Man tries to gym-shame woman by posting video, gets schooled by everyone

If you’ve spent any time in a gym, there’s a 100 percent chance you’ve seen fellow gym-goers with their phones. 

Most of these people use their phones to listen to music during their workouts; others use them to record their lifts to either post on social media or to evaluate their form.

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And then there’s a third group of people: the jerks who use their phones to take photos or videos of others.

There’s absolutely no reason to do this, other than to make fun of people on social media for bettering themselves at the gym. And while exercise has been scientifically proven to help ease the symptoms of depression and anxiety, it’s difficult to want to go to the gym if you’re worried about being made fun of for just being there. And, sadly, there are plenty of people who do it to make those fears real.

Case in point: The popular website Worldstar Hip Hoprecently posted a video of a woman doing an exercise in the weight room at an unnamed gym, though she wasn’t aware she was being filmed. “[The fuck] she doing?” read the caption on the clip. And sadly, plenty of people made nasty or vulgar comments about her (perceived) lack of knowledge, though almost as many others called out the website for even posting the video in the first place.

“People always quick to judge. Instead of recording her go over there and help her out. Let her know how it’s done help them improve not put them down,” one woman wrote. “Did you by any chance ask her? Or did u just laugh and go oh my internet fame moment; and film her for your amusement?” added another.

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The outrage over the video has been making the rounds on Instagram and Facebook for the past several days, with many people weighing in that the woman exercising “incorrectly” was doing a real exercise that didn’t deserve the criticism.

“This is the stuff that makes my blood boil. If you were at the gym to work on your body and actually learn, you might recognize that the girl behind you is attempting a Jefferson Squat… and instead of taking out your phone to make her a joke among your snapchat followers, maybe you could have walked over to help her… but I have a feeling that you have never heard of a Jefferson Squat,” Instagrammer Stephanie — known as Fat_to_Fit_Darling — wrote in a post. The New Jersey-based law student has lost over 100 pounds by eating right and weightlifting.

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“It’s intimidating enough for a plus size woman to walk into the gym, even more so to head back to the weights section, and I applaud the hell out of this woman for being there, for dedicating a part of her day to her health and strength, and for putting up with insecure assholes like this.

“Keep going. Let nothing stand in your way,” she continued.

And if you must film at the gym? Keep the camera pointed to yourself, not anyone else.