strange guy behavior at the gym pls help! (sorry for long post)
i go to a moderately commercial gym, but its usually full of respectful people just doing their own thing. for example in the women’s restroom, theres a cute basket where us ladies can put in little goodies and notes to each other (like electrolytes, tampons, hair elastics, gum) and ive never felt nervous about weird behavior there.
recently, however, there has been a guy who seems to wander around and follow people. ive had 2 minor incidents with him
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my bf and i were on a small strip of turf doing stretches in the corner. turf had lots of other open spaces and we made sure the spot wasnt taken. i was using 15lb dumbells to weigh my feet down while doing sit ups (but there are several other 15lbs available on the rack, i made sure). my bf was next to me doing some triceps. this guy walks up to us and asks to use my dumbells? i say sorry im using them and he walks away to grab his own (he picked up 10lbs) and starts doing bad form rdls legit right where my head is. he also smelled grosssss. i get up and pack my stuff because i was basically done and when i turned around the guy HAD STOPPED HIS WORKOUT. he legit only tried to get in my space and bother me, he didnt even workout.
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today i was at a bench in the corner (once again pretty empty since it was 8pm) doing some curls with a barbell. this guy sits near me with some dumbells then starts walking around the gym in a loop for 10 minutes. his route always goes between a machine and my bench so he gets close to me. on his 3rd loop i was curling and he got so close he hit my elbow!!! he kept circling around the gym and genuinely following people, it was so weird. he curled like once and then walked around. this went on for 40 minutes!!!!!!
i genuinely dont know if this guy has special needs or is just being weird??? he looks and sounds “normal”. or if i was just annoyed by the first incident that i think hes targeting me, but its weird that within a week this guy has personally bothered me!!!!!!
TLDR: some guy doesnt workout just walks around and has bothered me twice.
should i reach out to the gym with my concern, or do you think im overreacting? i dont feel worried for my safety because my bf is always there and we both keep an eye on him, but its kind of distracting in my workout to make sure hes not gona walk into me. i also have only seen him twice and maybe hes genuinely looking for a friend or is awkward? didnt know where else to post this, but maybe someone can relate or see a different perspective.
Posted Jun 19, 2026, 4:11 AM UTC · locked