In today's wothout I added a new exercise to my gym routine. I think I'm finally getting a handle on this weight training thing.
As a newbie, however, it's still a high learning curve. Not only in terms of sets and reps. You also have to learn the "rules of the road" when it comes to gym etiquette. Most of these are unwritten but they are real nonetheless. Here are, in my estimation, the top 3 mistakes we lifters make:
1) Lifting directly in front of the dumbbell rack. When you do this, you block other people from getting in. They have to stand there waiting for you to finish before they can get to the dumbbells. The solution? Grab the dumbbells you need, take a few steps back, and leave enough room for others to get to the rack. Simple.
2) Supersetting between multiple pieces of gym equipment at the same time. Don't be the guy who claims the lat press machine and then walks to the other end of the gym to claim some other piece of equipment and supersets between them. It's really bad etiquette to make someone else wait for you to complete your sets before they get to the equipment you're using.
3) Talking on your phone during workouts. This one needs no explanation. It's just plain rude.
Now that I'm aware of these simple rules of gym etiquette, I hope I can do a better job of avoiding them in the future. At the end of the day, perhaps it all boils to one simple rule of thumb: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.