Do you suffer from gym rage?

By PETA BEE FOR MAILONLINE
Updated: 11:03 EST, 14 August 2008

What could be more annoying than someone else’s mobile ringing during your yoga class? Finding the exercise bike covered with their sweat? Listening to your neighbour grunt with every bicep curl?

These are just a few of the common irritants that plague regular gym users.

Most will simply turn up their iPod and try to ignore their irritation. But the combination of overcrowded gyms and short-tempered exercisers has spilled over into a spate of 'gym rage' episodes.

Exercise can increase levels of testosterone and feelings of aggression

A mother and daughter were recently banned for life from the David Llloyd Leisure chain of gyms after a fight over an air conditioning fan broke out during an aerobics class.

The mother, in her 60s, began arguing with a third woman at the end of the workout. As one witness described it:

'The class had just finished and two women were standing next to the fan, arguing over it. The one had positioned it so that it was blowing on her, but the other moved it so it was facing her.' 

The daughter, in her 30s, then joined in to defend her mother. 

'They all began screaming and shouting, then the next thing we knew they were pushing and shoving each other,' said another eye-witness.

'They ended up rolling on the floor pulling each other’s hair and scratching each other’s  faces.'

It took the combined  intervention of a male fitness instructor and two members of the public to break up the brawl and the police were called.

'This kind of  behaviour will not be tolerated at our clubs as it puts the safety of our  members at risk,' a spokesperson for the chain said afterwards.

'Any kind of fighting is unacceptable.'

Unacceptable it might be, but the problem is not going away. In June a case involving gym rage even ended up in court.

A 45-year-old-stockbroker, Christopher Carter, was charged with assault after he tipped a fellow gym member off his stationary bike during a Spinning class (a  highly-demanding form of indoor cycling).

The victim, a 49-year-old senior investment banker,  had apparently been 'whooping' and shouting out comments such as 'Good Burn!'  throughout the hour-long class, at the fashionable Equinox Fitness Club in New York.

This had annoyed Carter and an argument broke out between the two men. Carter tipped the man off his bike who ended up in hospital with concussion, and a damaged spine.

Some gyms have introduced 'sweatiquette' to try and reduce gym rage

Visit any gym during peak hours and you’re likely to find more than a couple of  irate exercisers on the verge of losing their tempers with fellow members.

This is because gyms often attract people in high pressured jobs who are already stressed.

'Some people get frustrated with queuing or over-crowding and, if  they are stressed already, tension can start to rise,'  sports psychologist Dr Costas Karageorghis said.

'Physical activity has different effects on different people,' he went on.

'It placates some and  makes them feel more chilled-out.

‘However, others find it gets the testosterone flowing. This is a predominantly male hormone known to cause feelings of aggression.

'This temporary rise during exercise can make them more impatient.'

Competition only fuels the aggression. Having a 'rival' look over your shoulder to check how fast you are pedalling on an exercise bike or how far you  have covered on a treadmill can also cause tempers to fray.

In isolated cases, Karageorghis says, gym rage can stem from members taking substances that heighten their aggression such as human growth hormone or steroids.

This has long been known about in the world of body-building – where it is dubbed ‘roid rage’ – but is now spreading into the fitness community.

In an effort to maintain goodwill, clubs such as Fitness First,  the UK’s largest gym chain, have introduced rules or ‘sweatiquette’. 

Dr Karageorghissays: 'Gyms are much like other places where you are required to  work in harmony with others.

'If you are prone to getting stressed at the gym,  then it will ultimately be counter-productive to your workout as your energies  will be used up getting stressed.

'Try shifting the time you exercise to when it is  much quieter.'

How to avoid provoking Gym Rage

One: Don’t linger on machines – hop off the equipment so someone else can use the machine while you rest.

Two: Use a towel to wipe your sweat off the equipment when you finish.

Three: Don’t drop weights on the floor or clang them loudly. Restack them for the next user.

Four: Keep an arm-width of between you and the next person during classes.

Five: Stand at the back of a class when you first join so that regulars won’t get irritated if you don’t know the routine.

Six: Don’t stand around in groups chatting to your friends. Save socialising  for the bar or changing rooms afterwards.