The 9 Commandments Of Gym Ethics

Many people who want to lose weight go to the gym to do so. However, some people do not get the desired result because they ignore some important ethics of the gym. Experts provide the following admonitions for those who want to get the best out of the gym. 
Forget about all the things floating around in your head distracting you when starting your session, your crappy job, annoying girlfriend, or whatever. Not even working out when being angry works; you may feel like you’re having a good work out because you’re just going at it with great strength, but if your mind is somewhere else and not in the work out, then little to no progress is made. Leave these things at the door of the gym. Focus on getting the best out of the session. When you concentrate on the work out (or any other task for that matter) you make the most out of it, so leave the cluster behind and focus. If music or connotations help you, then use them too. If they distract you, don’t follow the trend and do what works for you.

If there is one thing that grinds distraction at the gym, it’s people talking on their Mobile phones. There is absolutely no need to have a mobile phone with you at the gym! At the very least, turn it off or silence it. Unless you’re a stock broker or a doctor-on-call please refrain from doing this. It’s annoys everyone else that is training hard and trying to stay focused, furthermore it distracts YOU the most. We don’t think about it too much but any distractions – especially phones – break our pattern of work out and as a consequence, we lose focus and effectiveness.

Dressing to sweat is key. It might seem silly to spend a little bit of money on training gear, but this is one of those few little things you can do that will really give you a big return of investment. Don’t go to the gym in your cotton T-shirts and baggy tracksuit bottoms. You came here to run/cycle/lift and sweat. I don’t see too many 400 meter runners or Olympic weightlifters in cotton T-shirts and baggy tracksuit bottoms. Dress like a pro in matching top and bottoms and you’ll start to train like a pro. Appropriate footwear is also extremely important; if you’re lifting you must have flat shoes without Gels, shocks or whatever else. 

Get a quick warm-up under your belt and perform some static/dynamic stretches. Don’t be that guy that pulls a muscle on the treadmill or while picking up a pen. This is imperative. Inappropriate warm-up and stretching could seriously damage your work out in both, short run and long run. For example, if you don’t warm-up and stretch properly, you can get tired easily or pulling out of muscle because you started too strong too early. The warm-up is as important as the work-out. Give it importance.
 
Keep focused on your goals through the session, whether they be to gain muscle, lose fat or increase fitness level (Remember that you must know exactly what you want). If you don’t see results right away even when you pour your heart into it, don’t panic. This is a marathon not a sprint, you’ll get there eventually. Don’t give up or get frustrated due to small set backs. Just pick yourself up and smash through it next time! Don’t worry about what the other meat heads in the gym are lifting; it is not your concern. You aren’t training to impress other men. Don’t even waste your time looking. Focus on your own needs and goals.
 
Don’t go to the gym and start irrelevant conversation. If a conversation with other gym folk is unavoidable make it short and to the point. The last thing you want is some gym friend who will just distract you from your session (as harsh as that may sound). You can always talk after your work out is over, not during it. If someone gives you advise, critique or praise for your efforts, that’s another thing. Pay attention, but don’t take everything that other gym rats say too seriously. While some people may actually know what they are talking about, it’s not the same for everybody. Therefore, be very selective and very careful with the things you listen.

One thing that is confusing is the fact that people go to the gym and never break sweat, and never show any signs of physical exertion. Don’t act like those overweight people that walk on the treadmill while reading the newspaper, or lift ridiculously light weights for 20-30 reps. Your training must be intense whatever your level of strength or fitness. It’s the only way of building muscle! Lift heavy and fast, most people have no need to do more that 12 reps of an exercise (Crunches, Pull-ups, etc are excluded). When I step off a treadmill I feel like someone has poured a bucket of water over me. How can you expect results if your intensity is below the required standard? There are no excuses for poor training intensity. Go hard, go fast or go home. If you aren’t naturally physically strong or fit, you will need to push yourself outside your comfort zone. It may cause you pain and discomfort, but that pain is not there to make you quit, it’s there to make you stronger.
 
Make sure you note what you’ve done for that session: distance ran, time, Avg Heart rate, weight lifted, reps/sets etc. In order to see where you going, you have to know where you’ve been. Plus, this will save you time, you won’t be scratching you head wondering what weight to use. I can look back for up to 6 months and see what I did for a particular session and how much I weighed. That’s how professional athletes train, and you should be doing the same. Bodybuilding.com is an excellent resource for writing down your progress. If not, a simple document or a journal will do it.

Finally, take a nice and easy warm-down and stretch after your session, it’ll help with your recovery and may prevent any DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness). Warming-down and stretching after the work out is as important as warming-up and stretching