Gym etiquette is not always obvious right away. It’s full of tacit rules that you just sort of have to pick up on. Most of them are intuitive, like wiping down the equipment you used after you used it. But other rules of etiquette, like how long you’re allowed to use a certain piece of equipment, have more grey areas. You just have to suss out what is appropriate at the moment, and you don’t always know exactly what to do. Gyms are shared spaces, and though you might have a specific workout regimen in mind, you sometimes have to compromise. 

This is the trade-off of going to a public gym. You have to learn to share the space, even if that means sometimes compromising your ideal workout. Or else you should work out at home, or join a hyper-specific gym that suits your needs on a different level. That’s the situation this person found themselves in during their workout.