Do you even lift? The real question is “Do you have any etiquette for other athletes in the weight room?”

The main issue in Hoover’s weight room is how many student athletes leave their weights on the floor or set them on the wrong rack. Students should be more than capable to putting their weights away correctly.

The last person who leaves the weight room, whether it is a student athlete, coach or the ARC manager of the room itself, always has to correctly re-rack the weights that students left lying around. In some cases, someone will use the heaviest weights and just leave. Obviously not everyone has the same amount of strength, so that makes it unfair if someone leaves some heavy weights lying there for someone else to put away. If they’re really that strong, then they should be able to put their weights back where they belong.

Coach Guarnotta went through the trouble of color coding the weights for each bench so students will have an easier time remembering where to put them back. However, the result of his hard work seems to be for naught because, students still do not care about putting the weights where they belong. I see red weights, jumbled with white and black weight, not in their designated benches and I feel like the coaches and I are the only people in the weight room that will re-rack everything in their correct spots. We can’t re-rack everyone’s weights all the time.

When I tell other athletes to put their weights away, they respond with “I’m going to use it again, don’t worry,” but they don’t use it again. They use other equipment and completely ignore the weights they just used.

Not putting the weights away also makes the room crowded, dangerous, and confusing. With the amount of people in the weight room, it’s already difficult to walk from machine to machine. With random weights rolling around on the floor, people may slip on them and potentially injure themselves. Some people are also unable to find their weights if they’re not on the racks. I, and other student athletes, have had trouble looking for our weights because they’re either scattered around in the room or someone is using them.

A little courtesy will go a long way, so re-rack your weights, and help someone re-rack theirs. In the end, everyone should put their weights away. Be courteous, you’re not the only one who uses the weight room.