These 7 Funny Gym Stories Will Help Improve your Gym Etiquette

Who doesn’t love a good story that makes us roll our eyes back and say ‘I would never…”

4 min readDec 9, 2020

I was reading a thread on r/Fitness where people shared gym stories & rants. Some of them were so funny, but there are still nuggets of truth we can take from them. So today I wanted to share 7 stories and the nugget of truth you can take from them.

1.

“Guy at my gym asked to borrow some liquid chalk from me. Squirted it right into his hand and it landed on the floor below. Take a closer look and he’s missing a finger, squirted it straight through the gap… Me and him are just like ¯_(ツ)_/¯ and I give him another load. Tells me after it was the best deadlift session he had ever had.”

Conclusion: I highly recommend chalk/liquid chalk.

2.

Was on my phone for a second while on the preacher curl bench and realised the angle I was holding my phone made it look like I was recording the girl straight in front of me. She left the gym after two sets :(

Conclusion: Music aside, try to be minimal with phone usage during your workout. Social media posts will still be waiting for you afterwards.

3.

I was doing deadlifts and this other guy doing DLs nearby started nodding. He was probably vibing to his music but I want to believe he was silently cheering me on. Oh! Also, I said hi/bye to the receptionist. I have crippling social anxiety so that was like beating a PR to me.

Conclusion: I’ve always found it funny how gyms are both social and anti-social. Be friendly with the people around you, even if it’s just a head knod or hi/bye.

4.

I saw someone pick up a medicine ball to do ball slams, but rather than being the dull leather balls, it was actually a rubber bouncy ball. Anyway, long story short, they lift the ball above their head and launch it into the floor, and immediately bend down to pick it up. Before they can do that, it bounces straight back up and hits them full-on in the face. It was difficult not to laugh :S

Conclusion: Had this been captured on video, I can imagine something as funny as this going viral. Regardless, if you’re training in a gym that is new to you — do a quick walk around before your workout. Familiarize yourself with the machines, dumbbells, bands, etc. Being more aware can only help you.

5.

I’m new to lifting, and just failed a squat rep yesterday. As I was going up I could feel myself falling forward, so I managed to get down on my knees and raise my back so the bar could roll off my back. Hurt my knees and wrists a little bit, but it could have gone a lot worse since I didn’t have any safety bars or anyone spotting me. Scary stuff, really took me out of my zone. Didn’t do any more squats but I finished the rest of the workout :)

Conclusion: When working out alone, it’s a good idea to leave 1–2 reps in tank. You can make gains in maximal strength by training sub-maximally. Are there benefits to training max effort? Yes. Unless your max effort training is purely bodyweight, waiting to train with a friend/coach is a good idea. Safety first.

6.

Older bearded bro-dude walks up to young hot girl doing deadlifts. Waits for her to finish her set. Tries to catch her attention, she ignores him. Says “excuse me”. She still ignores him. Says “excuse me” a bit louder. She rolls her eyes, takes her headphones out, gives him a look of total disgust, and says “I have a boyfriend” He smiles, says “So do I”, hands her a phone, and says “I think you left this on the stairmaster”

Conclusion: The gym is a place where people go to become better versions of themselves. Assume the best in people and just be friendly to the people around you. Don’t let the occasional awkward instance discourage you from being friendly to other people.

7.

Had a bloke ask if I needed a spot on one of my warmup sets. Never been more insulted in my life.

Conclusion: This gave me a good laugh. The other person probably had nice intentions. If this happened to me I feel like I’d respond with something like “If I fail with this weight, it’s my fault”. It was an honest mistake — laugh it off and move on.