Gym Rules Teens Need to Learn Before They Get Their First Membership

Once again , Planet Fitness is offering a free Summer Gym Membership for Teens. Great news for teens, but not necessarily good news for other gym goers. Teenagers have a reputation for buying a gym and ignoring sports etiquette. But that doesn’t apply to your teenager, who will be the perfect gym citizen if you make sure to train him before he goes.

Planet Fitness is, of course, not the only gym that teenagers can work out in. Many are open to teenagers; check the gym rules for the minimum age for membership. If you already have a gym membership, sometimes you can add another family member at a discount.

Is it safe for teenagers to work out in a “real” gym?

Yes. While we think of team sports and playground activities as the most appropriate exercise for kids and teens, dumbbells and machines—and even barbells—are not that different. (Think about it: a child who manages to pull himself up on the bar is doing something more strenuous than, say, dumbbell rows.)

We have a guide to help you figure out which strength exercises are right for kids. The bottom line is that anything can be appropriate, but children need to be taught how to do the exercises correctly.

If you’re a sports lover yourself, accompany your teen to the gym for his first few workouts. Teach them what and how to do. If you’re not the kind of parent who can act as a coach, you might consider hiring a personal trainer for a few sessions. For a cheaper and somewhat more traditional approach, rely on your teenager’s school coaches and/or older friends to teach him the basics.

Most cars are suitable for teenagers as long as they physically fit into the cars. (Short children may not be able to properly adjust some machines and will have to wait until they are a few more inches tall.) It’s also important to know how the exercises are supposed to work. We have a guide to regular trainers here ; You can also find exercises on YouTube or places likeExRx.net to demonstrate how to use dumbbells and rope machines.

What should teens know about gym etiquette?

Just as we need to teach kids how to wash clothes before we send them off to college, we also need to teach them the basics of sports etiquette before we send them to the gym. According to a lot of posts about the gym on Reddit, teenagers need to master these skills in order not to annoy their fellow athletes:

Don’t borrow gear (especially in groups)

Every minute you borrow some equipment is a minute when other people can’t use it. As long as you rest a reasonable amount of time between sets , that’s fine. But if you and your friends put your water bottles on a bench you don’t use, and then you get into a conversation between sets of squats and you don’t use the squat rack for ten minutes, it’s considered rude if others are waiting.

Put your belongings where you found them, or better

The dumbbells return to the dumbbell rack at the right place. The discs are removed from the bars and placed back on the rack from which they were taken, in reasonable order (don’t put three 45lb pancakes before a 5lb pancake, that 5lb pancake will never be seen again). ). Yoga mats go wherever there are yoga mats. You get the idea.

Most people can understand this. The difficulty lies in the fact that if you put things “in the place where you found them”, there will still be a mess. Teens (and people in general) are then tempted to just throw the dumbbells back into the pile. Make an effort to put things back in place, even if sometimes it takes extra effort.

Wipe things down

This etiquette varies from gym to gym, but the general rule is that if there are wipes or spray cans around, you should wipe down all the benches you’ve been lying on, as well as the seats and headrests of any machines you’re working on. I used. Here is some more information on wiping etiquette .

Don’t stand directly in front of a dumbbell rack

There is often a mirror near the dumbbell rack and the dumbbells are right there . But if you take the weight and start doing curls in this very place, you will block access to the dumbbell rack and possibly get into someone’s line of sight. Keep an eye on your surroundings (this doubles if you’re in a group) and make sure others can still move around you easily.

Teach them what they are allowed to do in the gym

While it worries you (and other gym goers) that teenagers are making themselves into pests, it’s important that everyone knows they have a right to be there . They pay customers, even if it’s mom or dad’s money, and they have the same rights as anyone else to space and equipment. (Of course, this depends on the rules of the gym; there may be a minimum age for some things, such as going to the sauna or participating in certain classes.)

Discuss any relevant rules with them and make sure they know what they are allowed and encouraged to do:

• Use any equipment as long as it works properly.
• Use the equipment until they are done with it (show them this guide to equipment sharing etiquette ).
• Do the exercise as they were taught, or use any reasonably safe variation of it (show them this guide on how to deal with unwanted criticism at the gym ).
• Ignore snarky comments or advice from other clients that are not related to gym rules or immediate safety issues.
• Report creeps to the front desk.

Some teenagers may need to be reminded to be considerate. Others may need to be reminded to stand their ground if someone else wants to use your equipment or wants to tell you off for doing something wrong. Most teenagers, like beginners of any age, probably need a bit of both.

Even though they are young, teens in the gym face many of the same questions and challenges as adults starting out in the sport. Help them get to the gym with a program that provides a comprehensive workout, as this can be a good tool for concentration and confidence building, but don’t get too bogged down in the details .