Today at the gym I was working out alone because my workout partner, John, was not feeling well. I can’t be too upset at him as he is wildly consistent and never misses. I was working on shoulders so I spent almost my entire workout using dumbbells and using the benches near the dumbbell rack.
As is almost always the case at our gym (and most gyms,) the dumbbells were completely out of order. Despite the fact that each pair of weights has a spot marked with its number, everything was in the wrong place. This is a huge pet peeve of mine. Nothing can mess up the flow of a good workout than a hunt around the gym for a pair of dumbbells of the weight you need.
The dumbbell rack is like a lot of things in life, it starts out nice and orderly, but then a couple of people get lazy and put things away in the wrong place. Then after a certain point, it’s so bad that everyone just gives up.
Since I was working out alone today, I filled my time between sets by cleaning up. Certainly I can admit a bit of an obsessive streak here, but it’s my gym. (I work out there all time, so it’s my gym. It’s where I workout. The gym where you workout is YOUR gym.) I like the dumbbells in order so I can easily find what I need. It really is true that if you just put things back where they go, life works a lot better.
What I find interesting is that correct behavior really is contagious. After about 10 minutes of me moving weights around slowly between sets, others in the area started to notice. A young pair of high school guys who looked fairly new to the gym had put their weights back in the wrong spot. After waiting a bit, I quietly went over and moved them to their correct home. After a bit, these two budding gym rats started to put their weights back in the right spot each time.
So lead by example at your gym, or your school, or your office. It really can influence people without a word being said. And oh how nice it is to be able to walk right up to where those 70 lb. dumbbells are and find them right away when you need them!