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Get Off the Phone!

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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24 Comments

  1. Marc

    I don’t have a gym membership so the phone thing doesn’t bother me in the gym. The distracted driver I’m blabbing on my phone or not watching the road because I’m texting someone is a whole other subject. It really gets me riled >:(

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Oh I wasn’t riled up. It was just an observation on how they are wasting their time in the gym! I agree about the texting and driving, though. That makes me crazy!

  2. Marie

    I almost got into it with a chick at the gym once who had been sitting on a machine for EVER, just talking on the phone. She’d do like 5 half-assed reps and then just sit there for like 5 minutes in between. When I asked if I could work in, she gave me this icy glare and said “I will be done.in.a.minute.” (BTW a great blog post idea for you would be a collection of everyone’s horrible gym encounters!)

    So yeah, it pisses me off when all the treadmills are taken or I have to wait to use a machine and there are people are just slogging around talking on the phone. In the pool, the lap lanes are for people swimming laps only. If you’re going to just lay there on your back and float, you go in the open-swim area. It should be like this in the weightroom/gym too. (Although it’d be impossible to enforce.)

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I actually DID get into it with a chick. She sat on a machine for seriously 15 min and NEVER used it. She was just talking on the phone. I got sick of waiting and finally asked if I could use it. She said she was using it. I became a bit of a bitch and said sarcastically and loudly, “REALLY? Coz it looks like you’re just sitting there talking on the phone.” She ignored me, put her phone in the crook of her neck to keep talking and then half-assed using the machine. It was rage-inducing. Some people should just STAY HOME. Good god.

      Good idea on blog post. Thanks! My list is long. LOL I agree 100% about the pool. Since I’m a swimmer I am often annoyed with how people ignore the etiquette.

        1. Lisa Eirene

          I was hoping my loud public shaming would work, but it did not.

  3. Deb

    I don’t mess with my phone unless I know I can without lowering the intensity of what I am doing. If I can, then I’m texting or Tweeting, but otherwise I just leave the phone alone til I’m done.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Good for you! I strive to do that. Sometimes I do mess with my phone too much and that’s when I end up being in the gym longer than planned.

  4. Biz

    The worst is getting on a treadmill, and having someone get on one right next to you and that person TALKING while walking on the treadmill – really?!

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I HATE THAT. So so so much. And they are always LOUD TALKERS too!!!!

  5. Lisa

    I don’t take my phone in the gym! If I knew how to operate my new smart phone I might have a reason to, but I think I will continue leaving it in the car.

  6. Kristen@Change of Pace

    Ugggggh. People on their phones are so frustrating. So are the chit chatters. People that walk super slow on the treadmill so they can chit chat with their friend next to them. I’m not at the gym to socialize or play with my phone. I get my workout done and get the heck out of there 🙂

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I’m so with you! I don’t want to chit chat, I just want to get a good workout in. And messing with the phone just slows my heart rate. Which is doesn’t burn calories. 🙂

  7. Jess

    I feel the same way about the phones! I don’t even take my phone to the gym. If someone is on a phone and using a bench or equipment I need they will be asked to move. And I have a way of asking something so you are actually being told, but it sounds polite (its a gift) and they will usually move. Drives me nuts. That and sitting on stuff watching the TV. Drives me around the bend. I can do a full body weights workout in 30 minutes because I don’t muck around.

    Whew.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Please tell me your trick!

  8. Beth

    Our gyms have signs all over and on the machines that say they are a No Cell Phone Zone – you may want to talk to the manager of your gym about making that a rule. When I’m there most people I don’t really see people on the phone (obviously they are listening to music but not having a conversation). The only call I’ll pick up is from my husband – and I usually just pick up and say “is this an emergency or can I call you back I’m at the gym?” I see many people do the same.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      I wish our gym had signs like that. But honestly, even if they did they wouldn’t enforce it. 🙁 The pool also has signs that kids under 14 can’t be in the pool without their parent. Kids are in there all the time.

  9. Sara

    Working out is no time or place for phones! Idiots. Obviously they aren’t serious. But I will say, if I am waiting for an important call I might bring my phone…but chances are that time is for ME and most anything can wait.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Agreed, they obviously aren’t serious!

  10. Roz@weightingfor50

    I have JUST joined the smartphone world…and I’m pretty confident the phone will be nothing but an ipod for me at the gym. I HATE HATE it when people yack on the phone in the gym.
    Have a wonderful day Lisa.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Nice! What phone did you get?

      I use my iPhone at the gym for Pandora.

  11. Tiffany

    I don’t really care if people are PLAYING on their phones while they’re at the gym, as long as they’re not in my way. It’s their waste of time and money. However… if they are TALKING on their phone, that irritates me to no end, especially because they usually have to talk really loud to hear themselves over the gym music, and that invades my auditory bubble!! I wish 2h Hr had a cell phone policy.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Well my point of the post was that these people who are using the exercise machines essentially as couches are wasting their time and not getting their heart rate up to burn anything!

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