I’ve always found it difficult to say certain things in English at the gym properly, here are a few of them:
Can I do a set/ Can we share the bench/ Can we alternate/ Can we take turns? - when someone’s using an equipment that you want to use.
Yes I’m using it but we could share/alternate/take turns if you want- when you want to let someone know that he can use the equipment you’re using.
No you finish your set, I need to add more plates- when you someone’s offering you to share an equipment with them but you want to let them know that you’ll workout with much heavier weights and that’s why you want them to finish first.
Those are all acceptable. Just remember dickheads are everywhere and typically don’t care if you’re respectful or not; usually because they’re not intelligent enough to understand what you’re saying.
Not always. An Indian guy told me ‘can we alternate’ and ‘can we take turns’, and that’s why I got a bit confused and had to post it here. Indian English isn’t always correct, so I wanted some clarification.
Yeah, I’ll usually ask people “can I work in” or “Mind if I jump in when you’re done?”, but “Can we alternate” and “Can we take turns/Share” makes total sense
(English Is my second language and a lot of foreigners workout in my gym)
I said the following about a calves machine to mean that it I don’t feel much in the calves:
“It doesn’t HIT my muscle like that other machine does”
Did I use HIT correctly here and is HIT used like this?
I was complementing a a person’s gains. I said the following:
“You have improved a lot, you didn’t have any muscle ON you when I saw you first time”
2) Do you say muscle ON someone?
American English in a casual conversation is really flexible.
Word choice is likely not nearly as much of a problem as pronunciation. I can infer the meaning or at least get close enough if they are spoken with good pronunciation.
Most native speakers would say “target” instead of “hit”. Although “hit” does work. It is more causal/slang, which could be a good thing for the gym setting. However, “Target” is the proper word.
That works well. Or you could simply say “you didn’t have any appreciable muscle the first time I saw you”. Which is more proper, but is better suited to a written sentence than a voiced one.
Don’t be so self conscious, your English doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as people understand what you mean you’ll be fine. I’m sure they can tell you’re not from there. They’ll understand.
You’ll quickly find no one really gives a fuck about grammar when spoken, as long as they understand you
During the last 2 would be more grammatically correct but the meaning comes across both ways