Westwood Gyms has said it has been forced to terminate memberships because ‘standards socially have lapsed’. 

The luxury chain has certain standards of behaviour, which all members are expected to abide by. 

However, speaking on The Claire Byrne Show, Westwood spokesperson Luke Heaps said behaviour has deteriorated in recent years. 

“I suppose the standards socially and just respectfulness between members and our business had just been lapsing slightly,” he explained. 

“In terms of, maybe, not putting weights back, not wearing appropriate attire or footwear and use of equipment, hogging equipment for maybe more than a half an hour, 45 minutes, excessive use of phones and things like that. 

“And we found it was hampering all members’ experience.” 

Gym users. Picture by: Pixabay.

Mr Heaps continued that it is simply not appropriate to turn up at the gym and work out without appropriate footwear. 

“A lot of the time you see people coming in with a pair of maybe Crocs on,” he said. 

“Which are perfectly fine footwear to wear in hot weather or at home and things like that. 

“But in the gym environment where there's heavy weights and there's a lot of excessive sweating, they're probably not the best thing to be wearing in that environment.” 

Another problem is that some men prefer to work out without a shirt on. While Mr Heaps said he ‘admires their courageousness’ in taking their top off publicly, it is not acceptable in an enclosed space.  

“But for our larger member group, I don't think it's appropriate because we do have kids in some of our gyms as well,” he said. 

“So, it's just not the appropriate place.” 

Emails have been sent out reminding people of the correct way to behave in Westwood gyms. 

However, some people continued to flout the rules and had their memberships terminated. 

“We had some people that weren't happy with the standards that we were trying to set,” Mr Heaps said. 

“And they didn't adhere to the standards we set out for various different reasons, which I won't get into now.”

Main image:  A man in a gym. Picture by: Alamy.com.