We asked the Buzzfeed Community to share the most annoying times they got mansplained to while they were working out. These were their horror stories.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.
1. The great inspirer:
"I once called a guy out for making a sexual comment about how a girl’s butt looked in her gym shorts. He proceeded to explain to me that girls consider comments like that 'compliments' and he’s actually inspiring her to do well and I don’t know what I’m talking about. I am, in fact, a girl."
2. The bra connoisseur:
"I had some random man come up to me in the middle of my cool-down and tell me that he was watching me the whole time that I exercised, and that I was wearing my sports bra wrong. WHAT IN THE WORLD?!?!"
3. The ovary-sharer:
"I was warming up my clean and jerk with 85 pounds. When I loaded 135, one guy came over and insisted I not attempt the lift. He was concerned for my safety. I asked him what his cause for concern was (I knew my form was fine). He told me as a woman, lifting that much weight was bad for my lady parts and he had heard of women who had broken their ovaries. I was dumbfounded."
4. The hands-on monster:
"I had a guy physically turn down the resistance when I was in the middle of a set on the rowing machine. Just…why."
5. The ironic climber:
"I had a guy come up to me while I was on the stair-climber. He chose the machine DIRECTLY next to me, began to use it, and pointed out that I 'could probably just use regular stairs,' because it’s 'definitely better for you than a machine.' All while using the same exact machine."
6. The smile whisperer:
"In between sets using the lat pulldown machine, an older guy told me, 'You should smile.' I was in such disbelief that I just stared at him and said nothing. He followed up defensively saying, 'Just smile, you look like you’re in pain.' Apparently my form was good for pulling down more than half my body weight, but apparently I should have been smiling?!"
7. The stretcher:
"A guy at the gym at my university once tried to tell me that stretching cold was better for your muscles because some study he had supposedly read said that you should stretch before working out to get a better workout. Not only is he wrong, he tried to teach me how to stretch when I was in a full split and wearing my university dance team jacket. But obviously, I had no idea what I was doing, even though I’ve been in dance since I could walk."
8. The squat police:
"I was doing sumo squats and a random guy came up to me to explain how my squat form was wrong, how I was going too far down, legs not right, etc. I think he assumed I was trying to do normal squats and didn’t even ask. I let him finish then told him I was doing sumos and he just said, 'Oh,' and walked away."
9. The bulk shamer:
"In the weight room last week, I was doing chest presses and a much older guy came over and said, 'You want to lean out here, right?' while gesturing to my abdomen. I told him that no, I was working on building my arms actually, and he was genuinely so confused by the notion that I was trying to bulk up rather than lose weight that he ignored me and started trying to show me how to do different kinds of crunches. My trainer walked by and gave me a look like, 'Girl, I know,' as I patiently waited for the man to exhaust himself so I could get back to chest presses."
10. The biologist:
"I was on a decline bench chest-pressing with free weights and some guy came up to me and said that someone my size shouldn’t lift more than 20-pound weights because of my biology."
11. The martial artist:
"I had a guy come up and start giving unsolicited advice about my kicking technique while I was working out on a bag at the gym. When I asked him what his martial arts experience was, he told me he’d been doing kickboxing for six months. I’ve been in martial arts for 17 years and teaching for 10. Not only was his advice mediocre at best, when I asked him to, by all means, demonstrate proper technique, he tried to do the exact same drill I’d been doing and fell on his ass."
12. The yeller:
"I was doing a workout that my boyfriend used to do in high school, called 21s. It’s bicep curls, but you do the bottom half seven times, top half seven times, and full curls seven times. This guy sees me start them and immediately tells me, 'You’re not doing it right. All the way up,' and as I’m trying to respond to let him know I’m not doing normal curls, he continues to say, 'ALL THE WAY UP! THATS NOT RIGHT!' Nearly socked him."
13. The woman expert:
"It was tricep/chest day at the gym for my roommate and me. So, naturally, we decided to do assisted tricep dips as part of our workout. While we were taking turns doing reps on the machine, a gentleman approached us and informed us that we should not be doing those because tricep dips are 'not a woman’s exercise.' He suggested that, instead, we should march ourselves over to the leg press and give that a try since 'women are good at leg exercises.' I was absolutely flabbergasted and disgusted."
14. The Greek chorus:
"The last time I tried to lift at the gym without my husband there, I ended up with a group of no less than four guys standing around me arguing about whether or not I was doing it right. They were arguing with each other and not even talking to me after a few minutes."
15. The backwards bro:
"I was using a treadmill and someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turn around and a man says that I have to walk backwards on a treadmill because I am a woman. Apparently only men can walk forwards… He then showed me 'how' and fell off, hit his head, and said, 'Sorry, today is my off day.'"
16. The baller:
"I used to work at a gym where we regularly checked out men and women’s basketballs to patrons. A guy once came up and asked for a ball and when I turned to grab it said, 'Make sure it’s a men’s ball. You probably didn’t know there’s a difference, but the men’s balls are bigger.' Yeah, I work here bud."
17. The interrogator:
"I was running on the treadmill when a guy with extremely strong cologne took the machine next to me. I moved down a couple of machines since I was getting a headache. The guy FOLLOWED ME and began to rant like, 'You probably don't know this, but it's considered bad gym etiquette to switch machines to get away from someone, so that was really rude.' He also interrogated me about why I had moved, demanding to know how he had 'offended me so much.' After I explained, he got on the treadmill directly next to me AGAIN and started running, stinky cloud of musk and all."
—Deanna Marshall, Facebook
18. The cardio evangelist:
"I had a man tell me that I shouldn’t lift until I’ve burned off all my fat and that women should focus on cardio."