How phones became the biggest problem with going to the gym

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to not want to be filmed at the gym. But when the only free treadmill is next to a woman filming herself on her phone, you may have no choice in the matter. This happened to me just last week: I couldn’t see the woman’s screen properly so I didn’t know where the video was likely to end up. Was she live-streaming? Was she recording to upload to Instagram? Or was it all in aid of assessing her posture? I didn’t know. What I did know was that it made me feel uneasy and self-conscious.

I can’t remember the last time I went to the gym without seeing phones peppered across the floor, propped up on machines or balanced against walls. But I’ve always felt too intimidated to actually ask someone to kindly remove their phone from a piece of equipment so I could actually, you know, use it.

And I get it, in some ways; we’re used to uploading our lifestyle for all and sundry to see (me included) and working out in an aesthetic gym in branded activewear is, for want of a better word, a real “flex”. But we’re far beyond the realms of a quick selfie in the mirrors before a set – we’re in full streaming territory, and it feels, at present, like a bit of a lawless land.

Although filming or photographing in gyms isn’t as “unruly” as it appears, many venues do actually have existing policies in place that cover this behaviour. The UK’s biggest gym chain PureGym now has a rule which requires permission to be sought before taking videos or photos. They also forbid posting anything that could lead to the identification of another member. Virgin Active, meanwhile, states in its new members contract that any kind of photography, filming or live-streaming is unacceptable “unless we give the OK”. Though I imagine most people aren’t meticulously reading through the fine print as they sign up to a new gym.

In theory, I don’t begrudge people filming, but it makes my experience feel all the more uneasy – I’ve seen one too many viral gym videos strewn across social media in which unwitting gym-goers in the background suddenly become the focus of a gym etiquette rant, or incur scathing comments from viewers. How can you not feel on edge?

And I’m not alone, with a study from Velotric finding that 23 per cent of people avoid public workouts for fear of being filmed and posted on social media. Almost one in 10 respondents had been photographed or videotaped without their consent while working out, and 46 per cent felt violated by the incident. As a result, 49 per cent of participants said gyms should ban cameras and smartphones to alleviate these concerns.

Tamsin*, fitness model and personal trainer

I’m inclined to agree. I, like most other gym-goers, carry my phone around with me at the gym – I use it to listen to music or podcasts and I sometimes reply to WhatsApps on the treadmill. It’s also something akin to a left arm at this point, so I’d prefer to keep it with me than leave it in the changing rooms. But I’ve started to wonder whether I’d be OK to forgo the personal playlist in exchange for being able to workout safe in the knowledge that what happens in the gym, stays in the gym. Or perhaps, like a pretentious nightclub, gyms should insist that members cover their cameras with stickers before they hit the gym floor, so that we can make use of all its other features but aren’t able to film?

I decided to pool as many people as I could find. Tom Bourlet, head of marketing at the events company Fizzbox, tells me that he’s been confronted in gyms by people who’ve told him he’s walked into their “filming set”. “It’s bizarre for someone to expect an entire weights area to be private for their filming and to then snap at people who are completely unaware they’re filming on their phone in the corner. It’s incredibly inconsiderate.” That being said, Tom doesn’t want phones banned completely, just for people to wield them with more consideration.

It’s different for Isabelle, though, who is a gym-goer who recently moved from a women’s-only gym to her local fitness centre due to the reduction in cost. She thinks things are a lot more clear cut. “As a woman, I am always aware of my surroundings, of who might be recording and why,” she says. “I’ve seen too many sinister videos of unsuspecting women in the gym, uploaded to the internet for others to rate her looks or her strength or whatever it might be.

“Plus, I don’t like the idea of someone having a video of me on their phone without my knowledge,” she continues. “In fact, I feel like I take into consideration the fact that I might be filmed when I get dressed for the gym – I don’t want to wear a sports bra and little lycra shorts if I’m going to end up in the background of someone’s viral video.”

So would she ban phones altogether? “Probably,” is her answer. “In an ideal world, I’d prefer to have my phone with me so that I can listen to music, but I feel I could live without it for an hour in exchange for a more peaceful workout.”

There are an increasing number of fitness instructors and gym staff who agree. a New York-based yoga instructor Emily Holtzman, for example, who earlier this year posted a note on her class door at CorePower Yoga reading: “Please no phones! Especially no filming yourself working out.”

A video she posted of the note garnered more than 780,000 views, with many commenters commending her for enforcing a “no smartphone” rule. Speaking to The Wall Street Journal at the time, she explained that she put up the note after her students complained that they were captured in the background of someone’s video, or found it distracting to see someone else’s screen during a class.

But Josh*, a personal trainer working at a prestigious gym in Mayfair, disagrees with this approach. “We’re all adults paying the same membership fee and so I don’t think introducing school-like rules is feasible, or fair,” he tells me. “I think the best way forward is to only ban people who continuously and obnoxiously film when the gym is really busy, or in a way that disrespects someone else’s safe space – kind of like a three-strike rule. I think seeing more fitness content online can inspire people and encourage others to adopt healthy habits themselves.”

And then there’s the business side of it. For freelance fitness experts, like James Lewis, a personal trainer in north London and founder of James Lewis Fitness, filming their workouts is an essential part of their job. “It’s important to keep putting out content,” he says. “I’m not one of those people who film around everyone – I hate seeing [gym-goers] setting up their tripods and filming when it’s busy – I try to film in an empty studio or go when it’s not busy. I film a couple of times a week so I can keep my social media updated.”

Tamsin*, though, a fitness model and personal trainer, feels comfortable filming in the gym even when it’s busy. “I’m not actively trying to get in the way of other peoples’ workouts, but I do also have a business to keep running,” she says. “Posting my workouts and gym content on social channels is important for me as a way to showcase myself to potential new clients. I don’t think phones, or filming in general, should be banned. That’s part of life now. In the same way you can’t stop someone filming something on the street if you’re walking by, the same is true in the gym.”

So what’s the solution? It’s clear that there is no easy one. Perhaps in the future we’ll pick a gym membership based on their filming policy rather than on their facilities, and find even more ways to divide up our society. For now though, perhaps I’ll just stick to my mat at home – I just want to boost my endorphins, and not become an unwitting extra in someone else’s movie.

*Names have been changed