Friday, October 10, 2008

By JULIA FELDMEIER
THE WASHINGTON POST

last updated: June 09, 2008 02:30:29 AM

Ah, the office. It's like a fishbowl, isn't it? The water-cooler gossip. Phone conversations heard over the cubicle wall.

Corporate retreats. All help us see who our co-workers really are.

But seeing them at the office gym? Maybe a little too real.

Sure, a fitness center seems like a great perk for employees.

Hooray for that 20-minute lunchtime power session on the elliptical! Work gyms are convenient and cheap, if not free. Of course, they're also inherently awkward.

"It's a little more stressful sweating profusely around people that you are in a professional atmosphere with," says Justin Lucas, 25, a Washington resident who works for a human resources consulting firm. "Or vice versa: seeing somebody really, really talented sweat all over the place."

Like most office gyms, the one in Lucas' building is small: two treadmills, four ellipticals, a few weightlifting machines, a dumbbell rack and an abdominal bench. Close proximity makes interaction unavoidable, but Lucas says that he and his boss, who also uses the gym, keep their fitness exchanges brief.

"I already saw you for eight hours today," Lucas says. "That's my professional life. Now I'm just going to work out and be myself."

Those who exercise at work say that they and their co-workers for the most part are respectful of this boundary. They recognize that lifting weights is about building muscle, not business. But even if you're not talking shop, your colleagues see you -- and they may be judging.

So, some self-awareness is necessary at an office facility, where adherence to basic gym etiquette isn't just courteous, it's imperative.

"The same rules apply in the office gym, and the consequences could be even worse if you act like a boor in the office gym because it could seep into office politics," says Caroline Tiger, author of "How to Behave: A Guide to Modern Manners for the Socially Challenged" (Quirk Books, 2003).

A few fundamental guidelines:

Don't leave a machine covered in sweat. Use a towel to wipe it down.

Bring a fresh change of workout gear. No one wants to see you (or smell you) in the same stinky outfit.

Don't hog a machine if others are waiting to use it. Stick to a 30-minute time limit.

Sound obvious? Not always, evidently. At his previous job, Matt Melnicoff, 26, used the gym in the basement of the office building -- seemingly convenient, but for the fact that the treadmills were often occupied.

And they were always used by the same women who would walk slowly for an hour. "There was no time limit, so they would just ... walk on those machines forever," he says. "And they always watched this same horrible judge show on television." Melnicoff eventually switched his workout schedule to avoid treadmill confrontation. Ultimately, he and other frustrated co-workers went to the building manager and requested that he put up a sign about limiting machine use.

But not all gym issues can be resolved by management. Some, unfortunately, are left to individual discretion. Like, say, choice of attire.

"Wear your biggest, baggiest workout gear to the office gym," Tiger says. "It would be awkward to see your co-workers if they're the kind of people who just wear spandex to the gym. Especially on guys, that can be a really scary sight."

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