IFBB Pro Mark Hunter Jr. Advocates Gym Respect, Drawing Comparisons to Joey Swoll

Gyms have become gathering places for millions of people chasing fitness, but they've also become stages for something uglier: body shaming, dismissal, and the kind of casual disrespect that makes people want to quit. Into this landscape steps Mark Hunter Jr., a 40-year-old IFBB Pro bodybuilder who recently posted a video that caught the attention of his followers for doing something simple and rare—advocating that people treat each other decently in the weight room.

The video itself is straightforward. Hunter Jr., who goes by Markus online, is filming at his gym when another person approaches him politely and asks if he's in the way. It's a small moment, but it's the point. "He didn't have to say that," Markus explains in the clip. "He doesn't own this gym, but he did it because he was respectful." The observation cuts to something that has become increasingly difficult to find: the assumption that shared space belongs to everyone, and that consideration for others isn't weakness but basic decency.

This wasn't Markus's first brush with gym culture gone wrong. He had previously been ejected from a gym by a staff member in an incident that drew the attention of Joey Swoll, a 40-year-old fitness influencer who has built a following by calling out toxicity in gyms and promoting what he calls gym positivity. Swoll's videos often go viral precisely because they document the gap between how gyms should feel and how they actually do. When he supported Markus after that earlier incident, it planted a seed. Now, with his own message about respect, Markus is tending that same garden.

In his Instagram video, Markus is direct about what he's learned. "Filming in the gym is like you gotta be super respectful," he says. He pushes back against the idea that permission to film gives anyone license to sprawl across the space or treat it as their personal set. "It's a public gym, because they allow filming doesn't give you right to take up space and be a d***," he adds. The language is blunt because the problem is blunt. Entitlement in gyms isn't subtle.

What struck his followers most was the contrast Markus drew: the person who asked if he was blocking space did so not because he owned the gym but because he understood something about how to move through the world. Respect, in this reading, isn't about hierarchy or permission. It's about recognizing that other people are real and that their time and comfort matter. Markus captioned the video simply: "This is my swamp," a reference to the idea that the gym belongs to everyone who shows up to use it.

The response was immediate and warm. Followers drew comparisons to Joey Swoll, with one commenter writing, "Joey Swole would be so proud!" Another suggested a collaboration between the two men, adding the wish that "more people would have this mindset in the gym." The comments section filled with people who seemed relieved to see someone with Markus's platform—he's a professional bodybuilder, after all, someone who could easily claim dominion over gym space—instead choosing to model something different. "I wish everyone understood this simple concept," one person wrote. Another simply said, "Lil respect goes a long way." A third called Markus "such a sweetheart."

What's notable is that none of this is revolutionary. Markus isn't proposing new rules or complex ethics. He's describing the baseline behavior that makes shared spaces work: noticing other people, asking before you take up room, assuming good faith. Yet the fact that a video about basic consideration went viral suggests how far gyms have drifted from this standard. The toxicity is real enough that kindness reads as noteworthy. Markus and Swoll, in their different ways, are trying to shift that back—not through lectures but through example, showing that strength and respect aren't opposites.