Korean Job Discussion Forums

[machoman]

it bugs me to no end that koreans never put weights back where they belong.

scrawny korean guys using the weightlifting belt when they're lifting such light weights.

gym trainers hovering over every female and not doing their job like PUTTING THE WEIGHTS BACK WHERE THEY BELONG

[balzor]

[machoman]

oh, and those lousy paper cups that are a pain to open. such a waste of paper

[balzor]

[NYC_Gal]

Ellipticals suck here.

Same with the weights. I'm not going to leg press what some 6' just-out-of-the-military dude is going to press, so I have to spend time just removing the weights.

[Caffeinated]

- not wiping machines and benches down
- cell phones, towels etc. put on benches they're not using
- hiking up the shorts to see how much bigger their quads got after one set
- wearing indoor slippers or worse - going shoeless
- putting bare sweaty feet against the roller massage machines - UGH!

[seoulsucker]

For me it's cellphones and smoke breaks. I use a cellphone, and I smoke as well (socially) but I don't bring either into the gym.

I actually saw a guy at my gym in his workout gear walking back from the Family Mart with a fresh pack of smokes.

Another pet peeve is when my gym decides to open up for the local high school soccer/football team or whatever. Once a week or so, about 20 teenage boys come in and just crowd the gym, mostly talking on their cellphones and watching the TVs.

[Caffeinated]

- toddlers are given free run inside the gym
- trainers doing their own workout when the gym is busy and wind up hogging the lone squat rack, smith machine, cable machine etc.
- bar soap in the showers
- crappy construction and maintenance issues: mystery screws from who knows what machine on the floor, nails popping out of the woodwork, warped floorboards
- closed every 2nd and 4th Sundays

[eslwriter]

One of my big beefs in the gym is the absence of space and safety. Lots of guys get too close.

I'll set up in front of the mirror for some curls and them some dude will stand right beside so he can watch TV.

Then there was the guy who has to do deep knee bends right behind me when I'm doing barbell squats.

Then there was the old guy who decided he should put his face six inches from my face when I'm doing flat bench presses with free weights.

The secret to gym success: find the right time, stay away from the TV (if possible) and use the flat bench to create a barrier between you and the horde.

Me? I teach writing.
www.eslwriting.org

[Hotwire]

[RMNC]

Most of these happen back home, just in Korea they're far more pronounced.

-Too much curling.
-Too much curling in the squat rack.
-Too much standing around looking at cell phones.
-Not enough/big enough free weights.
-Usually only one squat rack, if any at all.
-Sometimes no bench press benches/decline benches/incline benches.
-Weird stares from being muscular, as opposed to being a waif who curls 15 pounds for 5 reps then sits down for 10 minutes and texts his girlfriend.
-As mentioned, smoke breaks.
-General overcrowding, unless you're there on a weekday night. I would never go on a weekend.
-Never any space to do a deadlift without doing it next to someone's ass or worrying you're going to drop it one someone's foot.

:facepalm:

[SeoulFinn]

My gym in Apgu has:

1) too many machines for the space available
2) not enough space to use free weights safely
3) plates in kilos, dumbbells in pounds
= I thought I was a Hulk for a while!
4) too narrow bench in bench-press or I'm just too wide
5) people don't unload their plates after finishing
6) haven't seen many models/hot chicks working out.. yet!

Anyway, today was my second time to go to the gym. It's not that bad. At least the staff and the locals let me, the only foreigner I've seen so far, to do my thing in peace. Well, I wouldn't mind if some Brazilian or Korean model/celeb wanted to chat me up, but I will keep hoping! ^^

[JMO]

I normally avoid these problems by going to the gym really early at around 530 am. My big pet peeve is people hogging the squat rack. The concept of working in doesn't seem to exist here.

Also you will see people use that for curls and other bs. Unless you are doing squats or maybe overhead presses..then get the hell away from the squat rack.

[le-paul]

-touching me
-doing 900 bench press
-generally obviously not knowing how to weight train/exercise and instructors not telling them it wrong
-touching me
-trying to sweat it all out (ie no air con)
-push ups in the sauna
-walkng backwards on running machines
-touching me
-not enough weight on the dumbells
-people keep talking to me when im trying to do a routine and then touching me to show me where Im going wrong
- people always sticking their nose in and telling you how youre doing it wrong
-spitting in the sauna/bath house
-smoking in the changing rooms
- not being able to do something as simple as a pull down without using their whole body to life 10 kg.
- one gym had a hajuma class right in the middle of the weights room - the smell of mothballs was a killer!

But generally, I just keep myself to myself, unless people start telling me Im doing it wrong and touching me.

[zappadelta]

Too many nerdy foreigners