THE LIST YOU DON'T WANNA BE ON!!!!!!!

As an experienced celebrity trainer, I so often encounter many weird situations at the many different gyms that I workout at. So today I want to highlight a few scenarios that might not be so appealing, a list you don't wanna be on.

THE GYM HOPPERS
These are the people who join gyms because of their friends. "I wanna cancel my gym membership and join the gym next door because my friends go to that gym". "My mom decided to join the other gym because all her friends go there". I'm sure you have heard or read about people like these before. Joining a gym because of your friends is the wrong reason to join a gym. You should join a gym for your own health benefits, with or without friends. Staying healthy is the single most important investment that you can make, the one and only that you can manage yourself and be accountable for the success or failure.
So what happens when your friend(s) are on a month long vacation? Or does this mean that you must do the same job like your friends, live in the same house/neighborhood, buy the same clothes, drive the same car, live the same lifestyle? Try to be independent and be in control of your own fitness goals and way of life. Only then can you find inner peace! But if you constantly succumb to peer pressure, or compete with your friends, or even constantly compare yourself with other people, it means you have no self-esteem, no self-motivation and no sense of purpose. It means you are a slave, you are owned by other people, you are insecure and you live your life to satisfy other people/friends, thus no self-satisfaction. If this is who you are, then you may as well join a Reality Show like the Big Rich Texas, where people do things like joining health clubs or plastic surgery, or getting tattoos, just because their friends did it.

THE SEARCHERS
These are the people who join gyms with the sole purpose of finding love. They have this weird thought that gyms are markets or relationship sites. They will join gyms to try their luck, and when they fail, they move to join the next gym, and so on and so on. "I know this cute trainer who works at this gym, so I'm gonna join this gym to see if I can hook up with him". "I've heard that this gym has many cute younger women, so am gonna get a membership here". "I'm a cougar looking for younger men, and this gym might be the best target zone for me"
As soon as these people don't get what they want, they move on to the next gym. Failure. Join a gym to get in better shape, and love will come at you. If it happens at the gym, well done. But join to get yourself in better shape, and love can happen on the streets, in the metro, at the bus stop, inside the grocery store, at the restaurant where you like to go eat, or even at work. People wanna fall in love with someone who is in very good shape, who really looks good. And when you work hard to get in great shape and look good, love will find you.

THE DRESSERS
These are the people who go to workout in their work clothes, or who wear jeans, suits, dress clothes, dress shoes or dress shirts at the gym. If you can't afford nice, comfortable workout clothes from lululemon, academy sports, city sports or sports authority, then a cheap pair of shorts and a cheap t-shirt with cheap sneakers/tennis shoes from walmart or target will be just fine.
Going to the gym to workout should be an important daily event, just like eating, flossing or brushing your teeth. It's for your health, just like brushing using the right toothpaste and toothbrush, or eating the right foods. So you should wear appropriate attire, because am pretty sure you don't shower in your clothes, or go to bed in your suits/dress clothes. Neither do you shower in your dress shoes, you wear sandals.
You should plan in advance, carry your workout clothes and take them with you, or go to the gym dressed appropriately and ready to sweat, without offending other people.

THE JOKERS
These are the people who become personal trainers for the wrong reasons. "I chose to become a personal trainer because you get many opportunities to be one-on-one with clients, so you have a chance to hook up with them, especially the cute ones and/or the rich ones, or the ones who are single, or the ones who are going through relationship problems and need some TLC". Really? Wow!!!
Look, personal training is about changing lives and proving results, period. You MUST be very professional, and passionate about changing lives as far as fitness goals are concerned. We are professionals just like doctors and lawyers, and we actually do more on a day-to-day basis for our clients than doctors do. We see our clients several times a week, we design their programs, we give nutritional advice and work with them one-on-one for hours just to help change lives. So if you want to become a trainer just to hook up with clients, you are in the wrong profession. You are better off trying your luck in a strip club.

THE WASTERS
These are the people who have many different gym memberships but never attend them. They belong to one or more gyms, but they never step foot at the door, mostly because they are lazy, or they "never have time". They are better off saving that money. They have a habit of canceling their PT sessions constantly, with no regard to the trainer's importance.
I tell you what, these clients I charge them heavy if they don't cancel in advance before 24hours, and if it becomes a trend, I simply drop them, or pass them to other trainers who are willing, and have the time to play those games, trainers who have more open spaces in their schedule.

THE LATE-COMERS
These are clients who are always late to their sessions, always, making the trainer to either cut short the client's session time, or over-extend the time just to stay with the day's program, most of the time annoying the next client, or having to be late for their lunch break or PT meeting. Or gym members who will walk in the door at 9:45pm just because the gym closes at 10pm. They argue that they are entitled to walk in any time as long as it is before closing time. Then they get stuck in the showers/locker rooms well after the gym is closed.
If you can't make it to the gym on time today, then tomorrow is another day. Don't make the person closing the gym wait longer just because you were late and are entitled to be at the gym till closing time. They too have other things to do, other lives to live, and many times even other jobs to go to. Plan to be there early enough, and to leave there by the time the doors close.

THE CARELESS
These are the guys who have no regard to gym rules and etiquette. They have bad habits of leaving weights all over the place when they are done, have no clue of the rule that says "please re-rack the weights after use", they drop weights while working out like the guys on steroids, and they intimidate other members. They also bang the machines after every rep or set, making wailing noises or singing loud tunes from their weird songs in their iPods. That show of aggression belongs to the WWE stage, not at the gym.
Please, use that extra energy to re-rack the weights, and leave the weights on the rack where you found them. This also means medicine balls, marts, straps steps, ViPRs and resistance cords. Banging the machines only ruins the equipment, shows lack of technique and control, and also poor form which can lead to major injuries and/or no results.
And when done with a towel, throw it in the basket where it goes, don't just leave it on an equipment or on the floor.
Please, do not leave the taps and the showers running.

THE UN-HYGIENIC
These are the guys who sweat hard like me, but who do not put towels on the bench or marts to catch the sweat, people who do not care to wipe the equipment after using it. Remember, this is a public place, and other people will use the same equipment after you. Don't treat it like your home-gym, no one wants to lay on your sweat while doing bench presses.
And if you sweat hard like I do, just carry some disinfectant wipes with you, and make good use of them.

THE HOLDOUTS
These are the people who will stay on a stationary equipment and read the whole newspaper or magazine, while other members are waiting to use the machine. If you are not at the gym to work out, then stay home and read your newspaper or novel. Starbucks is a good place to do this too, or Barnes&Nobles, or at the park. Don't make other people wait on an equipment just because you are watching Oprah on the TV attached to the treadmill.

THE COMPLAINERS
These are the people who constantly complain about everything, from the front-desk staff being slow/rude, to lack of coffee at the coffee pot, to very loud music, not enough group classes, and the complains go on and on and on.....
If the towels at the gym are not clean enough for you, or if they don't appeal to you, just bring your own towel. If you don't like the channel on the TV, move to a different screen or request for the channel to be changed without being rude to other people watching the same TV.
Please, bring your own iPod if you don't like the music at the gym,bring your own coffee if you came to the gym just to drink coffee, or offer to teach a class if you feel you can do better. If you have personal issues at home or work, don't take it out on your trainer or the front-desk staff, they have issues of their own and don't need extra from you.
Now, if you are not losing weight or if you are gaining weight because of your poor eating habits and unhealthy lifestyle, you cannot blame that on your trainer. As trainers, we can only see you certain hours every week and give you a certain percentage, the rest is your part. Just like teachers can only teach their students for certain hours, the students must do their homework and continued research/reading/studying, for them to succeed and pass exams and see good results, and eventually enjoy the fruits of their hard work.
And if your gym does not please you, dont spend your valuable time complaining. Please take your money somewhere else. No one should pay money just to be unhappy.

THE RUINS
These are the people who constantly ruin stuff, either because they don't know how to use it and can't swallow their pride and ask for assistance, or think they know how to use it when actually they don't, or just plain ignorance. They waste everything from shampoo to body wash to lotion to hair gel, they spill coffee everywhere, ruin equipment and mis-use stuff, just because they are paying gym membership.
Please treat the business like your own because it cost somebody lots of money to set up the facility for you, and the maintenance employees are human beings just like you, and should be treated with respect, that's their job, their bread and butter. Just because they are paid to do the cleaning, doesn't mean that we should disrespect them by making a mess intentionally for them to clean up. Even though they do dirty work, with little pay, they clean the gym for us to come in and work out, and their families depend on that little pay. So even though they are not as fortunate as some of us, or just because they may be from other parts of the world trying to work hard and earn a better life, let's give them that chance.
And just because you don't own the gym, doesn't mean that you have the right to ruin it simply because you will not have to do the repairs. Respect costs nothing but goes a long way with huge rewards.