Gym interaction goes viral as bodybuilder is told to lose 20 pounds

Molly Byrne
man body-shames woman at gym

During a workout that went viral, a random gym-goer told a woman she needed to lose 24 pounds.

Working out in a public gym can be intimidating. However, many athletes record their routines, focusing mainly on themselves and away from competition and criticism.

So when TikToker and gym-goer Danielle, who has recently lost 90 pounds, was filming her workout, the last thing she may have expected was for another gym-goer to approach her the way that he did.

As she was lifting heavy weights, a man approached her and said, “You got some size to you.” He then told her to lose 24 pounds and slim to 180 lbs.

Danielle continued the conversation, taken aback, as he wasn’t done talking to her despite her being in the middle of a workout.

He even insinuated that she had too much weight on her body from “drinking.” That’s when Danielle seemingly tuned him out. However, he backed his statement up by saying it was “water weight” that she was carrying.

“Wow. Yeah, I got it figured out,” the TikToker said as she turned the camera off. She even told the man she was training for a bodybuilding competition, but he didn’t understand that she was preparing how she felt necessary.

Viewers of the viral moment have since reacted with support for Danielle and how she handled the unwanted criticism. “You handled this with so much class,” said one. “U were way too nice,” added another.

Some viewers also told the TikToker to tag gym influencer Joey Swoll, who creates viral gym videos and exposes people for their negativity.

In one of his most recent reviews in May, Joey called out another gym-goer for calling an innocent woman “creepy” while working out.

In the viral TikTok, the aggressor was infuriated by the woman who chose the treadmill beside him despite being in an empty gym with plenty of machines elsewhere.

Though viewers would like to see Joey cover Danielle’s negative gym interaction, he has not responded yet.