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While the amount of so-called “third spaces” available to the public has diminished, people often forget that the oh-so-humble gym technically qualifies as one. However, at the same time, regular gym-goers know that, depending on where you are and even the time of day, one can run into a very interesting selection of people.
Someone asked “What's the strangest thing you have seen someone do at the gym?” and netizens share the unhinged encounters they’ve had. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own experiences in the comments below.
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#1
I had an older gentleman, late 60s, ESL, from the Phillipines, very thin, come up to me and ask me in broken English if he could watch me workout. So I let him. He followed me to every exercise and would take notes, smile, and say thank you after each set. At the end of my workout he came up to me and asked what days and times I go to the gym. This started getting more weirder by the moment. But I was truthful with him. Fast forward to the next day. There he was doing the exact workout I did the day before. He came up to me and said hello and asked to watch me again. He did this for a few days straight. Basically he had no idea what to do for workouts, or how to ask for help/assistance with them, so he wanted to use mine. Totally creeped out at first. But that dude still goes to the gym to this day and he always says hi to me. He even got the same headphones as me now. And always has a huge smile on his face. Weirdest but most sincere compliments I've ever had at the gym.
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#2
Dude at my gym (YMCA) comes in and does about 20 minutes of normal looking calisthenics before busting out into some extremely vigorous Irish dancing all around the gym. Everyone just stopped what they were doing and watched with their mouths open.
Turns out he works there.
#3
One of my first jobs was working in a gym daycare. Honestly a great job.
You could drop your child off for a maximum of 2 hours but we were really relaxed with that rule. Rarely did anyone go over that and if they did it wasn’t a big deal.
Until we got this one mom. She’d drop her baby off and literally leave the gym. She’d be gone for 4 hours sometimes and we had to get the manager involved.
Her husband showed up one day looking for her. Shocker, his baby was there but not his spouse. Turns out she was cheating on him. And I got to witness the confrontation first hand.
I literally just wanted to take care of the kids and babies and somehow got sucked into a love affair.
#4
I'm always amazed at the number who go to the gym but sit (often on an apparatus) looking at their phones instead of working out.
#6
My gym has a guy in his 50s who brings his VR headset and does (what I’d imagine) boxing classes. There’s also a guy who shows up in a full Wolverine cosplay outfit to workout in. He also has Deadpool and Captain America outfits but usually wears the Wolverine one. And no, he’s not jacked.
#7
Older man in his 70’s, doing squats in slacks, long sleeve button-up, dress shoes and gardening gloves.
#8
Some guy came in dressed in his gym clothes, walked around with a steel bowl full of chicken and mayo. Ate it and then left.
#9
At my gym there was a guy who would blindfold himself with his beanie. He pulled it down over his eyes to concentrate. Good coordination but so funny to watch.
#10
Some dude that kept coming over between sets and taking weights off my bar instead of off the rack next to him, then acting annoyed when I asked him to stop.
#11
I watched a guy running hard on the treadmill stop after about 5-10 minutes and then immediately go outside and rip a cigarette. Then he came back in and hopped back on the treadmill and repeated this for 2 more sets and left. Training lungs until failure I guess.
#12
There is an older dude I see sometimes that kinda interpretive dances with the elliptical machine. He never just gets on and uses it he hops on one side and does a couple pumps, then hops off and pushes a couple rotations with his hand, then hops on backwards, the hops off and kinda dances. He just keeps going at it for 30 mins or so randomly using the machine in every way except how it was intended to be used.
I have not seen him use another machine, just pace around. I once saw him in the parking lot and he was parked at a very odd angle to a planter bed that was not a parking spot.
Dude is definitely marching to the beat of his own drummer.
#14
He was just doing a normal leg routine. The strange thing is, that must be all he does. Waste up he looked like a lanky 110 pound kid. Legs down he looked like an absolutely jacked professional hockey player.
#15
I saw bite marks on the pad of a machine right before i was about to start using it.. i picked up my things and went to a similar machine instead lol.
#17
This one guy on the treadmill was yelling and grunting like a anime character in their training arc 😭.
#18
An awkward gal that carried around a tripod with her phone mounted to it an had someone on FaceTime for all of her workouts. Never could figure out if she was talking to a remote trainer or just what. But she spoke to no one in the gym and acted like it was totally normal.
#19
Once had a woman do squats literally less than 2 inches from me while I was on a yoga mat doing stretches. Had no clue if she didn’t see me, was coming on to me, or was some kind of dare, either way was odd.
#20
My wife saw an older lady light up two young girls for taking selfies in the locker room mirrors, that specifically stated “no selfies” on a sticker.
#21
Writing an essay at my school gym hahaha. ripped a set then put his laptop on his chest and wrote.
#22
Saw a guy working out with a personal trainer and during his resting period, he would chug from a 2 liter bottle of coke.
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