gym etiquette
 

my gym has new ownership, been recruiting new members, refurbished the showers/locker rooms & installing new machines, etc. It's all good, but there's a bunch of newbies using the locker/dressing room that don't seem to have experience with proper etiquette. there are no posted rules so in theory anything goes, but it's tiresome. anyone want to share what they think are the basics in gym locker/dressing/shower etiquette?

What are they doing running around naked snapping wet towels at each other's rear quarters?

lol ... I would share but I don't want to get flamed for being a prude or a neat freak.

but for example, walking up to the sinks/mirrors without covering their junk, sitting on the benches without underwear or a towel to sit on, leaving anonymous underwear on the floor of the drying area outside the shower area. I'm naked when necessary but cover up out of courtesy if I'm walking to&from the showers, or using the hair dryer by the sink/mirror. I think some resist normal modesty to the point that they become exhibitionist and their lack of public hygiene is disgusting to me. don't they consider the consequences of sitting in their own slime then leaving it for the next knucklehead to sit bare a*sed on? or consider that they might be sitting in someone else's slime?

You could always try to compliment their genitals in an attempt to get them to cover them up around you. This might backfire though...

For some reason just reading some stuff in your posts makes me uncomfortable. I agree with RPK though. Don't do the obvious though, be creative. Then they will freak and probably cover.

"Hey, Bro, lookin' good."

*point at crotch*

*put fist up for a "bump"*

Nudity is normal in locker rooms. I'm not talking about the weirdos who bust out a set of pushups in the buff, or stand, nekked, with one foot up on the bench, but walking to and from the shower, etc is not particularly out of place.

lol

agreed, it's really the other stuff

I've made the mistake once or twice over the years of saying something - it always back fires or hurts their feelings. just something to endure while the newbies learn the ins&outs of our gym, no pun intended

:roflmao2:

Just sidle up, kinda point with your chin, and say "hey man that's a real nice one".

reminds me of Clint Eastwood's shower scene in Escape from Alcatraz
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKYeUcLqugU

+1

standard etiquette? go to and from the showers with a towel wrapped around and with flip flops, sit down on a towel,

Others have made great suggestions as to comments to make to correct behavior, I advocate sidling up and saying something like "don't worry, it will grow... hopefully"

but you ARE a prude and a neat freak! :lol:

... not that there is anything WRONG with that.

See, I think making sure you are wrapped in a towel every possible second is weird. Never nudes are loco en la cabeza.

The only sign posted in my gym locker room is one prohibiting cell phone photos.

I have also seen people sit naked on the benches without a towel, so I avoid having contact with the benches unless there is a towel or article of clothing as a barrier.

There are several women who wander around naked, but I've never seen any of them bust out a set of pushups. :P

My biggest complaint are those who sit at the vanity in front of one of the 4 hair dryers and yap with their friends while people are waiting to dry their hair. Oh, and the swimmers who don't dry off and leave a big puddle of water on the tile floor in front of the lockers; I've slipped on it several times.

What is wrong with you people? You are talking about nudity as if its something unnatural and dirty. As long as people don't get in your space, naked or otherwise, and don't make a mess who cares what they are wearing? It's a public space for showering and changing clothes. First off why are you staring at someones junk, and if it bothers you that much and you can't help but stare don't go in the locker-room.

Now I'll tell you what is disgusting, everyone eating together in a public place and stuffing food in their faces ;)

It is remarkably uncomfortable.

Where I went to school, the sexes were separate in showers, pool, sauna, etc. Thus clothing was forbidden in all those areas. Kept things neat. Coming out of HS where everybody was still weird about that stuff it took a little getting used to, but it is so obviously a good way to treat all that body stuff. They tried to make adults of us. Probably mostly failed.

Clothing was forbidden in the pools when you were in school. As in y'all skinny dipped your way through college? Like you swam laps nekkid? Whoa, that blows my mind. ;)

That is correct. IMO nakedness is a good thing. About 20 of us dirty hippies have been saunaing together for many years. Not all of us at once - none of us has a sauna that big. Think about that and our age. Now that's an image you'll never erase. ;)

You are aware that gymnasium literally means the place to be naked, right?

Ok, still wrapping my innocent little head around this. Naked in the swimming pool doing what? As a lap swimmer, I just feel all the parts should be nicely ensheathed by nylon or whatever it is swimsuits are made of. For the same reasons the diver comes once a month to scrape barnacles off your boat. To decrease drag.

Note to self: when visiting Carbon, change the subject if he suggests swimming a few laps :)

H

Add me to the list of those who view nudity as normal in a locker room. If sitting on a wet bench is an issue to you, use your towel. But, don't neccessarily expect others to adopt your method.

If you really want to talk about 'interesting' locker room behavior. I live in a neighbourhood with a significant chinese immigrant population. I've yet to adjust to their habit of, one man standing on the bench while anothe man "methodically" dries the first. The first time I witnessed this I presumed the two were 'partners'. But, I've since seen it frequently enough and between fathers and sons and believe it to simply be a cultural difference.

If this isn't the case, please, please, don't destroy my illussion.

Differences in Chinese etiquette, the toddler toilet training edition:

http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/x...75bfecce1e.jpg

Yes those are crotchless pants and the "toilet" is a public sidewalk.

By the way, I have no issue with naked in the locker room. It's naked in the pool that's hard to me to fathom.

H

Some of you people need to go to Japan and visit an onsen ... or maybe not. You'd probably be too shocked.

Lol, there is a large Korean population in LA. One of my former interns (very American but of Korean descent) was telling me about the Korean bathhouses in LA. She still went every week with her family for a good scrub down by the bath house ladies (which apparently is a thorough but not exactly pleasant experience) and she invited me to come along and give it a try. I think these Korean baths are like the Japanese baths. Lol, I did not go, thinking a bit literally something like "no thanks, I can just shower in 10 minutes at home". But maybe I should have, just for the experience. No one has invited me to a Korean bath house since, now I realize it was a missed opportunity.

Still that's very different from swimming laps naked. :)

H

The onsens are a little bit different from that ... at least the one that we went to. There is the shower/bathing area, and then a series of warm-to-hot pools in which you can sit or swim a little bit, although they are fairly small. You move from one pool to the next, with perhaps a bit of a "dip" in a cool water area in between.

The only thing you have with you is a small washcloth, which you use to sort of cover yourself when you go from one pool to the next, and which you fold and place on your head when you're in the pool. No bathing suits of any sort.