Going to the gym is way more fun with a friend, but don’t hang out on the leg press chatting,” says the fitness expert and author of Finding Your Fit. She’s seen and heard it all: weight machines turned into coat racks, cardio machines used for standing still, outside voices spilling details on love lives. Lucky for Trotter, she now owns a boutique studio near Avenue and Davenport Rds. where she says that behaviour is less common than at larger gyms. Instead, talk to your friend after, before or in the change room.

Back seat driving

No one likes a back seat driver and neither do trainers in the gym.

Joel Kerr works with a lot of youth at the Health Institute in Scarborough where he helps train kids as young as 7 years old for sports from gymnastics to track. Many teenagers there are vying for coveted sports scholarships in hockey, basketball or soccer. Naturally, parents come with the territory.

“As much as I love every single client and every parent, it’s those overbearing parents that are coaching on the side lines and telling us how we should be training the kids who are difficult,” he says.

Instead, trust your trainer, even when they’re your kid’s trainer.

Last-minute cancellations

No-shows and last-minute cancellations aren’t exclusive to small businesses of or the restaurant industry. Small gyms such as Rhonda Roberts Smid’s TAB Fitness near Bloor West Village rely heavily on clients to honour their bookings.
Rhonda Roberts Smid, owner of TAB Fitness, says no-shows and last-minute cancellations are her biggest pet peeves.

Though it may be difficult for clients to understand how a cancellation affects the day — or even the bottom line — of the business it definitely does, she says. Preparations and expenses related to the snuffed session may end up wasted.

“When last-minute cancellations happen, it sends a ripple through the entire business,” she says. Instead, honour your reservations.

Originally published at Torontostar