Johnnie O. Jackson talks about gym preppers and spreaders that annoy him in the gym
The gym is a shared space which means that it’s important for gym members to be courteous of other people around them. This is true for even most pro bodybuilders – who despite their status still train in public (albeit more hardcore) gyms. And while some gym etiquette rules are obvious – there are some that might be more of a grey area depending on your personality and experience level. Johnnie O. Jackson witnessed something in the gym this past weekend that “urked” him despite not being objectively rude. In our latest episode of Hardcore Truth, Johnnie O. Jackson talks about individuals who over prepare in the gym and spread too much in a public space.
Johnnie O. Jackson has something on his mind this week – and he can’t stop thinking about it. Which is why he decided to share it on this week’s episode of his podcast. Jackson wants to make it clear that the situation he experienced at the gym is not objectively rude or wrong per se. But for some reason it stuck in his mind and annoyed him despite the it being in the grey area of gym etiquette.
During one of his recent training sessions, Johnnie O. Jackson witnessed a duo of workout partners enter the gym, whip out sheets of notes, pens, and paper and spread them out across the workout bench. They then proceeded to plan their workout as they prepped to start training. Between the space spreading and the attention it drew in the gym – this bothered Jackson.
So what’s the issue? Doesn’t seem like too big of a deal. What is wrong with being prepared? Johnnie O. Jackson has two complaints about the situation. And remember – it did not bring Jackson into a rage. Rather just bothered him, self admittedly, somewhat irrationally.
The first of his complaints is the idea of being over prepared for a workout. It’s good to write down your notes and prep your training – but at a certain point it’s important to be open to thinking outside of the box. You don’t want to get so consumed with notes, plans, and rules that you stop listening to your body. This might not be happening – but it seems more likely (at least to Jackson) when a person is focusing more on notes than the actual training. While this might not be the case for the individual she witnessed – it’s a very common rookie mistake to procrastinate from real training by focusing on prepping the “perfect workout plan.”
The second point of complaint from Johnnie O. Jackson in this situation is the performative aspect behind it. The act of spreading out all of these notes in the gym, which needs to be shared by others, can be viewed as obnoxious. And while this is Jackson making an assumption – he believes that to some degree individuals do this in the hopes of projecting some sort of image. They want others to notice how serious they are at training.
Johnnie O. Jackson is not against preparing a workout in advance. But he thinks the note taking and planning can be done the day or night before. It doesn’t need to take up space in the gym while others are trying to get in the zone and also share equipment during a workout.
Do you agree with Johnnie O. Jackson on this one? Or do you think he’s being too sensitive? You can watch Jackson’s full comments in our latest episode of Hardcore Truth above and decide for yourself!
