A California woman recording her workout says she was interrupted by another gymgoer demanding she give up the machine she had just started using. According to The Nerd Stash, the TikToker, who posts as Jenna.fitness, was mid-rep when the woman approached and asked, “Excuse me, are you almost done?”
Jenna explained she had only just gotten on the machine, but the woman pushed back, claiming, “I’ve been watching you for 10 minutes.” Confused, Jenna asked if she meant this specific machine, since she knew that wasn’t accurate. The woman continued anyway, telling her, “You kids take forever on this machine.” Jenna repeated that she had just started, visibly caught off guard by the woman’s tone.
When Jenna estimated she’d need about five minutes to finish her set, the woman refused to accept that. “I don’t have five minutes. Can you just let me on the machine real quick?” she said, adding, “I just want to use it so I can go home.” The two went back and forth, with the woman shifting between promising she’d only need “two minutes” and then “five minutes,” despite refusing to extend Jenna the same courtesy.
Jenna tried to offer a compromise
Jenna tried to defuse things by suggesting they simply work out together, since they were both apparently heading home after their next set anyway. Gym disputes over machine access have gone viral before, including a New Jersey woman who says a man kept approaching her at the gym until she started filming him.
Most gyms actually have guidelines in place for exactly this kind of situation. According to Aaptiv, many facilities post time limits of around 20 minutes on popular machines during peak hours, and standard gym etiquette calls for members to “work in” between each other’s sets rather than demanding someone leave entirely.
Marathon Handbook similarly notes that 15 to 20 minutes is considered a reasonable soft limit during busy periods, and camping on equipment for 30 minutes or more is widely viewed as poor etiquette regardless of how good the workout is. By that standard, Jenna asking for just five more minutes would have fallen well within what most gyms consider acceptable.
The video drew thousands of comments, with most viewers saying Jenna handled the confrontation well but was arguably too polite about it. Some offered their own imagined responses to the situation. “I would die on that machine and never leave it,” one wrote. Another joked they’d pretend to take the machine apart to clean it, just to drag things out further.
One comment singled out a specific moment from the clip, saying, “Responding to her by saying ‘me too’ was actually iconic,” referencing when the woman claimed she was heading home after her next workout and Jenna simply replied, “Me too.” Other commenters focused on the woman’s outfit, questioning why she appeared to be dressed in business casual at the gym, while some pointed out that Jenna herself was working out in sandals.
Given how large most gyms are, several viewers agreed it made little sense to start an argument over one machine rather than simply using another.
Published: Jul 21, 2026 09:30 am