Classic gym rat 'reserves' the equipment by leaving their water bottle there.
Gym ettiqute is its own kind of (mental) workout.
It's hard to know if you're being selfish or other people are being impatient. One gym rat took to Reddit to complain about being judged for their physical fitness routine.
“You can’t use water bottle to reserve gym machine” okay bet
I have been going to this gym for about six months now and I always try to avoid going past 7 PM because the vibes are off. However, yesterday, I had no choice but to go around 8 PM.
To my surprise, the gym was almost empty, maybe because it was Friday. Anyways, I took advantage of the empty gym to do five sets of sled pushes. I don’t like doing them when the gym is crowded because people walk through the track all the time and that annoys me.
I started doing my 40-meter sled pushes, and after every round, I’d put my water bottle on top of the weights while I sat on the floor next to it to rest. The water bottle being there and me being maybe 2-3 feet away is enough to let other people know that the sled is currently in use.
However, even if you’re not sure, seeing the bottle should at least prompt you to look around and see who it belongs to. I was sitting on the floor resting before my last set when a woman walked to the sled and kicked my water bottle. I took my headphones off, and the conversation went like this:
Me: 'Hi, excuse me! That’s my water bottle, I’m using the sled at the moment!' (As friendly as I could be)
Her: 'You’re not using it, are you? You’re sitting on the floor.'
Me: 'I’m in between sets, which is why my bottle is there so people know it’s in use.'
Her: 'Well, you can’t use a water bottle to reserve a machine that you’re clearly not using.'
At this point, I got up and stood between her and the sled.
Me: 'As I said, I was resting between sets. I’ve not finished my sets yet. But by all means, feel free to wait until I’m finished.'
I then started pushing the sled one way and then back. When I got to the start position again, she started walking towards the sled, thinking I was going to walk away. Oh, baby no. Here is where the MC started.
I sat on the sled weights while resting because, as she said, I couldn’t use my water bottle to show people it was in use, so I was just going to use my body. She got really angry and said:
Her: 'What are you doing?'
Me: 'Resting between sets. I know now I can’t reserve the machine with a water bottle, so I’m just going to sit here while I rest.'
Her: 'This is unbelievable. How many sets do you have left?'
Me: 'I don’t know, a few more.'
I put my headphones back in and started another set. She was still waiting. So I did another set. She was still there. I did another.
At this point, my legs felt like jelly, and I could barely finish my sets, but she was still waiting for the sled. It had been like 15 minutes, and I forced myself to keep going out of spite.
She looked so angry and was trying to talk to me, but I had my headphones in and blasting music, ignoring her.
I ended up doing 12 extra sets until she walked away. I started unloading my weights from the sled when a group of three gym bros asked if I was done. I said yes and that it was all theirs.
As I walked away towards the changing room, she saw me and walked towards the sled track just to find the three gym bros loading it. I could see the disappointment in her face when she saw them.
The best part is that if she had been a decent human being, I would’ve been done in a minute and she could’ve had the sled all to herself, because I only had one set left originally.
Edit: the bottle was a Hydroflask, not a single use plastic one. And I was on a timed 60 second rest between sets, not camped at machine!
Here i the verdict from Reddit:
Gym etiquette is you let people work in. YTA.
Nah, claiming a machine like that is obnoxious. I've seen too many aholes who 'claim' a machine for way longer than necessary because they're entitled pricks to empathize. You're both assholes. You already posted this in another sub and got called out, now you're just fishing for support.
Gym etiquette is to ask to work in instead of kicking someone's water bottle.
Gym etiquette is also that if there's a bottle on or next to equipment then someone is using it.
Life etiquette > gym etiquette. Life etiquette rule #1: Don't kick people's stuff. Life etiquette rule #2: Use your words.
If the gym was busy and there was a reasonable assumption that someone might be waiting for the machine, that would be one thing and OP could adjust her workout accordingly.
In this case, it sounds like the gym was mostly empty but Gym Bitch (GB) just had to use THAT machine at THAT moment because she objected to OP using a water bottle as an indicator. Otherwise, GB could have just asked.
No one's saying OP wasn't petty. GB just had to start something were there was nothing.