Gym Sins

Fitness club managers dish about their members' most obnoxious habits.
By Tina Peng Newsweek Web Exclusive


It was perhaps the most extreme case of gym rage—ever. While taking a Manhattan spin class last August, Christopher Carter became so annoyed by the unrelenting grunts and shouts of a fellow spinner that he tipped the other guy right off his bike and into a wall. The grunter was hospitalized for two weeks after the incident. Carter was acquitted of assault charges on June 2. Hopefully, the acquittal won't inspire a rash of altercations, as other exercisers decide that they too have had it with obnoxious gym behavior. Because any gym rat can tell you, grunting isn't the most irritating thing people do in fitness clubs. From making lunch in the sauna to sporting unsavory yoga attire, club managers report that some of their patrons are clueless when it comes to gym etiquette, or general decency. Here are nine of the most outrageous fitness club offenses.

1. The Sauna Stovetop A manager at a New York Sports Club was walking through the women's locker room a few years ago when she smelled cheese. Puzzled, she opened the door to the sauna, where a woman had placed bread and cheese on the hot rocks to make a postworkout grilled cheese sandwich. "Not only was it a health code violation, it was not really respectful to the other people in the sauna," says NYSC PR director Linda Hufcut. "She said, 'I do this all the time.' That was, obviously, the last time she ever did it.'"

2. Nude Fitness? A couple of visitors to a Gold's Gym in Paramus, N.J., decided to get naked and weigh themselves before they started working out. The two men didn't seem daunted by the fact that the scale was outside the locker room. They hung out by the scale, in full view of the other, clothed patrons, until a manager asked them to put some clothes on. They told Mike Epstein, the gym's owner, that they did that sort of thing all the time at their home gym. Perhaps they meant "home gym" as in the one in their basement.


3. Creative Blow-Drying A man in a California Crunch gym decided that the best way to dry out his sweaty shoes was to stick a hair dryer in each of them while he took his after-workout shower. He was shocked when managers asked him to cease and desist. "He said, 'I didn't even realize I shouldn't be doing this'," says Keith Worts, chief operating officer of Crunch, a national fitness chain.

4. Downward Dog? At another Crunch location a man had a habit of taking a yoga class while wearing shorts without underwear. He was more than happy to correct his faux pas as soon as managers made him aware that other members were uncomfortable with the view they were getting.

5. Work Out, Sleep In Some people get a little too relaxed at the gym. Gold's Gym managers have reported finding customers who fell asleep in the tanning facility and didn't wake up until the gym was closed, as well as customers who fell asleep on the bench press in between sets.


6. Killer Karaoke It's common and profoundly annoying: gymgoers get carried away listening to their music players. Before they know it they've treated everyone in the room to an off-key rendition of "...Baby One More Time." "I call it karaoke gone bad, because there is no background music and they're singing at the top of their lungs," says Harry Reo, a regional vice president for 24 Hour Fitness.

7. Talking (Too Much of) the Talk Fed up with people gabbing on their cell phones as they used the elliptical, many gyms have banned cell phones around workout equipment and designated areas for patrons to make calls. Still, people forget. "There's nothing worse than running on the treadmill and having someone next to you conducting an extremely loud conversation," says Hufcut, who's seen some people use walkie-talkies while on the treadmill.

8. Sweat Sins It seems basic, but enough people forget to wipe down their equipment after using it that this was one of the four deadly gym sins included on an informational video NYSC taped a few years ago. During the segment a careless gymgoer didn't dry off his machine; when he stood up, the entire machine was covered in dripping goo.


9. Scrimmage to Scuffle It's only logical that testosterone can run high at the gym, and sometimes managers need to break up altercations on the basketball court, says Nancy Pattee Francini, co-founder and president of the Sports Club/LA, which has 10 locations around the country. "Those guys, when they're playing basketball, can get into fights," she says. "They're not terrible fights—we're a high-end club."

These are, of course, the worst offenses, not the norm. Obnoxious behavior can usually be curbed with a little etiquette education, say gym owners. "Most of the time it's really an awareness issue with members," says Worts of Crunch. "We have to remind them that they're in a shared public space." Nonetheless, it might not be a bad idea to look over the list and make sure you're not committing any gym sins.

An Honest Coastal Vacations Club Online Business Review

By Susan Parker

Coastal Vacations was founded by a successful businessman and entrepreneur by the name of Fred Combs. Mr. Combs saw an incredible opportunity in the quickly growing industry of Travel and Leisure and moved on a lifelong dream to seize a vast amount of the arising market.

Vacation and Travel has become the third largest retail industry in America (alongside Europe, Asia & Latin America), and is expected to continue it's rapid growth as the wealthy Baby Boomers retire and continue to take more vacations.

Coastal Vacations offers unbeatable values on incredible vacation packages at wholesale prices. For more than 10 years, Coastal Vacations has been offering comprehensive travel packages & providing their club members with amazing benefits and services that are unmatched in the travel industry.

Based in Kissimmee, Florida, Coastal Vacations offers a home business opportunity by marketing their vacation packages through the direct selling industry. The Coastal Vacations product line consists of three (3) different levels which offer many different vacation packages that offer travel to select destinations around the world. Level one (1) has a starting cost of $1,295.00.

The Coastal Vacations business opportunity uses the 2-Up compensation plan. At the Level 1 Club Membership, the earnings for a Coastal Vacations Club qualified affiliate is $1000 for every $1295 sale made. There is a requirement of two sales (hence 2-Up) before a personal commission can be earned. So, to get started with Coastal, a new person must first pay $1295 to join to become a representative. Then they must pass along $2,000 ($1000 x 2) from their first two qualifying sales to their qualified sponsor. In essence, they must give up $3,295 before they can earn any money with Coastal Vacations. The 2-Up program is well-liked by many, however, if you join Coastal Vacations and bring in someone who makes a sale or two per day, keep in mind that you will only only get their first 2 sales and then you will no longer get paid on their efforts. After your newly trained affiliate passes you their first two sales, they will then breakaway from you (their sponsor) and actually end up becoming your competition. This doesn't give the qualified Coastal sponsor very much motivation to help the new associate since they will ultimately become their forever competition.

On a more positive note, Coastal Vacations does offer an optional call center (at an additional fee) that will take calls for the busy vacation business owner. The sales reps are well trained & work hard to close sales for the Coastal Vacation Club Business owners. This method is more professional when a marketing lead calls in, and it gives the home based business marketer time to focus on advertising to send leads to the call center.

As a fair review, Coastal Vacations offers a nice variety & selection of vacation destinations. However, the compensation plan doesn't make room for team synergy and you can't leverage the affiliates you bring in. Many people struggle with a 2-Up program while waiting to make that third & fourth sale just to break even. If you are a seasoned Internet marketer and you don't mind spending $1,295 and then passing up your first two $1,000 qualifying sales, then the Coastal Vacations Club business might be an okay fit for you. Besides Coastal Vacations, there are many other online business programs that do not require you to give up two sales before making money. Remember, the best way to make money online is to learn how to drive massive traffic to your website and then offer the best program and training available. A program that makes complete sense & entices the majority of people searching for an online business to join with you.

Susan Parker is a top Internet marketer and trainer. She works with industry leading marketing experts from around the world. To learn more about Susan or to receive her Perfect Wealth Formula Newsletter, Click Here

Travel Club Membership - An Analysis Of Value

By Philip McCollum

As a travel enthusiast and bargain hunter, when I heard about a luxury travel club membership, I set out to do an investigation. I've always loved working with numbers and performing a cost - benefit analysis on a travel related product is one of my favorite things to do, at least besides actually taking vacations.

In case you haven’t heard about the latest version of the luxury travel club membership, let me quickly give you the details. For a one-time purchase price, members obtain a lifetime membership (100 years and transferable through your will) that offers phenomenal savings at over 5000 worldwide luxury 4 & 5 star resorts. These are largely timeshare properties that are looking to resell the accommodations on behalf of people that won't be using their time. There are some other benefits of membership, but I’ll cover that in my analysis.

I decided to assess the value of the travel club membership to a person like myself, a baby boomer nearing retirement age with kids. By the way, you could possibly relate purchase of the membership to the purchase of a timeshare, with several significant distinctions. You don’t actually purchase any real estate, which is a good thing because it means there are no maintenance fees, no escrow fees at purchase, no property taxes. And since the membership is not assigned to a specific property or specific week of the year, there are no upgrade fees associated with using the membership. That makes my analysis a lot easier.

Let me start with the cost. The travel club lifetime Platinum membership I purchased and am analyzing cost me $2995. There is also a Gold membership available for $1495 with some restricted benefits. When I go on vacation, sometimes it is as a couple, but other times we have a larger group, up to 8 persons. That works out great because the membership can accommodate groups of that size. Whether going as a single, couple, or larger family group, the price for an 8 day, 7 night vacation at 4 & 5 star resorts in beautiful locations is $298-$699.

I like to take two weeks vacations a year. So let me assume four weeks vacations in a two year period for the analysis. Every week in a decent hotel where we like to go, places like Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe costs $200-$300 per night. I’m going to use the $200 per night figure for this analysis to be conservative.

That means my four weeks of vacation will be 28 nights at $200 per night for a total cost of $5600. Now let’s consider the membership. I’m not even going to consider the fact that I can book in advance and get into the nice places during peak season. I’ll just carry that as an intangible. It has huge value to me, but it’s hard to quantify for everyone. With the membership, my four weeks of vacation will cost $298-$699 per week. I’m going to assume two weeks at $298 and two weeks at $699 for a total cost of $1994. Add to that my membership cost of $2995 and my total is $4989. So after a two year period, my membership, including the one-time purchase price, has already paid for itself and saved me about $600 in the process. Now is where it gets exciting. Let me consider the next two years. That would be another $5600 without the membership. With the membership it’s only $1994. At this point my membership is saving me over $3600 per year! And it keeps on saving year after year.

Now let me tell you my plan for this membership. The initial purchase price was money that I had earmarked for my kids. But they don’t need it right now, so I bought the membership and will pass it along to them in my will. That way they get the benefit of membership for their lifetime as well. In the meantime, whenever I want to go on vacation, or my kids want to go, we always book using the membership. My kids can take their vacations separately and utilize the guest week feature. I don’t think I mentioned that. Guest weeks are a way for me to offer the benefits of my membership to my friends, neighbors, or family members.

The bottom line is that even with the up-front expense of $2995, the benefits of the travel club membership more than offset the cost after only two years of usage. After that, I’m saving thousands of dollars every year.

Phil McCollum562 225-5234http://www.LuxuryTravelToday.com