press every month that doesn’t seem like much.  However, at the end of the year your bench would be up 60lbs to 375

2 years=435lbs

3 years = 495lbs

4 years = 555lbs

5 years = 615lbs

6 years = 675lb

If it was that easy everyone would bench 1000lbs.  It is a constant battle to improve.  You have to use smarter and smarter training methods and treat your body better and better for these small bits of improvement. 

Anyone struggling with fat loss has experienced the same thing.  You have 50lbs to lose.  The first 20 come off quickly and then you are stuck.  Instead of dieting smarter you do the same thing and get frustrated so you stop dieting all together.  You gain ten pounds, get back to dieting, lose them quickly but are stuck again.  This pattern goes on until you give up all together.  However, it is you who has failed to accept what a battle this will be and that is a long process. 

·         The same training programs won’t keep working

·         The same diets won’t keep working.

·         It will get harder and harder and harder every year.

The improvement of elite athletes tend to look like steps.  A push then a coast.  These are people who have all day to dedicate to improving.  They are fighting the same battle as everyone else.  They have doctors, trainers, technology, physiotherapist, and everything else at their disposal but are still struggling for those small improvements.  Then best thing you can do is learn how to work with your body instead of trying to force it to improve by doing the same thing you always do.  You may feel like you deserve credit for putting in tremendous effort but no one gives credit to the fly who keeps bumping into the glass to get outside. 

It isn’t easy to keep a six pack when you are 45.  It isn’t easy to get your body back after having 3 kids in 5 years.  It isn’t easy getting your deadlift up another 100lbs when you already can pull 650lbs but people do these things all the time.  It is work and accepting that it isn’t easy.  It is a long term relationship.  The honeymoon is over.  You have to grow together.  You have to accept each other for what you are.  You have to constantly work to improve. 

                It isn’t always easy.  It isn’t always fun but if you are smart and you accept you are in it for the long haul then you will have something extraordinary. 

A very common theme especially for beginners is trying to have a body like someone else.  They want to look like a certain celebrity or athlete so they search high and wide for the training methods they use.  This has never made sense to me.  This is like trying to have someone else’s face.  You are born with a certain blue print.  The shape of your muscles and length of limbs etc. is determined by this.  It is foolish to think that if you workout just like Joe Athlete then you will look just like him.  Or if you follow the diet of Jane Sexygirl you will get her butt.  You are unique.  Some people respond best to higher reps.  Some respond better to lower reps.  Some can more carb tolerant than others.  Some can recover from more frequent workouts.  The trick is to find what works for you.  It is great to look to others for inspiration but thinking you will be like them will only lead to disappointment.

Another thing to consider is that when you read someone’s workout or diet, you aren’t reading their history.  Sergio Olivia was a great bodybuilder but he started out Olympic lifting.  Magnus Samuelsson was an arm wrestler before he was the world’s strongest man.  When you read a workout online or in a magazine you are looking at snapshot of what they are doing at the time (assuming it is a truthful article).  How many people do you know workout the same way year after year?  The work outs you read are good for ideas but you don’t have to copy it.  Just because it worked for them for a period of time doesn’t mean it is going to work for you. 

If it was that easy to look like someone else then the world wouldn’t be as interesting.  Think of how boring it would be if everyone looked the same.  Or if all singers had the same voice.  Or if all athletes ran at the same speed.  Embrace these differences and see where it takes you.  Maybe your physique idol lifts heavy and take long rest.  If you respond better to shorter, lighter workouts then do it.  It is great and necessary to experiment and find what works for you but don’t do something just because someone else is.  The principles of diet and exercises will stay the same.  If you want to be bigger and/or stronger you need to perform some kind of resistance training.  If you want to lose weight then you are going to need to restrict calories somewhat.  That’s it.  The rest is filling in the details.

A note to the ladies:

You are beautiful.  Maybe you need to lose weight or gain muscle or both but please stop trying to obtain something that isn’t possible for you.  Stop getting cut open and stuffing your body or getting fat sucked out just to look like someone you aren’t.  If you work hard you can be lean, keep your curves, and I promise you will look great.  It takes HARD work and time but you can do it.  You might not have the genetics for the perfect bubble butt you want but you can build a killer butt that no guy would turn down (or girl if you go that way).  Stop looking at other women.  Look at yourself, get to work and be amazed at what you can do with the body you were given. 

Whether you are performing a fast lift like a clean or a slow lift like a curl, you should always be in control.  If you feel like the weight has you and you don’t have the weight then you are going too heavy.  If you feel like for some reason you are unstable when lifting then you need to evaluate your technique and your program.  You may need some specialized exercises to work small muscles that may be weak.  Remember that your body will always try to take the easy way out.  You have to make it do the opposite in the gym.  There is a difference between pulling yourself up to a bar or doing a pullup to increase back size and strength.  You have to be in control.  Are you pulling with your back or using your arms more?  Do you go all the way down and let your back stretch?  Can you pause on the way up, at the top, and on the way down?  If you can’t do these things then you aren’t working out a muscle as much as working a movement.  Cleans, snatches and the like and movements that we train.  Exercises like curls, pullups, and pushdowns are to train muscles.  Know the difference and make sure YOU are in control and not the weight.

In a typical gym you often see more people talking or texting than training.  These same people wonder why they put so much time in at the gym and make so little progress.  If you want to treat the gym like a social club that is fine but don’t complain about your lack of progress.  If you have a one minute rest between sets this doesn’t mean rest one minute then respond to a text then do your set.  If you are halfway serious about improving then focus on your workout.  Get it done then socialize.  It has gotten to the point where people seem offended if you don’t want to talk to them while you are working out.  If this is you, remember that they aren’t being rude if they came to a gym to workout.  You are being rude assuming that they want to talk.

Next time you are working out, try giving yourself specific rest periods between sets and exercises.  Put your phone on airplane mode and use it only as a stopwatch.  If you are training with someone tell them to save their stories until before or after you workout.  See how much faster and harder your workout is.

It can be intimidating and overwhelming to start working out if you haven’t before.  These days there is too much information that can be accessed but few answers.  Remember the following to keep your head clear.

• There is no right way
• Everyone progresses at different rates
• Keep your program simple and basic
• Don’t worry about supplements
• Pay attention to how your body moves
• Don’t try complicated exercises (cleans for example) before you can perform their components (front squat, clean deadlift, jump and land without knees wobbling)
• The big guy in the gym doesn’t always know best
• Lifting hard and heavy will not make female super muscular.  Man looking female bodybuilders take drugs.
• Take your time.  It is a slow process.

Don’t wait until you have some perfect plan.  Take action now.  You might feel stupid at times in a gym where people seem to know what they are doing but trust me, most people only THINK they know what they are doing.