There are many different kinds of gym-goer.

Some people life their life for the endorphins, the buzz they get from working up a sweat.

Others go to the gym to meet their goals, but find motivation a bit of a challenge to summon.

While a small group of people go just to avoid other things – and make the lives of everyone else miserable while they’re there.

And unfortunately for the guy in this story, one of the latter group was occupying a piece of equipment that he wanted to use.

Read on to find out what happened when he asked to use it himself.

AITA for asking a man if he could move off the piece of gym equipment that he was sat on because he wasn’t using it?

I am a 26-year-old man from the UK.

I was at my gym today, really focusing on core workouts – and I wanted to use the ab-cruncher machine.

Unfortunately, it is the only one in the gym, and there was a man who looked about 40 using it, so I decided to use the mats next to it for some planks.

I was waiting for him to finish so I could use it so I kept an eye out.

Let’s see what happened as the man waited for the machine.

From the moment I saw him on the machine he did not use it at all, he was just sat on his phone.

At first obviously I thought he was just on a break between sets, but then it got to about ten minutes, and he had still just been sat on his phone the whole time.

He then put his phone away and grabbed some keys, and I thought he was going to get up and leave, but then he just started fiddling with his keys and staring into space.

This went on for another ten minutes – so it had been twenty minutes and he had not used the machine once.

So this guy decided to take action.

So I went up to him and said as politely as I could, ‘Hello, could I please use this machine?’

He then replied saying ‘what do you mean, I am using it.’

I responded with ‘with the greatest of respect, I have been on these mats for twenty minutes, and you have not used the machine once.’

‘This is the only ab-cruncher in the gym and I don’t really think it’s fair for you to stay on a piece of equipment for this long without using it when there are other people waiting’.

And the guy did not take the confrontation well.

He then responded with, ‘How dare you, it’s absolutely none of your business how long I spend on machines and how I use it. I can be on it as long as I want, there is no rule against it. Now **** off.’

I was tempted to continue, but knew it would just escalate, so I walked away.

Now I’m wondering if I was wrong for asking this? Should I have let him just use it and done other core exercises instead?

AITA?

It sucks that there is only one of these machines in the gym, and it’s even worse that – knowing that fact – that selfish guy hogged it for twenty minutes without using it at all.

It’s one thing going to the gym and not bothering to work out at all – that’s entirely one’s own prerogative – but to ruin other people’s workouts by blocking their use of the equipment is totally unacceptable.

And what’s worse is the way he responded to the polite request!

Let’s see what folks on Reddit had to say about this.

This person agreed that the guy was not playing by the rules.

While others encouraged him to let staff deal with the situation in the future.

Meanwhile, this Redditor offered another approach.

The guy who was hogging the machine clearly didn’t actually want to be there, and his attack on the man who politely asked to use it was hostile and uncalled for.

People can’t just wait around for him to take his sweet time on his phone, when the people around him want to work out.

In future, the guy should ask the staff to deal with him – because nobody deserves to be spoken to like that.

Avoid him at all costs!

If you liked that story, read this one about grandparents who set up a college fund for their grandkid because his parents won’t, but then his parents want to use the money to cover sibling’s medical expenses.