I know you’re all incontinent with excitement. There’s a brand new segment here on Smaggle called ‘Can I get a consensus?’ where I’ll ask a fairly broad question and get a majority opinion. I feel that this may well curb some douche like behaviour on all of our parts as well as encouraging a lil’ thing I like to call logic which I believe is better than puppies. Here goes…
Last week I was at the gym on the stepper and I’m a real set-the-machine-to-interval-for-forty-minutes-and-knock-over-five-hundred-calories-while-reading-Vogue kind a gal and I was there at peak hour when the twenty minute rule applies. There are three steppers at my gym and I have never, ever seen anyone using any of them, I like to think it’s because I have the brut strength and graceful agility of a Charlie’s Angel and no one else stacks up… but… whatevs. I used the stepper for my usual forty minutes and when I went to clean the machine there was a woman standing next to it waiting for me to finish, presumably so she could use it next. She gave me the FILTHIEST death stare, despite the fact that there were two other available steppers for the whole forty minutes that I was occupying mine.
My question is… does the twenty minute rule apply while there are other machines available? Should I have stopped my workout at twenty minutes then resumed it on another stepper? Or stopped it completely and used the treadmill? Should I compromise the enjoyment of my workout for a rule that should only be applicable if all machines are occupied? Am I being selfish? Or logical?
Feel free to add any similar stories or to agree/disagree. This is what the whole segment is about! And email me at lady(at)smagglestyle.com if you have a question that you would like to have featured.
I can’t wait to hear your opinion!
Love Lady Smaggle
xxx
34 Comments
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Are you kidding? Gym bitch needs to get over herself… or get laid… cannot decide which LOL. Who is that uptight?
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I tend to think that, as the 20 minute rule is in place to ensure that nobody has to wait too long to access the machine of their choice. However, if there are plenty of other machines (of the same type) available, then the rule is a nullity, as nobody has to wait and so you should be able to work out for as long as you want to.
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nope. she stooopid. you great. my opinion over.
if there are other steppers why could she not use the others?? I dont understand.
how was whitney??
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The woman clearly has issues. If there are other machines available then the 20 minute rule doesn’t apply. It’s superseded by the “there are plenty of machines available – go somewhere else” rule.
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Yay this is such a fun new segment. I am definately on your side for this one the rule is only legitamate if all machines are taken. There is no need for someone to use the exact machine your on if others are available. However, i do support the rule whole heartedly if all machines are taken, i find it frustrating when the gym is busy and people hog the cardio equipment I find the treadmill usually attracts the worst offenders.
On a whole other note i forgot to email you and tell you the burlesque show was AMAZING! I loved every minute it was like nothing i have been to before. I think it was definately an eye opener for my 18 year old cousin. Thankyou once again. -
Yeah, I don’t understand why the woman didn’t just use one of the other ones. Heh, I probably would’ve got straight back on the machine for another 10 minutes just to spite her (if no-one else was after one of the machines) because I’m mean like that. Or maybe she’s one of the OCD types who likes using the exact same machine every time?
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Just to throw a different perspective into the mix, I tend to have my favourite machines at the gym. Not all equipment is the same, even when it is exactly the same make and model and it is easier to judge your progress using the same machine at each workout. BUT… that said, if she had an issue such as this, she still should have explained herself rather than giving you the pussy’s b&m.
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If there are more than one of that machine, and the other is un-occupied, then of course you have every right to use it for a full 40.
However, as one who has had a similar situation, I usually swap machines, to avoid anyone freaking out at me and being like “I WANT THAT ONE!!!” because it has happened to me before…
Xx
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Are you sure that’s why she was glaring at you? I’d hate to introduce a new type of paranoid here… but maybe it was something else? I mean, there is literally no reason for her to glare at you for that. Does that particular stepper have a view the others don’t? But I can’t see that as being such a huge deal. Do you know how long she was waiting? I need more info before i decide lady smaggle!
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After 20 minutes I would have stopped and asked her if she wanted to use that particular one.
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The idea of exercising for 20 minutes is a novel idea for me outside of my classes weekly BluEarth session however, if there are more machines available who cares. Alternatively you could always jump off one side after 20 minutes run around the back and jump on again before anyone else makes it on. Think of it as agility training π
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I would have pointed the free machines out to her. That’s if I ever actually went near a gym.
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I think this is kinda similar to being on a crowded train – but when there’s still a handful of other seats available. Don’t glare at me to give up my seat, there’s one RIGHT THERE, go sit on it, idiot.
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Tp be honest, I think the twenty minute rule should be voided if there are other IDENTICAL machines available. Who knows? Maybe she liked that one you were on best? But you know what? She’s a grown up now, an the claim of ‘That’s my one’ doesn’t really stack up. This once she didn’t get her favourite. She just needed to man up. She had a right to be disappointed, but not to show open hostility to you.
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If there were steppers free then she was being an idiot
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dear god that woman needs a slappin! If there were 2 other free machines she should have got on one of them. She was just using you as an excuse to do nothing with her lazy ass and blame you for her inactivity. Why bother joining a gym? There are plenty of other pieces of equipment to use instead!
And if she really had an issue, why not say something to you? We are all adults, right?
When I used to go to the gym I would stay on the equipment I was using as long as I liked if there were free ones and if no one appeared to be waiting. That being said, I hate gyms and was never really in there very often anyway!! -
I love this section already!
I think that if there were other steppers available, and the one you were on wasn’t the super-modern-best-stepper-out-there stepper whilst the other two were dowdy-ugly-sister-old steppers, then she’s no right to complain or give you dirty looks. If the same machine was available to her, break the 20 minute rule. If she was hovering at the 20 minute mark I might have asked her if she wanted *this* particular machine, but in short, she’s dumb. Climb on!
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She was just jealous that you could do 40 minutes. Or that you had a copy of Vogue. Perhaps both.
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I realize there were other machines available but when you have a routine and a favorite machine it totally screws your workout frame of mind if someone is on it and they are over the 20 minute time limit. 20 minutes is 20 minutes! π have a great day everyone.
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no it absolutely does not apply when there are other machines available. i hope you busted out your evil eye right back at her.
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I concur. If there were free (working) machines of the same time (were the others in order?) then nothing wrong.
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Uh, that kind of behavior makes me almost lose my lunch. She was being self important and stupid. It’s not logical or reasonable for her not to use another stepper. The rule is there so if all the steppers are taken, everyone would get a turn. Hand her a pacifier next time ’cause she’s being a baby.
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I agree with everyone else. If there’s other machines available then she is completely childish and immature to want THAT particular one. What an idiot. Some people are such sticklers for rules that they don’t realise that most of them have exceptions.
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um, if two other machines are available then no the rule doe not apply, what a cow!
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Nope, she’s just odd. π
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If there are other steppers available, what’s the big deal? I think the rules should only apply if there are no other machines available. Then it’s just manners – but what the heck? It’s not like you were monopolizing the one and only stepper with a line of 30-people waiting with baited breath behind you.
Heck with her. Just be a flamboyant bitch to her misery and step lightly, Lady! π
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I agree, the 20min rule is void when there are others available but I do have to question if there is just a case of OCD in play here?
I can shamefully relate to it in the form of toliet cubicals in the work place, strangely I form a familiarity with just one and always tend to aim for that cubical… though I don’t wait beside it and give someone else a dirty look if they happen to have beat me to it, especially if there are others available… that would just be creepy!
Perhaps she’s just teritorial because that’s the stepper she ALWAYS uses but she certainly had no right to try make you feel bad about it and at the end of the day it was her own time she wasted by waiting! π -
Nope, twenty minute rule only applies when all the machines are occupied. Otherwise, take all the time you want. Maybe she wasn’t giving you a dirty look – maybe that’s just how her face looks.
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I’m with Shonkers and Kate… if she had an issue, she could have Used Her Words. Yeesh. And go you for doing 40 minutes!!!!
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I agree with the majority that if other machines of the same type and caliber are available you shouldn’t have to give yours up after 20 min.
I’m curious, though, are you really sure she was glaring at you and is there really no other reason she might have been glaring?
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Absolutely in agreement with the person above. If there were two other machines open then there must have been another reason she was glaring. People sometimes don’t know they’re glaring or look angry. Maybe they are just having a bad day and projecting it onto you. Don’t we all do that at times? (And if other machines are open, you are then free to “hold your ground” even if you’re on someone else’s favorite machine.)
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