A gym is an intimidating place. It’s usually large, loud, and has a lot of people almost sounds like a concert at Rogers Arena. But after you get in the building and hear your favorite song while the entire group of random people that you were scared of at first are singing along and giving eye contact with approval. You end up feeling like this experience is going to be awesome and not as bad as you thought.

Here at Ora, everyone is just like you when they first started. Intimidated at first but after a while when they realize everyone in our gym are amazing individuals you begin to enjoy the experience and want to come more often.

You might be new to the gym thing, and there are a few things you should know when it comes to gym etiquette to make everyone’s life a little easier.

1. Wipe down equipment after you’re done!

We have spray bottles located in almost every corner of the gym with bright orange rags to wipe down mats, benches, dumbbells, etc. It’s nice when people wipe down a piece of equipment especially when there are some individuals that sweat like a fire hose.

2. Give Some Space

When someone is performing an exercise, make sure to give them at least four feet of room around them. You don’t know if they will step back, fall over, drop a weight, etc. which could injure you or others.

There are also specific exercises that require a little more room. Things like kettlebell swings and using the TRX Rip Trainer need more space. You don’t want to walk in front of someone swinging a kettlebell with the chance of them letting go….

3. Hygiene

That saying “check yourself, before you wreck yourself” holds true. Yes, the gym is a place where people sweat, but that doesn’t mean you allow yourself to smell so bad that the person next to you can’t breathe.

Going to the gym is not the day to forget to wear deodorant or using the same clothes you had on the day before from your workout.

4. Dropping Weights

Yes, we’ve all seen that person at the gym dropping weights and yelling at the top of their lungs to show dominance. All this proves is that you can break equipment and probably can’t place heavy weights down correctly, which really means it was too heavy for you in the first place.

Be kind to the equipment and try not to drop it to the floor. This will keep the integrity of the equipment and will help keep each member safe.

5. Putting Away Weights and Equipment

Remember that feeling of walking into your house and the first thing you feel is a piece of Lego underneath your foot? You begin to scream at the pain then scold your children for leaving their toys all over the house.

This scenario is precisely the same when you’re at the gym and decide to leave a mat, dumbbell, band, dowel, etc. in random places at the gym. When we have back to back classes, it’s difficult to make sure everything is tidy, and no one has a chance of tripping or falling over a piece of equipment left on the floor.

6. Bring a Towel

Sometimes wiping down each piece of equipment after use is tough when you’re in a class setting where you have to move to the next station quickly. Simply bring a towel and lay it down on a bench or mat for an exercise and it will prevent the next person lying down in your sweaty mess.

Following these six simple gym etiquette rules, the gym will become a cleaner and safer place for everyone.