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In order to get a good and effective workout, people must stay focused on their goals at the gym. For people who enjoy a nice sweat, going to the gym might be easy and fun. For others, the gym can be a dreaded place. Regardless, people still manage to push themselves off their couches and head out for that one-hour-long or more of working out. However, according to a new survey, even though people might stay at the gym for an hour, around 39 percent of that time is spent on doing non-exercise activities.

In this survey conducted by Harpers Fitness, which is a health and fitness facility based in the United Kingdom, researchers questioned 1,000 gym members about how they spent their time at the gym. The researchers discovered that a lot of the gym members spent time on activities that did not involve breaking a sweat or lifting a dumbbell.

The researchers reported that members spent around 21 minutes to every hour doing things that did not burn calories at the gym. The members are spending their time checking text messages, phone calls, e-mails, untangling headphones, looking through music and chatting with other gym members. Other statistics revealed more specific distractions that members had at the gym.

The researchers found that 55 percent of the participants survey wasted time to play with their iPod or MP3 devices in order to find songs that they would like to exercise to. 30 percent of gym members took as long as 10 minutes to effectively untangle their headphones. 32 percent of the members stated that they did take breaks from their exercise routines in order to chat with other members. These findings suggest that people are not exercising as much as they are letting on.

"We wanted to get an idea of what our members are spending time on at the gym - apart from exercise - and this survey has revealed some time-consuming habits," Kevin Yates, the head of fitness for Harpers Fitness said according to Daily Mail. "Your time at the gym shouldn't be spent untangling headphones, choosing music or checking your phone and we hope this makes gym-goers more aware of the time they spend exercising and the time they spend not exercising."

The researchers recommend that gym goers take the time beforehand to create a playlist and untangle their headphones before heading to the gym. The gym should be a place where the mind is focused on working out and getting a healthy body.