Gym Etiquette

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Paul Victory
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Gym Etiquette

Post by Paul Victory »

I'm still in Alvor and went to the small onsite gym to do my daily penance for the Mud Season Madness (21 out of 24 so far). There are four rooms in the gym - the room you go into through the main door has some cardio equipment, including a Model C erg. Behind that is a studio with exercise mats and ab crunchers in it and to the side are a weights room and a room with a table tennis table.

When I'm on the erg, I like to open one of the windows in the studio to allow some air to flow through the gym (the front door is propped open). In summertime this is essential, but even now it can become quite stuffy if none of the windows in the studio are opened.

A few minutes after I started rowing, a couple came in (around my age or slightly older). The husband went to close the window and I called out to him to ask him to leave it open as I find it too warm without the airflow through the gym. His response was to say "but it's not too warm now" to which my response was "yes it is". To my surprise, he went ahead and closed the window. With somewhat poor grace I stopped rowing, stormed over to the window and opened it again.

I turned to him and said that he must have misunderstood me and that I wanted the window left open. His response was that I would have to ask his wife. When I asked her, she looked at me distainfully and said something along the lines of "it's not warm". So I closed the windows and stomped back to the erg with a face like thunder.

I found myself erging a bit too fast for comfort because of an excess of adrenaline and stopped after about 3k to regroup. I then did another 30 minutes 'just row' to get to my 10,000 meters target for the day. The couple left a few minutes before I finished and didn't even have the good grace to open the window before leaving.

I have a question for my fellow Free Spirits. Should I have been more gracious about allowing the windows to be closed or was I right to feel aggrieved? My perspective on this issue is that if they had been there first with the window closed, I would not have had the right to open it without their permission. But as I was there first, they should not have closed it against my wishes.

By way of background, it's not particularly warm in Alvor today, but the temperature is around 17 degrees, so it was hardly freezing.
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by paulgould »

I have to agree with you on this one - you were there first.
I don't think I would have been as restrained as you though - I would probably have re-opened the window, and then de-fenestrated the guy who closed it :D :D.
To me, there is nothing worse than a stuffy room with no airflow -fortunately I do all my rowing at home and unless it is raining, I take the erg outside.

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Grobi
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by Grobi »

I think your behaviour was correct Paul. You were there first and had the „right of room“. Of course the room „belongs“ to every member of the club, but as you were there first and exercising hard they should have asked if it was ok to close the window. Just entering the room coming from the lockers (that’s my understanding) they surely weren‘t feeling warm, but with a minimum of logical thinking one could expect them to understand that you were most probably feeling very hot.

I hope they weren‘t german :shock: :D
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Paul Victory
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by Paul Victory »

Grobi wrote: Sat Mar 24, 2018 7:45 pmI hope they weren‘t german :shock: :D
No comment!
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by Tako »

Agree with all comments so far.
I would probably have added a comment like: “If you are cold you should start training or train harder....”
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by fkoene »

I agree with the other comments as well. And with a 17 degrees temperartue an open window should be no problem at all in a gym I think.
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by Draggon »

17 degrees sounds pretty freaking cold to me! :D :D
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Paul Victory
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by Paul Victory »

That's 17 degrees centigrade, roughly 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by Draggon »

Paul Victory wrote: Sun Mar 25, 2018 6:50 pm That's 17 degrees centigrade, roughly 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
Just being cheeky. :)

(Did I use that in the proper context?)
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Paul Victory
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by Paul Victory »

Draggon wrote: Mon Mar 26, 2018 1:08 pm
Paul Victory wrote: Sun Mar 25, 2018 6:50 pm That's 17 degrees centigrade, roughly 63 degrees Fahrenheit.
Just being cheeky. :)

(Did I use that in the proper context?)
I figured that. But I felt that it was only fair that I should rise to the bait. :lol:
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Re: Gym Etiquette

Post by RogerB »

Gosh, I would love to have a temp of 17c. My garage has been down to 2c even with the door shut! Roger .
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