space savers @ MVP
 

We belong to MVP sports club,

It appears she has run into a territorial clique of people who like to take over certain sections of class space--this is akin to the chair savers @ the squares

I will be approaching mgt to stop this practice before something ugly arises

I don't get why people have to be joined @the hip here for every little thing they do--I thought this vanished when you graduated from high school

Now that MVP is offering free membership to UHC advantage members, the place is going to be so crowded,

Who is "she"?

she is my wife

What is with the constant need to be in “your” group?

Are we five?

It happens at the rec centers for their exercise classes as well. Guess folks never out-grew the need to act childish!

People find a spot they're comfortable with, and they want to stay there. It happens in church; it happens in exercise class. At the MVP weights class twice a week, timing was such that I needed to make a quick exit. So I wanted to be in the back, near the door and the weight and mat holders. I got there early to make sure I could get a spot at the back. I can't imagine someone would come in and make OP's wife move. She could just say no. I doubt management will do anything about it. IMO there's nothing wrong with wanting to stand by your friends unless your making someone else move who is already there.

I wonder how crowded this place will be after they start accepting Silver Sneakers. Maybe they will open a third one farther south.

come back. What are you saying? MVP does not belong to Silver Sneakers. so how can they offer UHC free membership? If true this creates serious suspicion

I prefer to go to MVP in Spanish Springs.

there are a few members who seem to believe that instead of monthly membership they rent equipment by the hour because they sit on the equipment and chat for long periods of time with friends . I complained but like the ambassadors on the golf course the attendants just blink and deflate. they need signage to remind members that some people come to do a workout and not to socialize

I don't find this to be a problem. In every gym I have belonged, if you use the phrase "Would you mind if I work in with you?", in virtually every case will result in a sharing of the equipment. You might even make a new friend.

My husband belongs to MVP & has complained about people saving spaces for others...usually to no avail. Certain people would go in & put three or four towels on equipment for their pals and many times some of the people didn’t even show up. So childish & annoying. You don’t have to be right next to your pal to get a workout. Junior High mentality! Grow up!

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/fo...p-fees-249517/

There's been a table set up in the lobby of the Brownwood MVP for about a month with a United Health Rep. The information I was given from them was as of January 1st Silver Slippers is no longer and is being replaced by the Optum program, which will include free membership to MVP. I was told after Jan 1st to call the number on the back of my card and ask to be placed in the Optum Program. Check out the link, it's been discussed for a few weeks.

As far as MVP, I've been going to Brownwood location since May 2014 and I never noticed space saving. What I did notice for example, I took 'Group Power' M-W-F for about 3 years and I would always set up in the same spot. Come snowbird season other people would be there, I would just go set up somewhere different, no big deal. Got to meet more people that way.

My wife takes Zumba 3 days a week and she hasn't mentioned anything about problems. What she has mentioned was the horror stories from new people who tried exercising at the Rec Centers. In many cases you had to be at the center an hour before class and get a ticket. Then come back at class time and you could be in the class. She's told me many other stories, most are far worse than anything I heard about at MVP. I guess when it's free, people feel entitled to claim some sort of senority.

That is why my wife went to MVP-the rec centers became too much of a hassle ,I'm a charter member @ MVP, just added her to my membership

My wife teaches fitness classes at the rec centers. Her classes do fill up during the snowbird season and the person at the front desk does keep count and cuts it off when her class size limit is reached. She teaches popular classes and the rooms at the rec centers are only so big. People do need to come early but it sounds like everyone is well behaved. Once snowbird season is over, her classes don't fill up to the point where anyone is turned away. There is a bit of inconvenience for her year round participants as they need to come earlier to guarantee a spot but from what I am told they take it all in stride.

In The Villages fitness centers, I've seen folks sitting on equipment and chatting with someone and using that equipment as a sofa in their living room. Asking them to "work in with them" is not the issue as they aren't working out......just sitting and chatting. If that piece of equipment that they have parked themselves on is the very last piece of equipment I have to use to complete my workout, I will confront them and say, "excuse me, I would like to use this equipment".

I have never seen towels sitting on equipment in The Villages fitness centers. I would not tolerate that.....AT ALL. I would get the people who work there to remove the towel. If they refuse to do that, I would remove the towel so fast your head would spin. I would never put up with that. Never.

BTW....I'm the one who removed the ropes that were used to save a row of seats in LSL. Yup...that was me!

I'm with you. I don't tolerate leaving towels on equipment to save it. I will ask an attendant to take care of it, and if they prefer to let it go, I'll move the towel myself and use the equipment. While I recognize that this could be considered confrontational, I have no problem at all as I will not let some self entitled, selfish person act as if they own the equipment. Usually the "bully" will leave, albeit with some griping, but I let it go as I have more important things to use my time on....

As to people wanting to use certain area (be it in an exercise room or pool for instance) for their workout, If the exact spot is so critical to one's enjoyment, then get there before anyone else and sit in/stand in your spot. BTW, don't ask someone to hold the spot or leave a towel to hold it either (I do accommodate to a point if I am told the person in the spot is in the bathroom) Should someone want to use the specific spot I am in, they can have it....when I am done.

Ha ha - bet they were surprised.

I spend 5 days a week for almost the last 4 years at MVP, so I know the place pretty well. Where are you going in, into a room? The only room that has equipment is Room #1 the spinning room. In there, you're correct, people will go in and place a towel on one of the bikes before class starts. First time I took spinning at Brownwood they were putting towels on bikes and that was almost 4 years ago. You got a room full of bikes, some like it in the back, some in the front. I see no big deal in selecting one of 35 bikes ahead of times, they'e all the same. The phrase, you snooze, you lose comes to mind.

Room 2 is a big empty room, there is no equipment to put a towel on. If you are doing Group Power or Group Active, pictured below, the equipment is stored on the side of the room and the user must set up their own bench and weights. How would someone go in and place a towel on nothing?

http://www.mvpsportsclubs.com/sites/...ness-Grp-X.jpg

Room 3 is used for Yoga, Pilates and dance type exercises such as Zumba. The only equipment for any of these would be a floor mat, maybe some blocks or a ball, and once again the user must go in and place the mat or equipment on the floor. How would you go in and place a towel on nothing?

The main exercise machines are in the main room, pictured below. I can tell you that the treadmills, bikes and all the other equipment is usually in constant use, no one putting a towel on something and walking away. If that happens, the towel would get moved, I've done that myself a few times on the treadmills. It's usually someone walks off and forgot their towel, no big deal.

http://mvpsportcenter.com/sites/defa...ness-Floor.jpg

understand and appreciate your response but why would someone even have to be placed in that position. I do my work out and leave. if i do stop to speak to someone it is never in a work area

People place towels on the floor to reserve spaces for their joined @ the hip buds--that is how its done !!!

I was literally crowded out of a space on the floor during an exercise class. I’d arrived early to be where I could observe the instructor. Another person arrived and placed a water bottle at my feet. Discerning I’d somehow created an issue, and attempting to diffuse it, i smiled saying “good morning , I’m severely sight impaired and came early so as to be able to see the instructor”. The person said nothing, but when the class began she consistently stepped directly into me effectively using her elbows to push and shove. I left. I prefer to enjoy what years on earth I have left, in peace

I would do the same thing @ the gym.

Oh my goodness. How rude. I don't understand how an adult could act that way. I'm actually dumbfounded!