gym

Charlotte Scanlan

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I regularly workout at the gym, and when I do really heavy squats it’s a bit of an effort for me to lift the bar out of the rack; it wobbles a bit, but it’s always fine. I can control it and wouldn’t attempt anything I struggled with too much. This guy who had been watching me while he did his workout came running over to help, and I told him I was fine and to leave it. He didn’t. He insisted on staying with me while I did the squats (that I’m perfectly capable of doing) even though I said “no.” Still, every time I squatted down he grabbed my waist and pulled me up. Every time he did this I said “no,” “please don’t,” or “you’re really putting me off.” He kept doing it. When we re-racked the bar I told him “please don’t, you’re making me nervous” and he laughed it off and walked away. The next set he came running back over and I told him “no, I really don’t want you to help me” and he insisted on standing there “just in case,” then continued to grab me every time. He wasn’t for taking no for an answer so I gave up in the end and went to do something else.

C

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I used to work in a gym and I often dealt with various first aid incidents. An older couple used to visit regularly, and one evening the wife of the couple had serious chest pain that I helped her with and called an ambulance for. After the ambulance had taken the woman to hospital, a few days later we heard that she was still there and unwell. Her husband visited the gym about a week later and I asked after his wife to see how she was whilst walking with him to the gym. When he tried to use his membership card to swipe entry there was a technical error and it wouldn’t work. He turned to me and said ‘eugh, these swipe cards are an absolute nightmare never working, must have been a woman that made the system eh!’. For the rest of the time I worked there I never spoke to him again.

Jo

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I was approached by a man I hadn’t met before at the gym, he came over and said hello. I politely smiled back and went down into my class. He proceeded to watch the entire class from an upper level. When I re-entered the main gym he came over again, asked me lots questions. He then offered me sex. When I moved to the other side of the room he continued to watch me until I felt so uncomfortable I had to leave. As I left he blocked my path and whispered “See you later sexy” in my ear. I mentioned it to a male member of staff a few days later, who laughed and agreed it was ‘creepy’, but did not take any action until another girl had the same experience. When I asked the member of staff about it he said ‘I’m not sure what Im meant to do about it’

SS

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Ew I just had a guy come up and tell me to workout differently and I’m 13 training for sports. He said girls make mistakes by not working on their lats like maybe they want to be big worry about yourself not how other girls look maybe they are doing it for their selfs and not your fucktoy and OMG like back tf off

KM

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I’m working out at the gym, doing some heavy leg presses. I stop between sets to mop my brow and catch my breath. An older man (70’s maybe) walks by and says with a big grin, “Why aren’t you smiling?” Why is it always my fucking job to “brighten up” every room?

Grace

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Today at the gym I was in the middle of a shoulder rehabilitation exercise set which my physiotherapist had just gone through with me an hour earlier. A man comes over, makes me remove my earphones, and then tells me I am doing it incorrectly. I looked at him with a puzzled expression as I had been ‘in the zone’ – then he goes on to demo how I should lower the cable point and bend more in order to get a stretch in my back. I told him – well I am not targeting my back, I am doing shoulder rehab given by my physio. To which he replies ‘well this exercise is much better for your shoulder’ and demos another one which is on my regime. I said ‘yes I also do that one’ and managed to dismiss him and go back to my exercise, but he made me feel like I had to apologise to him for not doing as per his instructions. Men approaching me in the gym to depart their so called wisdom happens about once a week. I have been playing sports to a decent level all my life and do weights in the gym about five times a week, there is no reason for anyone to think I don’t know what I am doing. Not that it’s entirely relevant but I have a Masters degree in Engineering (really I am not an idiot). But of course these men assume they have superior knowledge to me as I lack a penis, and they feel they are in full right to disturb me in order to ‘help’. It is hard for me to be rude as there is often a small chance that they have good intentions, so all I can do is stand my ground and be dismissive.