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Following up on my “7 Reasons your Workout Sucks” article, it occurred to me that, through both e-mails and talking with friends, the issue of gym stupidity has not been properly covered on this website. Indeed, we’ve begun to cover what’s important for your own training- but we’ve conspicuously forgotten to cover anything related to gym etiquette. With that being said, after some deliberation (and going to the gym enough to be properly irate), here are the Ten Commandments of going to the Gym.

10. Thou shalt not intimidate.

This happens more than it seems it may. Just because you know your way around the gym does not give you the right to, intentionally or not, intimidate other people. Do not try to one-up those around you. Do not intentionally show off the speed you run, the amount of weight you lift, nor the size of your muscles: everything, no matter how much you may think otherwise, is relative to your body shape, size, and many other factors. Some of the best lifters I’ve ever known were the most courteous because they understood this very fact- it’s amazing to see a guy deadlifting 500lbs in the corner of the room to not bother anyone where guidos try to spread out to show off their “curling technique” to anyone who will glance at them.

9. Thou shalt spot and save when necessary.

Sometimes, muscles and machines fail. It happens to everyone, and it’s entirely normal- you can easily be pumping away with a bench press when the weight slams down on you because of a bad grip, or you can accidentally get yourself caught up on a cardio machine. No matter what, if you’re around and anything like that happens, help out. If you can’t lift the weight or manage the stuff, get someone else to help you. No, the person isn’t an “idiot”, nor are they bad lifters/runners/whatever- again, it happens to everyone- and you might need their help another day if you get yourself in a similar jam. It goes without saying that, if someone asks you to spot or help them out, within reason, you should help.

8. Thou shalt use good form.

Under no circumstances should you swing your weights maniacally, drop dumbbells, throw equipment, or any other manner of dangerous techniques. For some reason, many lifters (no doubt seeing videos of power lifter competitions) think they should throw their weights down after they are done, either to immediately release the strain from their muscles or for some kind of “manly” effect- either way, it is dangerous. At minimum, you could easily damage the equipment (see below), at worse, you could break a foot.

7. Thou shalt not preen, flex, or pose.

You are not Mr. Olympia (Dexter Jackson is, at least since last year). The gym is not a place to look good and show off, no matter how many times (other) dating websites may encourage you to pick up people: gyms are for exercise, and that’s just about it. That being said, looking at yourself in a mirror for a reason other than checking form is incredibly vain, especially if you do things like flex at yourself. I, and many of those whom I hit the gym with, have actually seen people lift up their shirts and try to show off their abs to themselves- trust me, it’s far from attractive. If you must be a budding Narcissus, do it at home.

6. Thou shalt not hog, nor shall thou hover.

Invariably, unless you are at some sort of mega-gym, there will be a scant amount of resources so far as machines go. Machines (or any kind of finite equipment- squat racks, olympic barbells, treadmills, etc etc) are incredibly expensive, which means that your average gym will have a scant few- so don’t hog them. In between sets, allow others to use the machine. Do not sit on the machine for extended periods of time. Do not tinker with the machine for hours on end. When you are done with the machine, remove the plates, clean up yourself, and then let someone else use it. However, the opposite applies as well- if someone is hogging a machine, no matter how irritating they may be, don’t hover and harass them. Feel free to ask them once, but beyond that, do not bug them. Be polite.

5. Thou shalt not damage equipment.

This is a no-brainer: use the equipment as it was meant to be used. Treat even the heaviest duty machines with care- no matter how much of a gym rat you may be, check the instructions and follow them. Especially for cord machines and other complex MC Escher-sort of equipment, you can often break a machine through improper use incredibly easily. Do not jostle a machine, try to “alter” it in any way, or otherwise attempt to do anything than what the little instruction sticker/guide/poster says.

4. Thou shalt keep to yourself.

The gym is not a place for mass socialization. It’s entirely fine to talk to someone in the lobby or even exchange a few words, but it is not a party locale, nor is it a place for you to do business, meet people, or the like. Feel free to be social- but remember, the gym is not a party, it is a location to work yourself to exhaustion and leave. If you do want to talk (or hit on someone), keep it somewhere relatively off the beaten path, and always defer to those actually exercising. Needless to say, you have no need to have a cell phone in the gym: do your business elsewhere. If you can easily talk and exercise at the same time, you are probably not exercising hard enough.

3. Thou shalt exercise.

No, seriously. See the above. Not only should you not be socializing in a gym, but you should also be actually exercising- not sleeping, resting, watching movies on your iPod, tinkering with your cell phone, or otherwise making an annoyance of yourself. Though it probably does not apply to you, the gym is not a miniature daycare: do not sit your child on a machine and make them wait for you later. Ideally, your time spent at the gym should be spent doing exactly what you are there to do, and nothing more.

2. Thou shalt not place yourself or others in danger.

This is one of the biggest rules you can follow, and it easily challenges the #1 spot: DO NOT PUT OTHERS OR YOURSELF IN DANGER. Do not, under any circumstances, do anything that could possibly endanger another lifter. Do not do situps under a moving weight. Do not stretch around someone squatting/deadlifting. Do not manhandle machines, tip things over, or swing your weights precariously. Do not mess around others using a treadmill, elliptical, or a machine with moving parts. Similarly, you should protect yourself: do not do an exercise you cannot do to completion. Do not do any kind of movement that could injure yourself. Despite how much of a perfectionist you may be, if you feel unsafe doing free weights, stick to plate machines or other much safer machines. If you feel woozy when running, stop running. No matter what, your safety takes precedence over your exercise.

1. Thou shalt clean up after yourself.

This is certainly the biggest rule: Clean up. If you are using plates, put the plates away when you are done- and put them in the right location. Clean up after yourself if you use chalk. Return machines to their default (or safest) position. Clean up any liquid spills or sweat, no matter how insignificant. Throw away used paper towels, place washable towels in the appropriate bin/box, and generally try to reduce any impact you make on the gym. If you can, actually, clean up where you can- even if you’re cleaning up after someone else. Gym managers have it harder than you think.

It isn’t hard to see the benefits of hitting the gym- exercising makes you healthier, better looking, and it can even help your mental state. The problem is, as I’ve noticed in many recent e-mails to me, many people don’t know how to exercise- and invariably, they end up having lots of trouble getting the results they go after. With that being said, I’ve observed 10 key flaws that most guys have in hitting the gym that hurt more than help, and it’s time to list them out- and tell you how to fix them.

7. Poor Form/Methodology

In weight lifting and even cardio, form is a lot of the exercise. Performing an exercise to completion as quickly/easily as possible is not the ultimate goal of doing the exercise itself- it is doing the exercise correctly that generates results.

This is a common flaw in weight lifting. Yes, you can probably do a lot of heavy bench presses by lowering the bar halfway down and pushing it back up- but that does very little other than barely develop your triceps. Similarly, doing an exercise as quickly as possible does very little other than tire you out quickly. Proper weight lifting is generally based on your ability to do a full exercise to completion slowly, methodically, and very deliberately, with the full range of motion possible- don’t cheat!

Examples:

• The aforementioned “halfway” bench. Don’t do it. The bar should go slowly down to your chest and back up again in a smooth, defined motion. So long as it is safe, try to touch the bar to your chest with each repetition.
• Squatting, deadlifting, and any other form of complex exercise is especially prone to form degradation, even for pro weight lifters- be careful.

6. Poor Weekly Routines

Your weekly routine, for weight lifting and cardio, should be based around your ability to balance your energy with your exercise, as well as to hit as many different muscles as possible. Doing the same thing every day (for example, doing nothing but bench presses and curls every day of the week) will not only tire you out quickly, but it will not give you the opportunity to recover. Cardio is not subject to this rule as much, but similarly, balance out your exercising- you run the risk of tiring yourself out and not being able to recover.

Examples:

• Doing the same weight lifting routine every time you hit the gym. This is an easy trap to fall into, but avoid doing the same stuff over and over- be varied and find different ways to exercise your entire body. Avoid the folly of doing a muscle-a-day or only exercising some muscles only once a week- try to come up with a happy balance, and utilize compound exercises to hit multiple muscle groups at once.
• Running the same amount every day. This is okay for training, but it can also wear you out. Prepare times in which you can relax and allow your body to recover. Similarly, vary the type of cardio you do- your body can get overly used to a single exercise, which will lose the effect you usually get from it.

5. Not Eating Right

This is a major flaw most people avoid. Exercising does not give you carte blanche to eat anything you like- actually, it restricts your diet even more. No matter how hard you hit the gym, going home and eating doughnuts and drinking beer will not make you a healthier person- in fact, it can make you even unhealthier, as your body will weaken as it desperately searches for decent nutrition.

4. Cardio to the detriment of Weight Lifting or vice versa

Do not focus on one type of exercise to the detriment of the other. Sure, doing nothing but cardio will (ideally) make you a super thin endurance machine, and sure, doing lots of weight lifting will make you massive and strong, but a happy balance is much preferable. No matter how intense your weight lifting routine, try to throw in a little bit of cardio each week to help keep your endurance and general health up. Similarly, no matter how cardio-intensive your workout, hit the gym and build muscle- having extra strength helps in a lot of ways, and unlike what most may predict, it will not “slow you down”.

Examples:

• Muscleheads who are too arrogant to hit the cardio machines. These guys are easily identified as having virtually no endurance and being unable to run further than a few steps. Though it is important to avoid running 300 miles when trying to build muscle, these guys could really benefit from some good, sweat-breaking cardio. Many cardio machines also have great settings to firm leg muscles (especially the glutes), which is a great way to augment a lifting routine.
• Runners who refuse to hit the weights. Weight lifting helps build strength and often will help with speed, and lifting does not hurt your endurance whatsoever.

3. Too Much Isolation

Yes, you could do a single exercise for every single muscle in your body, but should you? No, of course not.

Ideally, if you are hitting the weights, the best thing you can do is hit multiple muscles at once, a technique called using compound exercises. Doing this not only allows you to be more efficient, but it also allows your body to train in a more realistic way. As you can probably imagine, big bodybuilders do not spend all day working on each specific muscle (called isolation) like it’s a tiny little baby- they find compound exercises (most notably squats, deadlifts, and bench presses) and use them like madmen. Why work on one muscle when you can work on a ton at once?

Of course, all of these in combination play to create one hell of an exercise routine. One of the best phrases I’ve ever heard on this topic is simple: “Squats and Deadlifts are like two incredibly hot women. You’re smart to do one, but you’d be a dumbass not to do both”. ’nuff said.

Examples:

• Nothing but machine work. Machines with plates and other forms of resistance are nice, but they oftentimes isolate muscles to your detriment. Free weights often allow for the use of stabilizer muscles, including your core muscles, obviously making you more muscular overall.
• Nothing but isolation free weight exercises. Look up the exercises you do. Are they hitting multiple muscles? If not, are they absolutely necessary? If the answer to those two questions is “no”, stop doign them and find a routine that uses many muscles at once.

2. Not Pushing Yourself

This one is simple: if you are not ramping up the work on yourself, you will plateau and not improve at all. This applies to nearly any kind of exercise. If you are weightlifting, gradually increasing the weight is the only way to make your body respond by building muscle. If you are running or doing other forms of cardio, you must run harder, faster, or just generally put more stress upon your body to acclimate to the level of work. No matter what you do, push yourself harder every day- it will pay off.

Examples:

• Getting acquainted with doing certain amounts of weight in certain exercises- for example, only doing 50lb bench presses- and never increasing the weight or the reps
• Running the same amount of time/the same distance every day

1. Being a Bro

“Being a Bro” is somewhat of a vague term. Allow me to explain.

A “bro” is someone who walks into a gym doing nothing but “manly” exercises, flashing his attempt at abs in the mirror, and generally making a jerk of himself. Unless he gets his hands on steroids, he’ll never get any bigger, stronger, or gain any endurance. Why? “Bros”, in my somewhat loose definition, are guys who only do the “hot” exercises- bench presses, curls, and leg lifts. They don’t try to learn more about exercising, they don’t work harder, and they presume they have mastered exercising entirely. Oftentimes, they will do a little bit of cardio (to “burn fat instantly” or something like that), but they will do it in a halfway, lazy sort of manner.

I know I’m being cruel here, but the point is, you will not improve unless you are willing to learn and change and improve. Sure, your exercise routine may be good now, but you may have to change it after a while, and you may learn better ways to approach things. Read books about exercising, learn the science behind what you do, and improve your work accordingly. Learning about nutirion, in a similar way, will allow you to truly diet in an efficient and healthy way, instead of a “this diet book told me to do this” sort of way. As cliche as it may sound, be openminded.

Bros never learn. Bros are the kinds of people who always do the same old crap, and bite the heads off anyone who do anything different. They may somehow gain a little bit of muscle, but they never really achieve anything truly substantial, all due to arrogance. Do not be these kinds of people, ever.