In this post we discuss how to keep up the gym with appropriate organization, operation of equipment, and cleanup. Respect the place you train.

Mess is a this is a minor deal in most gyms, but in a formal gym like Wichita Falls Athletic Club the plate racks are organized in a specific way. Each one of the pins holds only one type of plate. Bottom racks in that gym they put 45 lbs on. The big plates go on the bottom and the little plates go on the top. That’s the way the plate rack ought to be organized. The reason for this is just tidiness and logic. Everything’s got to be organized on the floor so that you can use the equipment more effectively. And if you can’t respect that level of organization then you need to go someplace else to train. We want the 45 lb plates on the bottom. We want the 25 lb plates on the top. And we want the 10s and the 5s on the top also. On one rack there are only 10s. On another plate rack there are 5s on it. It’s not that complicated. We want you to follow the apparent order of things when you’re running around in there training. It makes your training operate at a higher level of organization and it just kind of establishes a set of rules for the weight room. That kind of thing is important, believe it or not. I don’t know about your gym, but that’s the way Wichita Falls Athletic Club and Starting Strength Gyms operate.

They´ve got several fans in Wichita Falls Athletic Club. Fans are designed to just move air around in a big room. In Wichita Falls Athletic Club they’ve got high ceilings in there. They have good air conditioning, but moving the air around a room is very important when it gets uncomfortable in there. Even at a lower air temperature in a building like that, the room feels cooler when air is moving around. But when you get through being in the area that the fan needs to move the air around in, turn the fan off just like you turn the lights off in your house because it uses electricity and it doesn’t need to do that. You don’t need to be wasting electricity in your gym. Your gym owner has to pay the bill. And you may not care about that, but he does. So, people help them out. Think about these kinds of things when you go into the gym. All right?

Housekeeping is very important as you do it at your house. Well, this is the owner´s house. And although you are a member of a gym and you pay them dues, you pay those dues under the assumption that you’re going to pretty much treat that as your house while you’re in there. All right? Of course we understand that there’s going to be chalk on the floor from time to time, but if you’re not paying any attention to what the hell you’re doing, like chalking your hands over the chalk bowl, which is where you should chalk your hands, then there’s going to be a mess and somebody’s got to clean it up. And you may think it’s funny that people have to walk around with a broom and a dust pan and clean the place up because they don’t want it to look like animals own the place. If you are a member of a gym, this is what you need to do: you pay dues to the gym. It’s not your gym. You pay dues in order to train there. But if you want to get the best relation ship with the gym owner that you can or get the best experience while you’re in the gym, then what you do is you treat it like it’s yours while you’re there. You treat it like it belongs to you, not somebody else. That is not a bus station. That is your gym and you need to act like it’s your gym.

So, in short, if you want to be a good gym member, make sure you pay your dues because that’s how the owner keeps the lights on. It’s how they keep the water bill paid. You know, be sure and pay your dues. Whatever dues arrangement your gym’s got, whether it’s a bank draft or whether you walk in and pay every month, be sure you take care of that so that they can continue to provide this service. But more important than that, when you join a gym, that is to say a real gym like Wichita Falls Athletic Club or Starting Strength Gyms, you need to think in terms of that gym being your gym. The owners knows it belongs to them. But when you’re in there, they would prefer that you treat it as if you owned it, not them. Because that will keep everything in shape. That’ll keep everybody else straight. It’ll keep people friendly with each other, it will organize the floor and everything that needs to happen will happen if you act like it’s your gym.

Bibliographic references:

• Starting Strength. (2025). How to Care for Your Gym [Video file]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/zMF0j5RWwTc?si=E56rBn_SwiEci2IY