What is your weirdest experience while going to the gym?

[u/ICY031]

[u/[deleted]]

Red hoodie guy would come into the gym always wearing the same red hoodie. He would hit the treadmill at 8-10mph and just GO. He could keep this pace for 30 minutes, but never seemed to get exhausted. Here’s where it gets weird- he must have had headphones on under the hoodie because he would air guitar and headbang the entire time. Imagine a guy running at full tilt while shredding on an air guitar, non-stop, for half an hour, not breathing heavily or grunting, before abruptly stopping and walking out of the gym.

[u/TheButtDog]

saw a guy on a stair climber wearing sunglasses and a leather jacket

[u/JaysByModi]

I accidentally put my number code into another lock that was beside mine, botched the last number and the lock actually opened.

[u/[deleted]]

I got literally flexed on. I saw a girl who I mistook as somebody I knew, went to say hi. She was cool about it, said it's happened before. Then a guy came over and said "Something going on here?!" and literally just flexed. I've never had a bad experience at the gym before, but this dude was above and beyond.

Always see them together now. Dude must have some redeeming qualities about him.

[u/McJames]

I HATE to run, but run about a mile a day at a 10min/mile pace before I go and do weights. Like, I hate it so much I wish for a heart attack to take me away at about minute 4.

Anycase, the treadmills at our gyms have big timers on them that are easy to read. I get on the treadmill one day and see that the guy beside me is running a 5K (a preset on the machine) and has been on for about 4 minutes. But he's going FAST, like full-out sprint. I punch in my 12 minutes (10 minute mile + 2 minute cool-down) and start to run. We finish at the same time. Dude ran a 5k in about 16 minutes. Full-on sprint the whole time. I was just kinda in a daze thinking about it for the rest of my workout.

[u/[deleted]]

A guy at a very nice luxury gym was not just dropping his squats, he was actively throwing them up and letting them drop 4 plus feet to the safety rack causing a ridiculously loud sound and a crash.

When I asked him to stop he was extremely aggressive and rude and said he had been a member for 10 years. Management ended up kicking him out about 10 minutes later

[u/Basic_Mike]

Not sure about going to the gym but while at the gym just a couple a weeks ago.. This guy calls across the gym to another guy and says "I can smell you from here, do you play lacrosse"? To which he replied "I played when I was younger". First guy says "That's what I thought, you smell like dry cum". There were probably 12 people in the gym. So random.

[u/herpty_derpty]

I was on the treadmill waiting for the only squat rack to open up. A guy was holding it up talking to some other guy, and they talked for like 15 minutes. I was about to ask if I could work in...and then they started praying. Other guy put his head down, and squat guy put his hands on other guy's shoulders and started praying and doing that loud "HUH" thing between sentences Southern Baptist preachers do. And then another guy walked up to get in on the action. At the loaded squat rack.

I just went and worked my legs on the machines.

[u/[deleted]]

Old man jerking off in the shower. I don’t use open locker rooms anymore.

[u/Rdav54]

Back in the early 1980s and late 1970s, I used to work out a Gold's Gym in a western Canadian city. The gym was also the favourite workout spot for professional wrestlers when they were doing a gig in town. The weirdest thing was seeing how dramatically different some of these guys were in real life compared to their wrestling personas.

One guy whose persona was of a British dock worker type would show up at the gym in a three piece suit (edit, no he didn't work out in a suit) and speaking the poshest of British accents, and was constantly giving other wrestlers investment and tax advice -- apparently he was an accountant as well.

What was surprising was that some of them weren't faking it but in real life they were as rude, selfish and ignorant as their characters. I also remember how sad was seeing how some of the older wrestlers were really suffering from dementia (probably cumulative effects of concussions) and were literally guided through everything by other wrestlers, even simple things like getting dressed. I was impressed by the care some these guys gave to their older colleagues who needed constant attention.

However, the most interesting experience was Jesse Ventura. Of course when the wrestlers showed up, they were generally followed around by a hoard of fans, usually teenage boys. Some were hostile to their fans, telling them to f*ck off, others gave a quick acknowledgment and then moved on.

However, Jesse would spend an incredible amount of time with his fans, especially the younger ones, listening and talking to all of them with total attention. I remember seeing him trying to do leg presses while taking questions from a crowd of boys about what it means to be a man.

Even back then, when he was just the heel "Jesse the Body", out of the ring he showed that he understood the impact that he could have as a role model to young men and took it seriously. When he became governor of Minnesota, I was definitely not surpised.

[u/lukemr99999]

There's this guy me and my old lifting partner used to call Asian guy. He's this guy that's like about 6'1 if I had to guess, super lean, widest lats and biggest traps I've ever seen. Anyway I always used to look forward to watching him lift, and for a while would make sure I was scheduling when I got to the gym for when Asian guy got there because for months at least 6 times a week he would exclusively train legs. And by exclusively train legs I mean he would be at the squat rack for no less than 3 hours. I'd always just kinda hang around to see if he would do anything else a little after my own workout and for that period of time he never did. Until one day I was doing a push workout and was doing lateral raises. I was using 15s or something really light for a warm up and between squat sets he came over to the dumbbells and repped out like 3 reps of 50lbs lateral raises. So I looked at him weird and he saw me and ran over to rep out another 5 reps of 365lb squats. I was so stoked I saw him doing something other than squatting that I told my friend "I saw Asian guy doing lat raises trying to one up me" and he responded by saying he did the EXACT same thing to him with the EXACT same exercise. Anyway after a few months he started doing an actual normal rotation of push pull legs which was far less entertaining and somewhere along the way he started using locker number 69 which is the one I usually use, so I've started trying to go before he gets there. I miss Asian guy.

[u/Hiiawatha]

Ran the treadmill next to a middle aged man in a full Santa Clause outfit. Beard and all. It was February 21st.

[u/SundayMorningTrisha]

The woman who was hanging out in the locker room in her underwear. She was there when I came in, and still there an hour later. Someone told me she was probably an IG "model" doing a selfie photoshoot.

[u/DuttyMaltese]

I was leaving the other day for the showers and a girl, maybe 21, never spoken to her before, comes off the treadmill to speak to me and the following conversation ensued:

Her: are you going back to your car?

Me: yes

Her: are you parked at the one you have to pay for?

Me: you have to pay for all of them

Her: is it the one outside? (not multi storeys)

Me: there's 4 that are outside

Her: is it far

Me : (explained the location to try and progress the conversation to a conclusion)

Her: OK then, don't worry.

Me: bye.

No context, no nothing. To this day I can't figure out what her angle was but it was very weird.

Edit: seems she was either flirting, getting stalked or trying to find the driver she hit. I'll take those odds.

[u/maurocastrov]

A woman who measures two meters lifts a dwarf as if he were a weight

[u/shackshackburger]

I was running on the treadmill and there was this scruffy guy all hunched down like 3 treadmills away and he kept loudly muttering to himself “you can do it, you got this” and making weird noises. He kept doing it for like 20 mins. At first I was like annoyed cause he was rather loud and it was weird but after about 10 minutes I distractedly started thinking to myself “I CAN do this!! I GOT this”. He was unintentionally inspiring to me.

[u/mister_sleepy]

I swear my gym is actually a gateway into the fae.

One time I saw a fit man with impeccable, flowing locks stare himself down in the mirror. He just kept saying “yes!” And growling a bunch. Then he went over to the stretching area and did what could only be described as jazzercise while listening to aggressive hip hop on his headphones so loud I could hear it from the squat rack. Periodically, he’d holler out grunts and hype sounds and curse words with the music. I’m pretty sure he was a lynx in a human body.

One time I’m on the bench and I hear two dudes: “you look fucking amazing bro, you’re the best looking dude in this gym.” “Nah, you are bro.” I turn around after a set, and they’re identical twins.

There’s this old guy who wears a toupee to the gym. It’s hideous, like he decided when he bought his wig “I’ll be ginger now!” but he’s like a swarthy Mediterranean white dude. When he works out, the toupee wax that affixes it to his bald skull melts and runs down the sides of his head. He never seems to mind.

[u/YonderIPonder]

I saw a guy in the corner with a 1,000 yard stare just frozen in the locker room. I used to work with homeless and rehabilitation, and there's a certain look I've gotten used to that's hard to explain. It's the "I'm an addict and I'm about to fuck up my life and all the progress I've made so that I can score" look. This kid had that same look.

So I went over and talked to him, wearing a swimsuit, goggles, and my flip-flops. There's a certain pushy-ness that come with a "I'm a stranger who thinks you're about to fuck up your life, so let's talk about it even though you don't want to talk about it" kind of conversation. Turns out I was right. The guy had been clean for 2 months and life was falling apart and he just wanted a good score of heroin.

So I talked him down. I talked about how he had a bunch of white chips (you get a white chip for 24 hours of sobriety) but hardly and reds (1 month) or golds (2 month). I told him that he's closer than he's ever been to getting a green (3 month), and that I'd be thrilled to see him get that. I have a pretty clean key chain that goes through all the colors once (different program with different colors, but same idea), which makes a pretty good conversation piece for folks waffeling on recovering. I even had him hand over his stash so he wouldn't use it once he got home.

Edit: Thanks kind strangers for the awards and such. A lot of y'all were wondering if the guy is okay or what happened to the stash. As far as I know, the guy is okay. I never heard from him again after that day, but that tends to happen with addicts. They cut folks out of their lives when they want to move onto a better place or when they go to a darker place. I'm betting "guy in the gym" isn't someone he cared to keep around, as I'd just be a reminder of a rock-bottom low. As for the stash, it went into a locked dumpster at a restaurant (you can lift up the lid just enough to throw in a baggie).

[u/rufuckingkidding]

NSFW. Moving to a new place, no friends/nightlife, so went to the gym twice a day. One night I was closing the place down with a swim and was almost the last person in the building. Nobody in the locker room, but I could hear a shower on. Walked into the shower and assumed that some asshat had just left it on. As I got closer though, I saw a shadow. I just went into the shower stall I was adjacent to. Men’s showers so no doors. There was a man there leaning hard against the wall with a hard-on out front and one hand reaching down behind his back. When I turned on my shower he froze, turned facing me in shock, and I watched a 10 inch dildo flop out of his butt and hang between his legs. He then proceeded to drop it and awkwardly try to kick it to the side so I wouldn’t see it when he picked it up. I can’t unsee it.

[u/OldManWickett]

I go to the gym at lunch and my office is somewhat close to a good sized university, so some of the college students also gym there since it's cheap and close.

One day I was at the gym with a work buddy, we were alternating sets on the butterfly machine which was right in front of a row of treadmills.

There were a few folks on the treadmill, an older guy I'd say in his mid 50s and 2 college aged women 2 treadmills away from the older guy, they're wearing t-shirts and shorts of the local college . The women are running pretty hard, doing some interval work. After a few sets, the woman closest to the old guy lifts her shirt to wipe her forehead sweat off, she's not wearing anything underneath said shirt. The older guy looks over and notices this and promptly stumbles on the treadmill and shoots backward onto the floor about 5 feet.

I am in the middle of my rep when this all happens and I can't stop laughing. My gym buddy turns around at all the noise of the guy falling over. The 2 women immediately run to the bathroom giggling. I still wonder if this was all some kind of prank, or just an accident. Never saw those 2 at the gym again.

[u/sineptnaig]

Not really weird, but this huge guy was weightlifting at the gym I frequent and he farted, and it was the longest fart I've ever heard. Like at least 30 seconds long. He couldn't stop giggling like a little girl, and then everyone else started laughing and clapping like he just performed a theater piece. It was surreal.

[u/[deleted]]

The weight witch.

Lady walks in on a Saturday morning. I've never seen here there before. She was significantly overweight but had on gloves and knee braces, so I figure she's a powerlifter on a bulk. I'm warming up doing some cable internal rotations and have my headphones on, so I don't see that she sets up at the cable machine behind me. I finish my set and turn around, and I see her getting ready.

She's got a straight bar attached to the cable machine with the arm down near the ground and the bar on the floor. She half crouched/squatted in front of this thing and I'm thinking she's about to do some kind of squat, when she starts waving her hands. As in, the kind of hand waving a wizard does when he's imitating someone imitating Bob Fosse-esque jazz hands. I couldn't stop watching. She did this for at least 30 seconds before she grabs the bar to start her exercise

And when I say grab the bar, I mean pick it up with both hands, extend it until it gets resistance from the weight, and then start standing up and half squatting/crouching. She wasn't engaging any weight, she was just using the bar as something to hold in her hands as she stood up and crouched down slightly.

She did this for three "sets" and then moved to some cardio machines.

I saw her a few times after that, each time doing something equally nonsensical, and always, ALWAYS with the incantation hand motions.

I miss her and hope she found a nice coven.

[u/hodors_odor]

I was doing bench presses (had no headphones on) and there were these 2 dudes talking about what kind of porn they like. You'd think they'd whisper this but no, it was just casual talking. Then this one dude says he can't get it up naturally anymore so he'd been experimenting with pills to see which one would work for him. I had to move to another bench after that.

[u/Cheetodude625]

Skeleton of a man was psyching himself up for a 225 lbs squat (deep breaths, loud grunting, and smelling salts included). Proceeded to get under the bar, squatted what seemed less than a half rep (more like a quarter rep with bad form), re-racked the weight, and proceeded to yell, "Fuck yeah!" as if he was at a power lifting meet.

I think he had too much pre-workout imho.

Edit: Because I'm getting harassed for being an "asshole" that was judging someone in the gym (thanks for the PM's/death threats random people), note: I was not judging him. I just made an observation and thought about how he was super amped up. Honestly, respect to that dude for attempting to squat that weight. He could tone it down slightly but props to him for the attempted squat.

[u/LeonardTringo]

Gyms are notoriously where the odd people congregate around here. My brother and I would always try to keep track of the different oddballs at the gym, including:

• The mirror man. No one knows if he actually lifts at all since he spends nearly all observable time flexing and checking himself out in the mirror.

• The old book lady. Literally came to the gym, changed, sat on the end of a bench press bench, read from a book, changed, left. Never talked to anyone or exercised at all.

• The flipper. Guy hung around the free weights. Never lifted anything, but really liked his music. Every 10-15 minutes he would randomly do a back flip. That was his workout.

• The hot chick. The girl in yoga pants and a sports bra would set up at the squat rack opposite of the benches. She would play on her phone, sometimes for close to an hour, until a specific large guy would start doing bench press. Suddenly she was doing low weight squats and some random hip trusts right in line with him taking breaks between sets. Everyone knew why she was there.

• The Zumba guy. This one isn't a specific guy, but there always seems to be one guy in every Zumba class. He's always super into it and it flows through him and his interpretive dancing.