Gym Etiquette: Be a Considerate Treadmill User
Refer to the "Older Walkers" page, in which foot-slamming is explained. If it doesn’t concern you that the loud foot-banging, that results from holding onto the treadmill while jogging/running, is extremely annoying to other gym patrons, then at least avoid this to protect your feet from stress injuries.
• Do not leave Kleenex, water bottles, gum wrappers, food bar wrappers, or other unappetizing artifacts in the machine’s cup holders or elsewhere on the machine. This is a very common problem. Nobody wants to see the tissue paper that you blew your nose on or sneezed or coughed into. And don’t assume a gum wrapper is too benign a site to infuriate the next user of the machine.
• If you have used the incline, do not just press “stop” when you’re done. Be a good sport and lower the machine back to zero incline, and then press “stop.” Nobody likes to step onto a machine that’s already angled up to 15 percent, get it going, and have to wait for the machine to do it’s very slow sinking back down to zero grade.
• If you notice that the tread belt is shaky, suddenly speeds up or slows down, or is unusually noisy (rumbles, groans, or creates a loud thud even though you are not slamming your feet), report this to gym staff. Also report it when the machine does not do what you program it to do.
• If you were sweating up a storm while running, make sure there are no sweat drops on the console before you exit.
• Refrain from using a cell phone unless it’s an absolutely urgent necessity, or unless you know with absolute certainty that the conversation will be very brief. The person next to you – or even five machines down from you – cannot just up and leave to get away from your loud raucous talking and/or really annoying laughter. And when you are talking into a cell phone, be very aware of what you might sound like to nearby people. It’s a fact: Cell phone yakkers typically speak a lot louder and more dramatically during cell phone conversations, than with live people standing before them.