Embarrassing Fitness Moments-In the gym-

Yes, it really can happen, I fell off the treadmill-

Luckily, I only walk on it so it was not going to fast so I was not hurt, just very embarrassed that it actually happened.

And yes, there were three other people in the cardio room at the time.

Moral -Put the sweatband on before you start or STOP the machine to put it on. 

Anyone else want to share?

Ouch, I have ‘almost’ fallen off the treadmill, MB, but I caught myself. I have whacked my pinky on the hand rail, which hurt like heck but I pretended it was nothing. It’s still a bit painful to use my left pinky typing, three months later.

I did sit down at the chest fly machine for the first time—backwards, facing the cushion—and use it the wrong way, till I read a description here of someone saying he wondered why the starting position is so far behind the shoulders. Oops. Have used it correctly ever since.

As mentioned, I have to stand up on the seat of the lat pulldown to get it started, as I can’t reach the handlebar. And once I went to sip water out of my sports-tip bottle, and realized the valve wasn’t open. Attempting to open it while tipping it, I managed to baptize myself down the front of my shirt a little. But I was so sweaty you could hardly tell.

Silly but not quite embarrassing: a guy was using dumbbells on a bench near where I was working with the free weights. He put them down and one managed to roll directly at me and tap my ankle. I wasn’t looking and jumped nearly a mile, thinking someone or something had grabbed my foot. Um, no gators in the gym please.

I just started in the gym a couple weeks ago.  My first time on the treadmill, I hit the emergency stop button by accident not once, not twice, but three times.

So there I was being sooooo adventurous trying out new machines at the gym. I was working on a tricep machine and kicking butt...feeling all powerful and stuff. Then I noticed the diagram on the machine. I had the handle upside down and was pulling instead of pushing...DOH!

Needless to say I now check someone’s form and the diagram before trying a new machine.

Malama Pono,
Fat Jeff

I always have to watch someone on the machines-if the instructions are there, they may not be very clear.

mb94558 - 27 June 2008 10:54 PM

I always have to watch someone on the machines-if the instructions are there, they may not be very clear.

Agreed. I finally watched someone using the standing calf machine (I think that’s it) at the smaller gym location. Now I know what that does. Someone did direct me to Expert Village where there are some tutorial videos on how to use machines. Of course, it takes me two or three times of scoping out a machine before I remember to look it up on my lunch hour or something.

I’ve nearly (but not quite) fallen off a treadmill.  On the other hand, doing karate at a dojo provides *tons* of opportunities for embarrassment.  Thankfully, everyone knows we’re here to learn, and everyone’s experienced some embarrassment themselves, so it all tends to work out in the end.

Cheers,
Julie

My shoelace was untied once. Tripping on it, I almost fell down the stairs after my cardio. Luckily I was holding the handrail!  A lesson in safety the entire gym witnessed.

I once choked on a swig of water from my water bottle while riding on the elliptical and coughed it out all over me, the machine and the floor. It wasn’t pretty. I got a lot of nasty looks from folks as I tried wiping it all up. It didn’t stop me though. I got back on and finished my workout. The lesson here? Try to drink during a slow point. 

One of my embarrassing moments happened may years ago. Actually, maybe it was more embarrassing for my victim.

When I was in high school I took Karate for a few years at the Y. During one class our sensi (sp?) was demonstrating a technique and we were all gathered around. Most people sat down but a few remained standing. One of my friends was standing blocking the view of some people behind him, so I reached over and tugged his pant leg to get him to sit - unfortunately his pants were not the drawstring style that mine were- he just had an elastic waist band....but he had on nice purple briefs underneath!!!  

Hah—this thread is too cool. I can definitely relate a little gym-time embarrassment.

Two weeks ago I picked up a new weight workout that I thought would be cool:  Pec flies with my feet off the floor, to get the abs going a bit.

Picture this: I’m laying on my back with my 12-pound dumbells hoisted up in the air (over my head), and my feet up on the bench, knees bent. The idea is to lower one arm at a time to my side, then lift it back up, all the while counting on my obliques to keep me steady. HAH! Should’ve tried this one at home first…

After a) wearing out my abs the day before, b) doing some pec work earlier that day, and c) um.. never having done this exercise - I ended up rolling myself right off the side of the bench! Got some funny looks from the nearby lugheads, but I couldn’t help but laugh at myself! And now, it’s one of my favorite exercises. Guess we’ve all gotta learn somehow!