A guide to gym etiquette

Wipe up your sweat – Leaving a pool of perspiration on the bench press for the next person to lie in is as unsavoury as spitting into your palm before shaking someone’s hand. It’s also a distracting sight for anyone psyching themselves up to lift a hundred kilos. Mop up! Use deodorant – Nobody wants to work out next to someone enshrouded in the insufferable fug of body odour. Put the weights back – Return discs and dumbbells to their rightful place and, if you’re on the bench press, leave the next user with an unloaded barbell. Don’t leave things on the floor for people to trip over. Sometimes Switch off your music – A moot point, this one. You’re in the gym alone, hardcore rap/Bollywood hits/Coldplay pumping out from your iPhone, when in walks another person. You may have arrived before them but it would be presumptuous of you to think that they share your musical taste, right? Better to be polite and ask if it bothers them. If they’re nice, they’ll say no anyway.