Crowded gyms

The examples you cited as well as many others are precisely why I don't go to the gym any more. I was a gym rat for years but got sick and tired of the people there.

I don't want to rub salt in your wound but its only going to get worse in a couple months when the New Year Resolution crowd invades.

You are not alone....I have had many of the same experiences you have at some of the gyms I belonged to.

If you can swing it, join a private club.

I have never had to share a pool lane and 95% of the time I have the indoor pool to myself. Last week there were actually 2 guys doing laps when I showed up but one left as soon as I got in and the other guy mentioned to me "how busy it was and he's never seen 3 guys do laps at once".

I never have waited for a cardio machine, flat bench, dumb bell, spinner, or squat rack and often have the entire gym to myself (especially in the summer). Which is great cause if I forget my ipod, I control the stereo and the TV's.

I'm in gym Nirvana.

Look at it this way. Many of the January people will not be at the gym in March, but will still be paying their membership dues. This make it cheaper for us that use the gym all year long.

There were 7 different people who used the treadmill next to me tonight while I was running. The average distance they went must have been less than a mile.  Oh well, they have to start somewhere.

I'm going to hell for sure for this one:  The blind guy that used to show up and always picked the treadmill next to mine to walk on.  Then he'd proceed to ask me, "How about those Red Sox...boy it's raining cats and dogs today...how are you doing over there, training for something..." ad nauseum.

Turned up the MP3 player and ignored him.  Yup, I'm choosing my seat already.

Join Lifetime Fitness, if you've got one.  The crowding issues, waiting for machines or lanes, etc, are nonexistent, seriously. 

The locker room 'comaraderie', however, still may be part of the equation.  I don't know how you eradicate that bad behavior.   Now if we could just find a way to groom all Gina's friends....

i almost agree... just cut out the point of the water walkers... i mean come on... not everyone has the fitness or health to run outside... especially when they're THAT big - they're doing something about it!! no offense - but cuz of people like you i was too scared to go to a public pool or gym for many many years of my life! so give them some credit... they gotta start some time!!

but i gotta add 2. points:
1. old geezers that will kick and punch you when you pass them cuz they're mad that you're 50-60 yrs younger and faster than them!!

2. people who want to have their own lane and won't share it for nothing and just swim into you, hit you in the face and then even yell and ***** at you..

2x this week I was the only person in the locker room only to find out as soon as I started changing that the next person to walk in had the locker right next to mine.

My BIG rant for the wee though is scary naked guy... I usually work out before work so I run or whatever then go the the locker room take my shirt off, go to the sink (while still wearing shorts) and shave, then take all my stuff back to my locker, drop the shorts and shower. So yesterday I'm shaving and this guy walks up to the sink RIGHT NEXT TO ME when there are at least 7 others not in use to shave... but this nut job lost the shorts and kept the shirt????? What the hell is the point of that? I can see not wanting to get shaving cream all over a nice dri-fit shirt or whatever but who really needs to loose their britches to shave their face???

I will agree with the Lifetime Fitness love. I've never had to wait for anything or share a lane at the pool with anyone. I think anyone who shared a lane with me would probably get inadvertently hurt though - I don't swim straight nor can I see anything in the pool (and I lose depth perception) without my glasses.

I still do have a few minor issues though:

- the guys who get on the treadmill next to me (even though there are tons of open ones) and make weird exertion grunting sounds for the duration of their runs. normally these guys also smell a little weird. they are always guys.

- girls who apply and reapply makeup on cardio equipment (seriously, you ask? seriously!).

YES! I thought it was just me. I swear no matter what time I go in there, if I pick a locker in an empty-ish spot of the locker room, when I come back after my workout there will be three people in that general area.

And one will have all her stuff spread out all over the bench, so that the rest of us have to stand on one foot to take off our shoes and socks.

I don't mind most things I see at the gym. To be honest, I probably don't even notice when other people do it, and I'm just as likely to be guilty of some of them myself. But the locker room bench hogs really get my goat. STUFF doesn't need to go on a bench. Put your dang bag on the floor, so someone can sit down to tie their shoes.

I've never been to one of their gyms, but I love their magazine "Experience Life".  That's my all-time favorite magazine.