I’ve been going to the same gym for a few years now, and haven’t experienced any problems with this until today. During my rest in between sets on a piece of equipment, I often leave my water bottle behind to indicate the machine is in use, and talk a walk around the track . I’ve timed this on many occasions, and it never takes more than 1 minute and 15 seconds. Today, someone moved my bottle and started using the machine. I politely told them that I wasn’t quite done, however they grew irritated with me, and argued that I wasn’t allowed to walk away. I’ve seen other people do this, and have always waited a good few minutes before asking those around me if the machine is still in use. Furthermore, I don’t see how this is any different than staying at the machine, and staring at my phone between sets. The end result is the same. I’m also sure to never do this with more than one piece of equipment at a time. Based on what I’ve seen in the past, and my quick turnaround, I believed I was in the right, but now I’m starting to second guess myself. WITAH in this situation?
YTA, you can’t hold your place with your water bottle.
YTA I’ve never seen someone try and save their spot at a machine. If other people are doing it there, too, sounds like bad gym etiquette all around.
YTA.
You dont get to hold a machine while you do a lap. Take your break next to the machine or wait for other people to be done. Its a public gym. You cant reserve machines like that.
When you walk away that means youre done. A water bottle doesnt hold a machine. It just means someone left it behind.
YTA
If your butt’s not in the seat, you’re not using it. Let other people get in and get their workout done
YTA because in a sharing environment (like a gym) you can’t be using two things simultaneously (track via yourself and machine via your water bottle). If that guy didn’t move your water bottle, he would have been using zero things (because he would have been waiting for you to finish with that machine) whilst you were using two things. This would have been unfair for a sharing environment.
Unfortunately, I think you might be TAH in this instance.
Walking around a track is different from using a phone for a few pretty obvious reasons (static action vs physically walking away from the machine).
I would also be mildly disappointed if I had been waiting for a machine and was told to give it up after beginning my set because someone who left it vacant “wasn’t done”.
However, I feel if they were “irritated” in the sense of being overly rude to you, maybe they’re TAH for that specifically, but totally right to think you can’t dibs a machine like that. As for the people you’ve seen do that before, that’s crazy to me. I have never heard of leaving behind a water bottle being a legitimate or respectable means of reserving a machine.
Seems like a simple misunderstanding, though, and like you’re open to a change of mind. Not your fault, you were exposed to strange etiquette and adopted it as an unspoken rule. I’ve made mistakes stemming from similar assumptions before. Nobody is perfect.
What are the gym rules for this type of thing?