Pet hates in gyms

[saint.nick]

This really jacked bloke at my gym decided to sit down on the bench press with his mate and have a tearful D'n'M for about half an hour.

 

[saint.nick]

Chubby, Tap-Out t-shirt kinda guy comes to my gym one day, spots his mate (who works in the gym protein shake bar) using cable machine, leans against cable machine laughing at something crude he's showing to his mate on his phone every 10 seconds...while his mate works out; does this for about 15 minutes, finally says 'alright man, I better go and workout, I really need it'...talks and laughs loudly for another 5 minutes, finally says goodbye, pulls out a fkn portable speaker and connects it to his phone, plays gangsta rap, does bicep curls. It's not a pet hate story, it was fkn amusing more than anything.

 

[saint.nick]

lol dicky knee.

Is it fair to say common courtesy and customer service goes out the door at a gym? I mean, you walk into a retail shop and either they're more than happy to talk to you, or they actively try to engage with you to help you find what you need. You walk into a gym, and the trainers on deck are usually hanging around the same 3-4 roid heads. No hello, no hey mate how you doing, no so mate what are your goals is there any advice I can give you? At my gym they have a large screen TV at the entrance which rotates between different trainers, what their favourite exercise is, and their philosophy. And most of them "I love to help people", "Let me help you", for people who reckon their motivation is to help people they do nothing to go out of their way to help anyone but their mates. Its not so much a pet hate, but an observation, and I reckon a gym that uses a good CRM system, coaches their trainers to engage better, it can really help to separate from the also rans, because 60% of people who are there aren't in bodybuilding comps, I'd speculate 30-40% of them are in their first 1-2 years of training, there's a good deal of them confused by all the literature, some are probably disillusioned with their results simply because they're not tight enough on the strategy they're adopting.

Man, the customer service from some of the people who work at my gym is terrible. Most of them are young pretentious girls who think they are special because they work in the fitness scene. Out of all the girls who work on the front desk, which is...roughly 11, I'd say only 4 of them make an effort to say hello and goodbye first. As for the rest of them, if you aren't a juiced up meathead they're already friendly with, they will ignore you.

 

[Sydney Knight]

I realise that many trainers in chain Gyms don't get paid a salary but if you are standing around doing nothing in between PT sessions why not give someone the time of day and maybe some free advice. It might lead to some good word of mouth and if people see you as friendly and approachable you are more likely to get new clients.

 

[saint.nick]

I realise that many trainers in chain Gyms don't get paid a salary but if you are standing around doing nothing in between PT sessions why not give someone the time of day and maybe some free advice. It might lead to some good word of mouth and if people see you as friendly and approachable you are more likely to get new clients.

Fortunately it does happen. A PT who used to be at my gym conducted a free deadlifting lesson for people one night.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

Good PTs go through extensive practical and theoretical training themselves that cost them, time and money. So any freebies from PTs isnt always good for the PT but GREAT for the one on the receiving end.

PTs usually look to convert you into a paying client so expect a sales pitch which is understanderble cos the gyms not paying them. Usually its the other way around, PTs pay the gym a percentage or set rate.

Yeah PTs should help but to an extent. Good PTs will look to sell a service. Dumb PTs will pour all their knowledge on to you, train you and never try to sell any service they offer.

 

[Sydney Knight]

Good PTs go through extensive practical and theoretical training themselves that cost them, time and money. So any freebies from PTs isnt always good for the PT but GREAT for the one on the receiving end.



PTs usually look to convert you into a paying client so expect a sales pitch which is understanderble cos the gyms not paying them. Usually its the other way around, PTs pay the gym a percentage or set rate.

Yeah PTs should help but to an extent. Good PTs will look to sell a service. Dumb PTs will pour all their knowledge on to you, train you and never try to sell any service they offer.

I didn't mean huge freebies more just being polite as people walk into the gym and maybe the occasional well done or quick tip here and there doesn't hurt

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

I didn't mean huge freebies more just being polite as people walk into the gym and maybe the occasional well done or quick tip here and there doesn't hurt

Oh yeah absolutely. Thats like compulsory customer service, well it should be.

 

[Iafeta]

Agree. The whole model of customer service is around satisfaction to create repeat buys, increased share of wallet and tenure longevity. It all plays into the PTs favour if they share little bits of knowledge rather than look on like disinterested junkies. How many people start and leave within one month, it must be staggering. A huge loser of revenue.

Today I go into the rec room to do dead lifts and squats from the power rack. When I walk in there's one dude there and he's put in his iPhone and has it on death metal at mind blowing and ear drum destroying volumes. Meanwhile he's barely doing anything so it's hardly motivating him. Finally he starts doing sled pushes. Another box head comes in, sees old mate doing sled pushes, drops a mat in the middle of the sled push lane when there's plenty of room elsewhere, lies down and does about 5 bicycle curls in between playing on his phone. Beasts they may be, dumb as oxen most of them absolutely are.

 

[Eelpout]

When you catch the same group of guys on the tren taking photos in the selfie room weekly that proceed to pretend it's not the reason they were in there.

 

[Iafeta]

What about old mate yesterday. The same old mate who had death metal at a million decibels whilst doing nothing. Yesterday he gets on the cable flies. I took note - he did 3 sets. Gap between set 1 and 2 was 14 minutes, between 2 and 3 17 minutes. He had one hand on a cable handle to make sure no one else got on it, and was playing on his phone the rest of the time. What a tool

 

[The Charlatan]

Are you not allowed to call these merkins out on their merkinery?

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

When you look at a hot chick at the wrong time and they catch you out. In this I instance, I was really looking at this hot sheilas ass. I was looking just down in front of her thinking about some money I just won. As she dropped the weights to finish her set, I looked up at her and awkward times from there. Shes hot but I see her there quite often, now she might be thinkin Im a pervert.

 

[Iafeta]

Are you not allowed to call these merkins out on their merkinery?

I guess I choose not to. They're mildly annoying but more or less just amusing anecdotes in the culture of a gym. I prefer just to get in there, do my thing, and get out of there.

 

[saint.nick]

Good PTs go through extensive practical and theoretical training themselves that cost them, time and money. So any freebies from PTs isnt always good for the PT but GREAT for the one on the receiving end.

PTs usually look to convert you into a paying client so expect a sales pitch which is understanderble cos the gyms not paying them. Usually its the other way around, PTs pay the gym a percentage or set rate.

Yeah PTs should help but to an extent. Good PTs will look to sell a service. Dumb PTs will pour all their knowledge on to you, train you and never try to sell any service they offer.

Yeah, I was surprised when he decided to give an hour long free deadlight tutorial to everyone, I don't expect PTs to go too far out of their way like that.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

Yeah, I was surprised when he decided to give an hour long free deadlight tutorial to everyone, I don't expect PTs to go too far out of their way like that.

Its most likely a rookie. Its good he impressed but he goes away asking himself "did I convert anyone into a client?". I feel sorry for some really good trainers out there that suck at dealing with getting clients to pay but are great at getting you fast results.

 

[saint.nick]

Its most likely a rookie. Its good he impressed but he goes away asking himself "did I convert anyone into a client?". I feel sorry for some really good trainers out there that suck at dealing with getting clients to pay but are great at getting you fast results.

He's still completing some sports science degree, or a degree in something like that, and he's youngish, so probably.

 

[Iafeta]

What about old mate yesterday. The same old mate who had death metal at a million decibels whilst doing nothing. Yesterday he gets on the cable flies. I took note - he did 3 sets. Gap between set 1 and 2 was 14 minutes, between 2 and 3 17 minutes. He had one hand on a cable handle to make sure no one else got on it, and was playing on his phone the rest of the time. What a tool

Did it again yesterday. I was there for 45 minutes last night. He sat on a Lat pull down machine playing on his phone and in 45 minutes did 2 sets. He was in the zone completely oblivious to anyone else wanting to use said machine. What a douche.

 

[GAZF]

Small lizards keep sneaking into my asbestos garage gym and shitting on the rubber mats, surely others have had similar issues?

 

[Dogs Of War]

Small lizards keep sneaking into my asbestos garage gym and shitting on the rubber mats, surely others have had similar issues?

They tend to be looking for a water source. I just ended up putting a bowl outside under the tap and fill it there. It will be dirty fast. But it will keep them outside a lot more.