By Plott Brice
Cox News Service

ATLANTA — You are ready for your daily workout, and like most people your time is strictly budgeted.

So is there anything more annoying than walking into your fitness center and seeing someone sitting at a Cybex machine reading a book between sets?

Well, maybe going to the bench only to find it dripping with the previous user's sweat.

Or moving to the leg station for a few squats to see that no one reracked what seems like 900 pounds of weights.

As the fitness centers become crowded this time of year, etiquette — or lack of it — stands out.

And often the offenders are not the newcomers, but those simply set in their ways.

"It's most likely someone who is set in a regimen and is just not being considerate," said Jennifer Unruh, director of fitness and membership at the Ed Isakson/Alpharetta Family YMCA. "Our instructors are very good about working with new people. But what we really see as a problem are the more experienced people who are so set in their regimens. They don't seem to want to or be able to alter their routines."

Complaints about health club ettiquette come in year round, Unruh said.

Here are the most common:

• Monopolizing a machine or work station.
• Forgetting to rack the weights.
• Not wiping down the equipment.
• Leaving litter around a work station.
• Exceeding time limits on cardio equipment.
• Bringing gym bags or other personal belongings into the exercise areas.

"It is simply a matter of being courteous, a 'do unto others' approach," Unruh said. "If people were just courteous, it would make it a better experience for anyone. And we want those people who are coming in January to stay with us and not quit in February or March."

Plott Brice writes for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.