Grunting and swearing make you a gym pariah – but can they improve performance?

Some gyms sound an alarm when anyone using weights gets a little too loud. So what’s the science behind this sound and fury?

I have a confession to make: I am a gym grunter. Not all the time and certainly not on every exercise, but here and there, when the weights feel heavy, it just … helps? A sharp little exhale, a vocalisation of effort, maybe even a muttered “yup” as a barbell ascends. I’m not bellowing “Arnold!” on every movement, but I can get a bit noisy.

Is this so wrong? It depends who you ask. A recent study of more than 300 UK residents found that male grunting “diminishes perceptions of masculinity and both physical and social attractiveness” – though it does also, apparently, “enhance perceptions of social dominance”, which for some men is probably part of the point. Famously, US gym chain Planet Fitness has its own “lunk alarm”, a siren that can be activated when lifters get too loud, triggering a staff intervention. “Yesterday: me doing barbell stuff, which was hard,” journalist and writer Rose George recently tweeted. “I did it quietly. Next to me, two young men doing free weights, not too heavy. Grunt, huff, puff, grunt, huff. Why?”

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