I hate the people next to me that try and read my magazine while I'm on the treadmill.

hahaha i so knwo what you are talking about!

people who don't put the weights back. Sometimes I can't lift the weight myself so I I end up not being able to use the equipment. It's so annoying. I am not there to pick up after you!!! One guy once left eight 45 pound plates on the leg press machine. WTF?!?!?

I hate when people talk on their cell phones at the gym (are you really getting THAT good of a workout?!), when they don't wipe a machine down when they're finished (gross!), and when people using machines next to each other have a loud, obnoxious conversation sprinkled with cuss words (Come on now, kids, common courtesy).

I hate when people sit on the weight machines and read a book- Keep it movin' people!

Others talking (loudly) on cell phones is my number one pet peeve!

Ditto the talking on the cell phone while working out. In the lobby or locker room it doesn't bother me, but when I'm trying to exercise it's incredibly annoying.

I hate it when people try to give you advice on working out. Did I ask for a personal training session - especially from a non-personal trainer???

I have several...talking on cell phones for an extended period of time, using machines and benches as personal storage, taking up more space than necessary on mats, jumping in on the weight machine circuit station that I am about to move on to. So many people feel entitled to treat the gym however they want just because they are paying for a membership. I'm paying too so their experience should not infringe on mine!

Too much cologne on the treadmill next to you. GROSS!

I HATE people who don't wipe off the machines after they use them - with the antibacterial stuff, please, not just your gross sweaty towel. And talking loudly to their friend/cell phone is pretty annoying too. Also, when they listen to their iPod so loudly I can tell exactly what song it is and could sing along if I wanted to. Argh!

1. People on their cell phones at the gym. Stop talking. You're not that important.

2. These two guys who lift ridiculously heavy weights together and clang them all over the place while grunting loudly. Ew. Shut up. And read the sign - it says no banging weights around.

3. Kids at the gym. Biggest. Pet. Peeve. Ever. It instantly puts me in an awful mood.

You are so right about the loud music lmJessica! People do this in my apartment gym all the time. It's small and quiet, so it makes it even worse!

I agree - too much cologne or perfume!Its so crazy...specially when it mixes with sweat:( Why would you even wear it to gym??? As far as my TV goes...It really helps me get through my 7-mile morning run.I get used to people watching my TV...I guess because I watch CNN they get bored pretty quick:)

My gym is a small one in my apartment complex. But it's free and has good machines, so that's what I use. I get upset when people ignore the "30 minutes max on a machine" signs that are posted everywhere. Share the treadmachines, people!

I hate people that don't wash their workout clothes (especially the synthetic wicking kind) because they smell like and old hockey glove blah!

Another think I hate is when the whole row of same cardio machines are empty, and the person chooses the one next to you. Same goes for the locker room... when it's pretty much empty and the person goes for a locker close to you while you are changing. Something about me and personal space I guess lol.

I work in a gym, so some of these complaints come from using it others from an employee standpoint.

1) people lying width wise on the mats and or sprawling out all over them!
2) people on the treadmill walking a snails pace, go upstairs and use the freaking indoor track people and leave the treadmills for people who want to run because that indoor track will kill your knees to run on!
3) football players yelling, screaming, and throwing down their weights. They've actually broken things before. Yes, we know you are an all powerful macho alpha male, now please shut up, we don;t care.
4) the girls (and few guys) who work out like mad and then check their weight and then exercise some more. Just makes me sad

how does an indoor track kill your knees more than a treadmill?

People who talk during Group Fitness Classes!

The gym at work is usually pretty empty, but there's this one guy that uses the elliptical machine and sets the resistance at 0 and just goes gangbusters on the thing...it starts shaking and being really loud (hellooooooo...you're not getting a good workout if you're letting the momentum of the machine do all the work). On top of that, he makes really obnoxious coughing/hacking/grunting noises every 5 seconds. It's really obnoxious and gross.

I also get grossed out by the people who cough/hack something up and spit it into their towel. Then they put the towel on the machines. EW.

My top pet peeves (coming from a former fitness model lol)

1. Girls who talk on their cell in the sauna! OMG SHUTTT UPPPPPP

2. The old sweaty guy who comes to use the cardio machine RIGHT NEXT TO ME when there's like 45 other machines available.. REALLY??? UGH

3. The muscley dudes who can only lift the ridiculous amount of weight they are trying to life like twice just to say 'hey, i lifted that.. yeah i'm bad.. grunttttt' lol ugh that's NOT CUTE and not having a neck isn't either

4. People who sit on a machine for like 15 minutes while taking 5 minute breaks between each set.. and then they do the exercise WRONG or in poor form.. get off the da*% machine so I can use it the correct way!!!

5. Dudes that stare at me while i'm working out, the WHOLE TIME. I don't feel comfortable doing the butt blast, adductor, abductor, or bent over rows with my bootie all up in the air with guys all around me staring. It's annoying.

That's all I can think of for right now but I'm sure i'll be back with more lolol

My pet peeve with the gym at work is actually the people who come and DON'T WEAR GYM CLOTHES. Hello! You end up stinking in the office and that's just as bad as wearing gym clothes back at your desk. Once I saw a guy working out in his boxers and an undershirt. It was gross. :S

One of my coworkers actually told off a guy in the men's changeroom who would always use a hairdryer to dry off the area "where the sun doesn't shine" after a shower. His gym pet peeve takes the cake.

girls who go to the gym in groups (in FULL makeup, with their hair done), only to end up huddling around the girl on the elliptical right next to your's to gab about boys. Pathetic.

and when ppl don't wipe off the machines- i saw you sweating all over it, you can at least towel it off.

Talking on cell phones, having LOUD conversations with someone ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE ROOM, when the gym turns the radio up really loud and I can't hear my zune, children running around all over the place. I think I'm curmudgeonly because there's quite a bit that annoys me!

ha! I agree with most of these.

We groups of friends, usually in threes, rotate using a single machine. I dont think its fair!

I dont like stinky people.

I dont like when people stare at me while working out. If your in the zone, stare at something else other than me!!!

I hate it when parents bring their kids to the gym and their running around using the equiptment when their parents are NO WHERE TO BE FOUND. Supervise them, thats really dangerous.

Can't stand the grunters, the weight droppers, the cell phone talkers, the loud tv people, the tv hogs, the people who stare at your tracker on the machine, and the sweaters who don't wipe down their equipment.

1.PEOPLE WHO TALK ON THE PHONE WHILE THEY ARE USING A MACHINE.
ITS ANNOYING.

2. GIRLS WHO PUT ON A GRIP OF MAKE UP BEFORE A WORK OUT. LOL.

3. GUYS WHO STARE AT YOU.

4. PEOPLE WHO SMELL (LIKE THEY HAVEN'T WASHED THEY'RE GYM CLOTHES OR THEY HAVE TOO MUCH COLOGNE OR PERFUME ON)

People coming in late to classes like yoga or pilates (I grew up in ballet, if you were late you didn't take class), it's distracting to show up partway through then flop your mat down and jump in. Plus you missed warmup and it's bad for your form.

People trying to hack up really stubborn (or I suppose any) phlegm. Just don't, I'm sorry if you have a lung problem.

People who sit on machines while their friends work out. You're in the way.

I don't know if this is the standard everywhere, but in my city most gyms have stations with paper towels and spray bottles of antibacterial liquid to wipe the machines down with.

My big gym pet peeve (aside from grunters, starers, stinkers, etc.) is people who spray copious amounts of antibac liquid right onto the machines... hello people, there are fans everywhere, and they blow that stuff RIGHT INTO MY FACE while I'm working out. Spray it on a paper towel and THEN wipe the machine... there are signs up all over saying this!

1. girls that stare at themselves in the mirror throughout their entire workout
2. people that barley even break a sweat — why even bother getting out of bed?
3. women wearing makeup
4. people that stare

and all i can say is thank goodness no one talks on their cell phones at my gym because that is the worst offense of all!

I'm fortunate that I belong to an all women's gym. No staring dudes, no cologne, a few grunters...
My pet peeves are:
1. If you are coughing and hacking - GO HOME. I don't want your cold and you can take a few days off to rest up.
2. The Gum-Smacker. She wears headphones and snaps her gum so loudly you'd think a gun was going off. I hate her.
3. The cardio machines need to be wiped off with more than a nasty towel...the towel is almost worse than nothing at all. Take the 10 seconds to clean the machine you just spent 30 minutes on.
4. DO NOT take the magazines into the bathroom. I saw a woman take a highly coveted US magazine into a stall and then walk past me without even washing her hands. That's just nasty.
5. People who go trail running and then wear dirty, dirty shoes to the gym. Hey, think you could hose those down?

Dear, I sometimes wear make up --- but sometimes I go to the gym directly from work! (I hear ya on the freshly made up face, though!)

GET OFF THE FREAKING CELL PHONE !

and in the pool -- people who can't take up just half of a lane.

Wow you manged to talk me out of getting a gym membership, I going to save a good amount of money thanks.

I guess with all the pet peeves that people have been mentioning, it is a good thing I do not go to a gym.

I'm with everyone else on the people who use a machine or locker directly next to you when there are about a billion others open.

I don't know about those people with fresh make-up on, but I sometimes have it on by virtue of going right after work or class. I don't have face wash or anything with me since I go home to shower and change afterward.

I agree with many of the pet peeves already listed:

1. The women who dress up to go the gym
2. People who take more than the max amount of time allowed for cardio machines when there's a line--have some courtesy for others!
3. People who barely break a sweat (I'm with DearSugar on this one)--don't even bother coming
4. People who come in late to classes
5. People who stare at you while you're in class or working out (but more so while you're in class)

Hey-
Joining a gym was the best investment I ever made. The only reason I have pet peeves about my gym is because I go there - a lot. Finding the right gym lead me to amazing personal trainers and a happier, healthier me. It's worth dealing with the handful of grunters, gum-smackers, phone-yakkers, and even the "hygiene-impaired". I love my gym!

Definitely the muscleheads who grunt at the top of their lungs in the weights room. They're so blatantly being attention wh*res, so I deliberately act like my iPod is too loud for me to hear them/acknowledge their presence. There's this one guy who occasionally takes off his shirt in the weights room too. He is beyond strange!

I have so many!!

I agree with everyone on here so far, and I also get annoyed by:

1. Gum snapping

2. Guys who standing too close to the mirror while lifting, often blocking the dumbbells.

3. Women of the over 50 set wearing skimpy workout clothes and hitting on the 20-something men (boys!)... we have a few of these situations -it's gross! LoL!

- People who stare at my workout time/resistance level/weight when I input the info on cardio machines
- Under 16 y/o 90lbs girls and boys who use the machines w/their 4 friends for 5 minutes and never clean the machines
- The huffers and puffers (cardio and weight lifters)
- People who wear jeans, workboots, any non-gym clothing
- People who drink COFFEE while working out (dehydration?)

Is it bad that I secretly watch people who go on the stepmill and hope that they don't last long on it? People think it's easy...and they go really fast...then realize it's basically like walking up 80 flights of stairs and they jump off after 2 mins...

I know...I'm sick.

I think my only real annoyances at the gym are little children running around (its not a playground) and people who stare. There are enough moves and machines that I feel stupid doing, I don't need people staring to make it worse.

I do have to say though, the people that complained about others not sweating at the gym. I go and work very hard and get my heart rate up and don't sweat. I don't really know why but my body just never sweats even in summer. So it may be something they can't control.

1. People who do not put the weights back.
2. Girls who wear jewlery while working out.
3. Girls who wear the crazy "outfits"
4. Not wearing gym clothing.
5. Kids running around the gym.

I love this post! I registered just to write here...haha. Here we go.

1.) People who are sick/coughing/sneezing all over the place (just stay home!)
2.) Sweaty people who do not wipe down machines (your sweat is not gold, get rid of it)
3.) Girls who dabble around at the gym doing a whole lot of nothing (these are usually the ones with prom makeup on)
4.) Annoying guys that oogle at us girls. Go away we are not interested.
5.) Actually, any person that stares. What...have you never seen someone working out before?
6.) Again, people that are sick...STAY HOME!!! So disrepectful...

I haven't regularly used a gym for about seven years, and back then my biggest pet peeve was that there would be one TV visible from the treadmills, and it was always tuned to BET. I just found out last month that gyms now have those personal TVs on the machines. How cool!

But it sounds like my other peeves (mostly meathead-related) are still there.

I work in a gym so I come across a lot of things:

Personal Space Invadors-people who insist on working out next to you when there are plenty of other treadmills available. same goes for the locker rooms.

Alpha Males-yes, I can see your insanely large muscles. I can feel the floor shake when you drop your heavy weight after 1 or 2 reps. I can hear you grunting, huffing, and puffing. Please stop. Thanks.

Juicy Girls-Face full of makeup, matchy-matchy clothing, jewelry, a gossip magazine. They usually do not sweat since they hardly move while on the elliptical.

Chatty Cathys-Anybody on a cell phone or talking to another member anywhere on the floor or in a group class.

Once in a while, somebody gets on a squeaky machine and stays on it despite the fact that I can hear it squeak on the opposite side of the gym with my iPod on. If I can hear the machine 100 feet away, you can hear it you fool. Get off it and move to the next machine that does not make noises.

Rude people and people who don't share equipment!

1. cell phone gabbers!
2. stinky b.o. people
3. coughing people
4. men

i forgot: people who hog the water fountain to fill up their HUGE water bottles while there is a single thirsty person waiting for a 2 second sip!

btw, i love it when instructors for classes inform people of "the rules" including: please be considerate and arrive on-time, please bring a towel, please wipe the sweat you pour, and be as scent-free or fresh-smelling as possible!

Mostly all of these are true! However, I don't care if someone isn't working up a huge sweat, I prefer that to them being a lazy slob at home eating mcdonalds and watching tv.

My least favourites are the hygiene-impaired (not wiping machines off, coughing and sneezing everywhere etc), and children running around.

I don't really mind when people are there in groups, or when people are talking to friends or on a cell.. its a gym, not a jail. I suppose if it is a small gym where there are only a few machines and it;s very quit it could get annoying, though. During a group class it is annoying though, when people are supposed to be paying attention to the instructor.

1. sweaty people working out next to me. use your towel, people!
2. women who put all their stuff around the machine they're using instead of using a locker.
3. guys who stare
4. girls who stare and compare themselves to others.
5. people on a cell phones
6. using cardio equipment for more than 30 min during peak time
7. playing really loud music
8. not wiping down machines!! (soo gross!)
9. reading my magazine, watching my tv.
10. people who look at the display on my cardio machine.

I'm not much of a sweat-er either, I just don't. I'm always cold. And when I go in the mid-ish mornings there are always senior citizens on the treadmills in jeans or other "normal" clothes, it's kind of funny but randomly charming in a weird way.