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10 Habits Of Highly Offensive Gym Goers

The gym can be a scary place, especially if you are new to fitness and unfamiliar with gym protocol. And while you may not feel completely comfortable, don't let intimidation stop you from reaching your goals. You just need a little gym etiquette training.

Just like any other community, the gym requires some special considerations. More often than not, general politeness works wonders, but if you'd like a more detailed approach, check out these 10 gym "don'ts."

1.  Don't Be A Chatty Cathy

Whether you're lifting with a buddy or just are in the gym on your own, it's tempting to use the gym as your social hour. Do not do this. If you're holding a dumbbell or barbell, lift it—don't just cradle it as you blab to your girlfriend about Timmy's school project. Other people want to use that equipment. This also goes for people who just sit on a bench or machine while they chat. There are a gazillion other places you can chat besides the pec deck. Do the work, or step away.
Even worse are the people who insist on talking in the middle of a difficult set. Hint: if the person you're talking to is breathing really hard, grunting, or is wearing an expression of pain mixed with mild panic, shut up. That person doesn't want to—and probably can't—talk to you. Sorry.

2.  Don't Leave Your Weights

Bro, I'm totally impressed that you can bench 315 pounds. But when you're done, please don't leave the plates on the bar. By doing this, you're essentially telling everyone else at the gym that you're more important than they are. That's just plain rude.

3.  Don't Leave A Sweat Puddle

Sweat happens. You're in a gym, that's what you do. But not everyone else in the gym wants to lay or sit in your puddle. It's just not the right way to mark your territory. Blech!

4. Don't Coach

If you see someone who is clearly lifting improperly, don't say anything unless that person is in a near-death position and you are the only one who can save them. Furthermore, knowing what you're talking about and thinking you know what you're talking about are two different things. If you learned from watching a YouTube video about proper deadlifting technique, telling Hulkmaster Huge in the corner that his feet aren't spaced wide enough is a bad call.

5.  Don't Ogle

Man or woman, it's difficult not to be aware of the myriad attractive people you may find in the gym. However, staring creepily at the chick doing bent-over rows or the dude doing barbell hip thrusts is not cool. Mind your own business.

6.  Don't Make Fun of Overweight People

If you make fun of people who are in the gym trying to be more healthy and fit, then you are an asshat.

7.  Don't Be Selfish

Say it with me friends, "sharing is caring." Gyms have limited equipment. You may need to let someone do their working sets during your rest periods. Also, occupying equipment while you catch up on Facebook, SnapChat a few gym selfies and send text messages is just rude.

8.  Don't Be Oblivious

Gyms are full of other people. Treadmilling next to a person who clearly wants everyone to hear their phone call is an awful experience. You can't pretend that you're the only person there. That means you should be cognizant of how much room you're taking up, whether you're standing directly in front of someone, and how much noise you're making.

9.  Don't Smell

There's nothing worse than getting a deep breath of Acqua Di Gio when you're in the middle of a heavy squat. It means instant nausea, instant headache. I can't think of a reason why anyone would need to swim in cologne before he goes to the gym. The same can be said about ladies: Love Spell perfume does not mix well with sweat and effort.

10.  Don't Break Equipment

If you don't know how something works, ask. If you aren't sure that a machine is working properly, ask. If you think something's wrong with your treadmill, ask.

It's also best if you use equipment as it's meant to be used. For instance, if you find yourself doing biceps curls in a squat rack, you'd better move. Someone might kill you.

Exercise Really Does Help with Depression - Here's Why

There are many possible causes of depression. Some have biological explanations (or, at least, speculations) — genetic vulnerability, medications, chemicals in the brain. Others are personal and psychological: Stressful life events such as illness, divorce, a death, unemployment. (Personally, I would add, there’s also the philosophical despair that follows exposure to inequality, injustice, violence, suffering, and misogyny.) It’s much easier for biomedicine to study the biological causes rather than the psychological (or philosophical) ones.

Physical exercise is often recommended as a way to alleviate depression and to alter our mood. Biomedicine would like to know if exercise really does change the chemicals in our brain. A recent article in NEJM reports on a study that suggests it does: Muscling In on Depression.
The explanation is rather technical but here’s my summary in a nutshell. Tryptophan, an essential amino acid in the human diet, is found in foods containing protein (it’s also in chocolate). When we experience stress, organs such as the liver produce enzymes that cause tryptophan to produce. In order to metabolize tryptophane, our bodies produce kynurenine. Sometimes quite large amounts are produced, and that's not good. Kynurenine is associated with depression, cognitive deficits of schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, and tics. Exercise produces an enzyme that converts kynurenine to kynurenic acid, which is much better than having kynurenine floating around, wreaking havoc and causing depression.

Admirable, no doubt, but do I detect here the possibility that the pharmaceutical industry may soon be at work on a pill it can market as an alternative to exercise? Possibly. But in the meantime, exercise! It really does help with depression both physically and psychologically.

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