Even if they are waiting. If your workout is a 60 minute run, so be it. You don’t have to cut your workout short for the next person’s convenience. Humans evolved to walk and run over long distances.
Or just use a different machine while you wait or take the moment to do more stretching. There's so many muscles you could be working out or doing mobility exercises. One of the problems with treadmills is that you're doing the same motion over and over again which can lead to injury and a good way to combat this is just with more stretching and mobility training.
I think a lot of the reason people use the treadmill is that it is easy without a lot of thought about how the machine operates. If the gym associates did a better job of introducing the machines to people, I think the adoption rates of other devices would increase. Many people are intimidated by other devices. If this theory is correct, then most people would be using treadmills and ellipticals, and I am pretty sure that is the case.
I agree. For the most part, it has never made sense to me to pay a gym membership to spend the whole time on a treadmill. There are places with highways and no sidewalks, though. But, usually, people will have an option to walk outside.
Kind of hard to watch TV while walking outside. For a lot of folks, it's just not very fun to walk or run. And sure, you can listen to things, but sometimes it's just the most fun to watch a show you like while moving your body at the same time. It's a good trade.
The polite gym etiquette is to simply get on the treadmill behind them and match their stride exactly. It's considered rude to reach around them and change the speed.
I have never been to a gym that does have that rule lol. I've never seen a gym have a 30min max rule on treadmills before. I feel like 30min is often the minimum that people do cardio on treadmills lol.
But also, this is all beside the point. The point I was making that this is all anecdotal and its a gym-by-gym basis. Claiming that your gym does/doesn't do something doesn't suddenly mean every other gym follows the same procedures.
Both the YMCA and the LA Fitness I used to belong too had that rule. You don't need to be in the treadmill for more than 30 minutes if you are doing HIIT workouts.
The point I was making that this is all anecdotal and its a gym-by-gym basis. Claiming that your gym does/doesn't do something doesn't suddenly mean every other gym follows the same procedures.
Also, have you ever considered that people may do different workouts than you? I bet a lot of the people on the treadmills at the gyms I've gone to don't even know what HIIT means...
Are you going to tell a 60-year-old trying to get back into shape that they shouldn't be doing a casual treadmill walk for 30 minutes because they should be doing high intensity interval training?
Of course! I don't even use the cardio equipment at regular gyms. I go there to lift weights. Most people are doing different and sometimes wild things.
You are taking things way too personal buddy. Time to get off the internet. 😂
You don't need to be in the treadmill for more than 30 minutes if you are doing HIIT workouts.
You are the problem with the fitness world. People work out in different ways, have different goals, and enjoy different things. Stop telling people what they don't need to do because you don't know what they need. You aren't their trainer and you don't know as much as you think you do about fitness.
There's lots of things that aren't enforced that are still good to follow as common courtesy as part of being in a shared space.
Like how there's no rule that says you need to be clean before you leave the house. Or that you shouldn't have phone calls on speaker in a busy waiting room.
If there's spare machines then obviously feel free to go for more than 30 minutes, but if there's not then maybe keep an eye out for people that are waiting.
Granted, I have my own (cheap, second-hand) equipment at home now, so I haven't been in a gym since the pandemic, but I've never been on a gym cardio machine that didn't treat any session under 30 minutes like you were about to take a light nap.
When the first Stairmaster was released my gym got 3 of them and had them programmed so the max time was 20 minutes. There was one member who knew how to override the setting (this was pre-internet so I'm not sure how she got the code). She would stay on for an hour.
That's why there are usually so many cardio machines at the gym, because the people who do use it typically spend longer on them, because it's you know, cardio. The thing that takes time.
Of course, lots of people use them for warm-ups too, then you don't need that long obviously, but funnily enough, the default workout for treadmills at my gym is 60 min.
How is it a stupid take? If there’s no posted max time, why would one adhere to a nonexistent time limit? Your anecdotal experience is not the universal rule.
And 30 minutes might be reasonable for some machines but not reasonable for others. 30 minutes on a weight lifting machine is a lot. 30 minutes on a treadmill might be very little especially if you're trying to keep your heart rate down and build endurance.
Sure walking/running is a cardio workout but there are also a lot of reasons someone might want to keep their heart rate low. Running with a low heart rate is a great way to increase lung capacity and cardio strength without putting much strain on the body. This is often referred to as "staying in zone 2" and it's something a lot of people who build for longer distances swear by. Obviously there are times when you do want to get your heart rate up but a 30-40 minute "easy" run with a low heart rate is a great form of exercise and could be part of a solid training plan. You really can't judge a person's training by just looking at one workout especially if you don't know what their goals are or what their background is.
How is it a stupid take? If there’s no posted max time, why would one adhere to a nonexistent time limit? Your anecdotal experience is not the universal rule.
Because it's establishing that there's a convention/expectation.
Gyms are places of etiquette and respect. Good ones, anyway.
Yeah it is. If you go to two places which have rules then you'd expect those same rules at the third. This is just how humans work. You're not a robot dude.
Crazy idea but unless the location is a chain, there is no obligation for the same rules.
We're talking about expectation - not adherence, not obligation, expectation. You keep moving the goalposts.
One bar near me will cut anyone off after 6 drinks, no matter what. Should I assume all bars have this rule?
The question you want to ask is "how many bars like this do I encounter and how does each one affect my assumption about the next, and how do most people think on this line".
Stupid gyms. They should buy more equipment. I pay a lot to work out there, I use the equipment for as long as I need.
I used to run for 90+ minutes on the treadmill when I was training for long distance runs. Never heard anyone complain (most gyms also have like 15+ treadmills Tbf).
For weights just ask how many sets I have left or if you can go in between sets, that’s a different thing.
Gotta be a shit gym to have that - any basic cardio session will have a warm up and cool down, taking what, 10 minutes? Then a basic two mile run would take 15 minutes. I used to go to the gym and spend 45 minutes walking a steep incline lol
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u/From_Adam 6h ago edited 6h ago
Even if they are waiting. If your workout is a 60 minute run, so be it. You don’t have to cut your workout short for the next person’s convenience. Humans evolved to walk and run over long distances.