But, I have a problem. Actually, several problems. They are called 'water aerobics ladies'.
I probably sound like a terrible person, but the ladies who do water aerobics really piss me off. You might say 'Why are you so angry at these nice, old ladies who just want to get in a low-impact workout? You should be proud of them for being active into their old age. What if one was your own grandma?!?'
To that I would reply: My grandma is not a huge witch. These ladies are. No joke.
This is the problem - my gym has 3 locations in town, but only one pool. When there is water aerobics, they take over the pool and you can't swim laps. That is fine. They have the schedule posted, and I'm more than willing to accomodate.
But the ladies are so rude. They won't leave the pool when their class is done. They won't share a single lane for the aerobicizing, and they force unsuspecting lap swimmers to move around their flailing arms and legs. They are mean if you say anything. If you try to swim and you're in their way, they yell at you. I'm serious. Management has posted signs about their bad behavior, threatening to take away their classes if they don't quit it.
Usually I just avoid them. I used to swim from 7-8 and would tolerate their shark-like circles as they waited to take my lap lanes away from me promptly at 8am. Mind you, the circles started at 7:50. They are vicious. Anyway, lately I've been doing some cardio - either elliptical or treadmill - before I swim, so I have been choosing to swim after their class at 8:45. I only want to swim for 20-30 minutes. It's been working for me.
Until today. I show up for swimming at 8:45. The ladies are still in the pool. There are only half the lap lanes set up. Evidently they added another class from 8:45-9:30, which would be fine if they would populate the pool like this:
But no....they insisted on populating the pool like this:
Their instructor tried to get them to move, but they wouldn't move. I just got up and left. To make matters worse, there is no mention of when this extra class meets on the gym website, which means that it could happen EVERYDAY. I am going to have to swim extra early in the morning. Ugh. I'm so annoyed.
I know this is not the end of the world, but I have been dealing with these women for over a year and this was just another crappy situation to lend fuel to the fire.
Do you have any pet peeves at the gym?
Even though it's a serious problem, it's a little bit funny that old ladies are in the way of your workout!
ReplyDeleteI hate when people change the channel on the TVs in the gym when I'm WATCHING THEM (without asking)!!! How freaking' rude is that??
Ya, I hate those water aerobics ladies too. Thankfully at the GT pool (not the big one, but the one where you could touch bottom), the instructors would give you as much time as possible, and they only took up 2 lanes, and the lifeguards were the enforcers.
ReplyDeleteI would, however, have to battle the leisure swimmers who would ask to circle-swim with me and then start breast-stroking with their head above water. I'm not a super-star, but when I finish a hundred when you do 25, you make me mad. Especially when the signs posted say "swim with other swimmers at your same skill level." Not gonna lie, I took extra splashy strokes when passing them.
One time I also got smacked in the face by someone on the other side of my lane that had terrible out-in-left-field technique. Ended up with a cut and a black eye from that one. Yep. Black eye from swimming.
Was also kicked in the boob by a rogue breast-stroke kick.
I think I went home with a new story about swimming to tell Sean almost every day.
I'm sorry about your experience with the nasty water aerobics "students"!
ReplyDeleteOne of my excuses for not attending the gym, is the awful smell and the people who think their sweat is somehow sweeter than everyone else's and they don't clean off the machines. Man, I hate that! So, I'm supposed to lay on a machine that some sweaty, stinky guy has laid on and it's still nasty wet from his back. Oh god, I cringe when I think of it!
There are gym bullies of all types. I've encountered aquafit bullies, spinning bullies, weight room bullies and yoga bullies. I think that's one of the reasons I don't mind doing most of my workouts at home now!
ReplyDelete