Gym equipment is made for men
Gym equipment is made for men and my gym is trying to gaslight me about it.
My gym recently got bought up by a chain and they switched all the machines to a new brand (gym80). Some machined are better than the old ones and some are very much not.
Especially frustrating is the new hip thrust machine (search for gym80 4352 (edit: 4386) Pure Kraft Booty Booster special- I tried posting a screenshot but my previous post got removed because of that. Edit: The link is in the comments. There is a similarly named one with a foot rest. That is not the one I am talking about). It is a hip thrust machine, where instead of having a foot rest an a shoulder rest you have a knee rest and a shoulder rest. The knee pads can‘t be brought down enough for my height so the angle is off. The distance between the shoulder/back-pad and the knee pads is also too big. I can’t bend my knees around the knee pad and reach the shoulder pad properly at the same time.
Yes I‘m short (158 cm or 5’2), but that‘s not an unheard of height for a woman. Also I‘d guess you‘d have to be at least 10 cm taller to use the machine comfortably. So a lot of women will have issues (anecdotal evidence but judging from how much less popular the machine is compared to the old one, I think many women do have issues with it).
Ironically the machine is in the ladies only area of the gym.
(I have other gripes with this machine. Who thought it‘d be a good idea to rest the entire bodyweight plus added weights on the inside of the knees where tendons run. But maybe this is less of a problem if people can fit in the machine properly)
On the day I tried the machine I asked someone who works at the gym to help me, but they couldn’t. They agreed that the pads can‘t be adjusted to my height properly.
After the workout I messaged the gym‘s instagram account to complain (I didn’t rant, just let them know) about the machine and get this, the problem is solved: the machine can be used by short people, too. Or at least that‘s what they told me after a short back and forth where I explained the problem and they replied that it can be difficult to get used to new equipment and that‘s why they have lovely staff to help out. I then told them that I had in fact asked someone to help but they couldn’t help me because I‘m too short for the machine. That‘s when they whipped out the line: the machine is for short people too.
Great, I‘m glad the problem is solved. It‘s all in my head.
Edited for clarity.