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DO's and DON'Ts of Gym Etiquette
The gym occupies an unusual space in our lives. It's that rare space where people (usually strangers) gather in close quarters to achieve very specific goals. A workplace where no one has their own office or desk. Everyone's working very hard, while also trying to stay out of each others' way. And everyone seems to know exactly what they're doing but you.It can be a bewildering experience. If you're new to the gym life entirely, and all these machines and fitness areas are new terrain for you, we strongly suggest that you invest in the services of a personal trainer. Your new gym will happily provide one along with a variety of hourly plans from short-term to long. Your new guide will show you how everything works and better yet, help you establish a workout routine best suited to your goals and abilities.If you're just switching gyms, you've probably already received a guided tour when you signed up. So you know where everything is, generally speaking, and how most things work. Most gyms have posted rules for certain activities and they can vary from gym to gym. Make a point of reading and following the rules specific to your gym. So here you are, gym bag in hand, at the front desk. Let's take a look at some do's and don'ts of gym etiquette that will help establish you as a good citizen in your new workplace. Handling Free Weights DO Re-Rack Your Plates and DumbbellsFew things are more frustrating than sacrificing your workout pace and momentum because you're looking around a pair of 25-lb dumbbells, only to find six of them in the back corner of the fitness class room. Those signs that say "Please Put Your Weights Back" are there for a reason.DON'TDrop Your Weights on the FloorYeah, we get it. You're pushing yourself beyond the absolute furthest extremes of human exertion, so of course you have to drop 120 pounds of barbell onto the floor like you just lifted a Buick off someone's baby. ONE MORE REP, right? Here's another philosophy: Control the weight throughout the entire movement -- concentric and eccentric -- for maximum productivity and growth benefit. While we're on the subject: grunting is fine; howling in the throes of agony is not. Occupying Workout Stations DOLeave Your Phone AloneThis is controversial, we know. Especially if you're young. But really, you can take 45 minutes off from your phone. It'll be okay. If you're using it to play music, leave it in your pocket. If you're not, leave in in your locker. It's especially irksome to see someone sitting on a piece of weight-training equipment you'd like to use and having to give them side-eye as they engage in a text frenzy on their phone (or even more baffling, scroll through TikTok). If you must engage with your phone instead of your workout, do it somewhere out of the way.DON'TOccupy Two Pieces of Equipment at the Same TimeDon't be the guy on the overhead press machine who yells "I'm using that!" when someone tries to take a seat at the unoccupied pulldown machine. There's a place in the world for supersets and that place is an uncrowded gym. If you're in the gym at a high-volume time, you can usually improvise supersets with free weights (overhead free weight presses and bent-over rows, for instance). At the very least, you can let someone work in. On the Gym Floor DOWipe Down Equipment When You're DoneUntil recently, it used to be sufficient to carry your own gym towel and wipe down equipment you'd finished with. Now most gyms deploy spray bottles of disinfectant and paper towels. Make liberal use of them.DON'TBroadcast Distracting NoiseYour music should not be clearly audible to people around you. Likewise watching YouTube, Tiktok or Instagram clips with the volume on is a no-no. Finally, don't be the person wandering the floor or running on a treadmill and having a conversation with someone on your phone. No one wants to hear your personal business or that of the person you're talking to. In Fitness Classes DOFollow Along With the Instructor as Best You CanThere will always be a specific exercise or position that you have trouble with. Maybe your body just doesn't contort that way or you have a recent injury. If so, this is not the time to try some completely unrelated exercise or start chatting up your neighbors. A good instructor, when you're clearly having difficulty, will usually suggest a modified version of the exercise. Be grateful and do the best you can.DON'TArrive LateIt's a sign of disrespect to your classmates if you're barging into a class ten minutes late while everyone else is already furiously working the kickboxing bags or trying to achieve a state of meditation in a full lotus. Even if someone doesn't have to stop what they're doing as you creep by or move their mat to make room for you, you're still disrupting the flow of the class. Try to arrive on time, or better yet, arrive a little early so you can greet the instructor and get set up. Socializing DORemember That Everyone Is There For a PurposeEvery gym has its coterie of gadflies, people who wander around starting conversations. This should not be you. Be pleasant by all means, exchange simple greetings when required. But recognize that most people you encounter in the gym have a specific goal in mind, and it's not talking to you. They're trying to squeeze a specific number of sets and exercises into a specific time frame. People coming up to you to engage you in conversations is why god invented earbuds.DON'TOffer Exercise AdviceEven if you're right. Especially if you're right. You come off looking like a know-it-all or a busybody. And the person you're mansplaining (or womansplaining) to is going to feel singled out, especially if you're in discernibly better shape than they are. Everyone has to find their own way. Or learn from a certified trainer whom they're paying. Oh, and don't "congratulate" anyone for being in the gym. In the Sauna or Steam Room DOSit Upright and Be PeacefulA sauna or steam room is, by definition, a small, confined space. It's not a place to lay down horizontally across a length of bench with a towel over your eyes while other people stand. It's not a place to air your compelling political beliefs. It's certainly not a place to suddenly start doing burpees or pushups. And stop getting up to throw water on the heating element; it's not helping. Just enter, grab a seat, close your eyes.DON'TTreat the Space Like It's Your Laundry RoomYep, we've seen it all. And the guy who takes the prize is the one who brings his sweaty workout shorts or wet bathing suit, HANGS IT OVER A RAIL in the sauna, and leaves. Because that's what we want, to spend some quality time alone with your laundry. This shouldn't be a thing, but it is. Also the guy who holds a conversation with someone in the open door of the sauna or steam room while all the heat escapes. In the Locker Room DOClean Up After YourselfNever, ever, be the kind of person who says "That's what attendants are for." If your gym issues towels, don't leave them on the floor when you leave. Throw them in a hamper. If you spill something, supplement powder or some toiletry substance, clean it up. Leave sinks and showers clean for the next person. For god's sake, don't be the person clipping their toenails on a bench in front of the lockers. Basic common sense.DON'TTake Up All The Available SpaceA typical locker room has a lot of lockers and not many benches. It stands to reason that bench space will be at a premium, especially during peak hours. That means you don't get to spread out all your clothes and toiletries on the bench beside your gym bag and yourself. You don't get to take up the whole bench. When you're done with what you have to do, don't take up space chatting or texting. Move on and make room. We'll conclude on a positive note by reminding you that, while there are plenty of do's and don'ts to gym etiquette, you can usually get by in any gym environment by being mindful of two basic philosophies: 1) Treat People With Respect and 2) Give People Space.The articles featured herein are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. Specific medical advice should only be obtained from a licensed health care professional. No liability is assumed by ProSource for any information herein.
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Post-Workout Care And Feeding For Muscle Mass
If you’re doing your due diligence in the gym, but you’re not getting the physique results you want, then chances are your fault lies in your diet, not your exercise regimen. The truth is, the vast majority of sufficiently trained fitness-conscious people are short-changing themselves every day when it comes to nutrition. Either they're simply not consuming enough muscle-supportive calories or they're falling prey to all-too-common myths about proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. This is particularly true when it comes to post-workout nutrition.Let's start with proteins. Do you believe that you're consuming enough grams of high-quality protein to increase muscle mass? Many dedicated gym-goers believe they are, but they are mistaken. The U.S. government’s recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein for a 180-lb adult male is 56 grams. While this might be enough for an untrained individual with no particular physique goal in mind, it is woefully insufficient for anyone trying to add significant muscle mass. In fact, sports nutrition experts suggest that highly trained athletes should consume about 0.75 grams of daily protein per pound of body weight. That’s 135 grams for a 180-lb person.And then of course there's the matter of protein quality. Most top-selling, big-brand protein formulas will tout protein contents of 20 to 25 grams per serving. But a closer look at their labels reveals that a surprising amount of that consists of lower-quality whey concentrates, soy or wheat proteins, and worse. If pure whey protein isolate and hydrolyzed whey aren't featured near or at the top of the ingredients list, you're holding an inferior protein product.Whey protein isolate and whey protein hydrolysate contain more than 90% protein, virtually no lactose or fat, and are superior in generating increased protein synthesis and muscle recovery response. Whey contains an abundance of leucine, the branched chain amino acid responsible for unleashing protein synthesis in muscle tissue. Consumed after vigorous resistance exercise, leucine is essential to maximizing total muscle protein synthesis response, which in turn helps damaged muscle tissue repair, recover, and eventually grow.Whey concentrates often get a bad rap, but the truth is, a wide spectrum of quality exists within this category. Whey protein has a good potential to support your training and physique goals, but it is important to find a whey concentrate product that is 100% whey protein, formulated via advanced low-temperature, ultra-filtration processing, with no cheap fillers or unproven blends, as found in many "bargain" whey products sold by less scrupulous manufacturers. There's also the matter of protein timing. It's important to spread out your protein consumption to maintain a positive anabolic state throughout the day. A 25-gram serving of protein will support an increase in protein synthesis activity that will last approximately three hours. Thus, consuming most of your protein at a single meal, like dinner, will provide a narrow peak for growth potential in terms of your entire day. Your goal should be to make sure that each of your three main meals includes an ample-sized portion of protein from whole-food sources (beef, chicken, fish, etc), while you utilize supplemental protein formulas to fill in the nutritional gaps in your regimen. The Myth of the "Bad" CarbohydrateHas any dietary fad wreaked more havoc on the physiques of fitness-conscious Americans than the demonization of the carbohydrate? For decades, we've been told to restrict or eliminate carbs from our diet. A whole ketone diet culture has grown up around this philosophy. And while a low-carb diet may make sense for individuals focused exclusively on fat loss and slimming down, for athletes looking to add muscle mass, carbs are essential. Indeed, without carbs you're never going to grow the muscle mass you desire.At the most basic level, carbohydrates provide the energy necessary for a productive workout. They support intense workouts more efficiently than any other energy source. Depriving your body of carbohydrates during and after periods of intense exercise will result in depleted glycogen reserves that in turn will cause your body to use proteins scavenged from muscle tissue as an energy source.Protein literally needs carbohydrates to repair damaged muscle tissue. Carbohydrates raise blood glucose levels, potentiating insulin release, which in turn plays a key role in skeletal muscle protein synthesis by activating ribosomal activity and growth initiation factors within skeletal muscle. Elevated insulin levels also appear to prevent muscle protein breakdown, which contributes to the overall anabolic effect of not only insulin but insulin-like growth factors as well. Higher insulin levels will help keep skeletal muscle in a state of positive protein balance before and after a training session if carbohydrates are ingested.So as we can see, underestimating the quantity and quality of your protein intake, while depriving yourself of energy-providing, protein-synthesis-triggering carbohydrates, is a worst-case scenario for muscle growth after exercise. What to do about this state of affairs? Supplement with a wide-spectrum protein-and-carbs post-workout infusion.After Mass: Potent Post-Workout Anabolic FuelThe good news is, you don't have to break the bank to derive maximum muscle-building power from every bout of high-intensity resistance training you complete. After Mass post-workout formula from ProSource checks all the boxes of your anabolic nutritional requirements.After Mass was and is one of the pioneering supplement products in the field of hydrolysate proteins. These proteins, formulated via a process of extensive hydrolysis (or pre-digestion) that yields extremely low di- and tri-peptide aminos, are absorbed directly into the bloodstream, resulting in more efficient utilization for muscle synthesis. The ingestion of premium hydrolyzed whey protein immediately after exercise potentiates the highest levels of blood amino acids, which are associated with augmented nitrogen utilization, protein synthesis and a greatly elevated anabolic state. After Mass was the first post-workout formula to incorporate this advanced hydrolyzed whey technology and make it not just palatable, but genuinely delicious. In addition to its hydrolyzed whey content, After Mass's tri-phasic protein complex also features ultra-quick absorbing whey protein concentrate and casein hydrolysate. These proteins are present in the exact same ratios found in mother's milk and provide both fast-release protein for immediate synthesis, plus premium-grade, slower releasing proteins to keep a steady stream of aminos flowing into your system for extended benefits.You want invaluable carbohydrate content to up-regulate insulin release and support protein synthesis? After Mass has you covered here too, in the form of 48 grams of precision-targeted, high-glycemic carbs. Finally, After Mass provides numerous, full value vitamins and minerals including vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B-12, thiamin, pantothenic acid, along with calcium, phosphorus and others, plus medium chain triglycerides as an energy source.Real Physique Results at an Affordable PriceAll of the advanced growth factors in After Mass have established this mass-building powerhouse as a staple in the supplement regimens of serious athletes for years. Another aspect of After Mass that has made it an enduring favorite is its price. In an era in which prices in the post-workout category have been soaring, ProSource has continued to utilize its direct-to-consumer retailing model and supply chain expertise to keep the price of After Mass affordable to its countless fans. After Mass continues to be one the most powerful, most comprehensive, and most affordable post-workout mass-building options available!Use as directed with a sensible nutrition and exercise program. Read and follow all product label instructions and warnings thoroughly before use. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.The articles featured herein are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice. Specific medical advice should only be obtained from a licensed health care professional. No liability is assumed by ProSource for any information herein.
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