Planet Fitness

[brimdog]

Planet Fitness is a chain of gyms whose motto is that they are a 'Judgment Free' health club. Anyone who goes there can rest assured that they will not be judged based on their individual level of fitness.

Yet visiting one of these gyms will show you how hypocritical that policy actually is. There are murals painted on the wall of 'Lunks', Hulk Hogan types, with accompanying flavor text about how wearing a tank top and drinking out of a water jug makes you a Lunk and, therefor, a person who JUDGES OTHERS. Hmm...

There are also strict rules about NOT performing specific weight lifting exercises: dead lifts and clean and jerks in particular. You are also not allowed to 'grunt', wear tank tops, jean shorts or bandanas. The thing that really got to me was that there are sensors placed under the various mats that cover the floor around the free weights (there were NO dumbbells over 60 pounds at the gym I visited) that will absolutely sound an alarm if you drop a weight on the floor. Granted, these particular 'rules' are not all that bad, but they do help to emphasize the point.

Personally, I find it absolutely backwards to advertise your gym as a 'Judgment Free Zone' and then go out of your way to intentionally ridicule and alienate the vast majority of people who exercise. People who may have been very out of shape at one point and are now much more fit. People who may have overcome various debilitating injuries and have shown what dedication to exercise can accomplish.

I am not saying that they should not be allowed to do such things in their establishments. I am not advocating that at all.

If you care to read an article about one woman's experience, you can click this link. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/oddnews/...6273.html?vp=1

What are your thoughts?

[Tinykong]

Go to a gym that is frequented by people with a similar mindset for your fitness level.

If you want to go to a gym with pizza and bagel days, go to planet fitness. If you want a blend of violence and risk of death, go to crossfit.

[Deleted]

why would anyone want to pay for gym membership?

[crakerjack]

They also removed all their squat racks because they thought they were too intimidating for a majority of their members. I don't understand how someone lifting heavy ass weight is a threat to someone... If anything the person watching should try to apply as much intensity to their workout as the big dude does. Before I begin ranting, i'll just let this video do it for me:

[crakerjack]

LOL! Just did some more research and apparently they have pizza/donut days... the kicker is that they're free. So when you walk into a planetfitness, they're offering you unhealthy food prior to your workout. It's so blatantly obvious what their motives are, they're 100% a business and couldn't give a single shit if one of their members loses weight. They want the highly introvert, low self esteem people to join them so that they'll continue to workout there w/o ever losing weight. Lets me real, the people walking in there probably don't do anything aside from walking on the treadmill and doing a few machines w/ little to no intensity. When they finish, they get a free slice of pizza and a couple donuts which negates all that working out.

[Darsithis]

There are also strict rules about NOT performing specific weight lifting exercises: dead lifts and clean and jerks in particular. You are also not allowed to 'grunt', wear tank tops, jean shorts or bandanas. The thing that really got to me was that there are sensors placed under the various mats that cover the floor around the free weights (there were NO dumbbells over 60 pounds at the gym I visited) that will absolutely sound an alarm if you drop a weight on the floor. Granted, these particular 'rules' are not all that bad, but they do help to emphasize the point.

That's horrifying. Half of my workout routine is based on deadlifts and bent over barbell rows, and I'm usually lifting upwards of 200lbs. I could never work out there.

why would anyone want to pay for gym membership?

I love working out around other people that I can admire and hope to emulate

Yeah, I've heard a lot of bad things about Planet Fitness since they really started pushing this judgment free zone stuff. I don't exactly frequent gyms, but I have worked out at a couple in the past and never really saw anything that validated the stereotype of gyms being occupied by muscle-headed bros. Maybe it exists somewhere outside of high school, but if not, it really just makes their whole shtick laughably bad. Sounds like they're marketing to people with crippling self-esteem issues, rather than fixing an actual problem.

Oh, they exist, for sure. I see plenty of them. But - for every one of the huge muscle guys (and some I've seen are enormous body-builders) there is an average joe puffing away with a 20lb curl bar.

[Deleted]

I love working out around other people that I can admire and hope to emulate

you can do that for free on a busy high street corner

[Darsithis]

you can do that for free on a busy high street corner

I'm pretty sure I would get into trouble if I lugged a rack & a few hundred pounds of weights onto a street corner.

[Gilian]

Haha, this is ridiculous and it most likely will work. Profit over anything but people go there in droves anyway.

[Deleted]

That place remind me of the time when I was a student and my university had compulsory gym "classes" for all students. We had to go to the gym at the university twice a week. Fortunately there were table tennis tables available there and we usually played that instead, but sometimes when all the tables were occupied we had to go to the actual gym and ended up just chatting while lifting the lightest weights available (like 1-2 kg).

[Cthulhu 2020]

Check yard sales for hand weights, I got a full set for 5 dollars. Do cardio by jogging, never pay for a gym again.

[Tailswipe]

There are also strict rules about NOT performing specific weight lifting exercises: dead lifts and clean and jerks in particular. You are also not allowed to 'grunt', wear tank tops, jean shorts or bandanas. The thing that really got to me was that there are sensors placed under the various mats that cover the floor around the free weights (there were NO dumbbells over 60 pounds at the gym I visited) that will absolutely sound an alarm if you drop a weight on the floor. Granted, these particular 'rules' are not all that bad, but they do help to emphasize the point.

I kind of like some of those rules. We used to have these guys at our old gym that would grunt and moan like they were having an orgasm every time they lifted a weight. It got annoying fast.

[Deleted]

I used to go to a gym, but I hated the atmosphere and the people there. Weekly I was offered steriods by different bodybuilders and I got sick of tired of it.

I'm not planning on ever getting a gym membership again. I rather do exercise alone, in a not public place.

[vizzle]

But do they sit around making fun of other people? That's what I meant. I expect to see people who are jacked in gyms, but I've never seen an actual example of the stereotype of the guy who looks like he lives at the gym and sits around trying to make other people feel bad about themselves. Planet Fitness markets like those people actually exist.

Of course those people exist; just because you don't see (and you said you don't frequent gyms) them doesn't mean they're not there. They may not be very common, but some gyms have them, definitely. Not that Planet Fitness isn't blatantly trying to target the people too afraid to see those people, but you're joking yourself if you think those people aren't out there. If you don't want to look for them at gyms then all you have to do is find the bro-er threads on BodyBuilding.com to observe them. Or just Google Zyzz.

[Darsithis]

But do they sit around making fun of other people? That's what I meant. I expect to see people who are jacked in gyms, but I've never seen an actual example of the stereotype of the guy who looks like he lives at the gym and sits around trying to make other people feel bad about themselves. Planet Fitness markets like those people actually exist.

I've seen it. Usually it's immature younger kids between 16 - 24 or so that spend their lives and the gym and snicker at everyone not in perfect shape. Overall, though, the gym has always been a positive experience for me and I go to 3 different gyms depending on where I am.

I kind of like some of those rules. We used to have these guys at our old gym that would grunt and moan like they were having an orgasm every time they lifted a weight. It got annoying fast.

I don't mind that, but I do mind the jerk at my downtown FFC right now that drops barbells with 300lbs on them from a foot up when he's done deadlifting. It's incredibly jarring and has made me almost drop my barbell.

[madmanx]

If you look like Hulk Hogan I will giggle a little internally when I see you. You do not get to look like that by "overcom(ing) various debilitating injuries". It takes a LOT of dedication and probably some malfunctioning mirrors.

There are a lot of example of what "what dedication to exercise can accomplish" but the Hulk Hogans of the world just display to total lack of taste. I do go to the gym quite a bit and whenever I see one of those lumbering piles of flabby gym muscles I think of packing it in. Add some "sexy" gym clothes to that and it is enough to make your stomach turn.

Men with boobs aren't very attractive but when you actively set out to get boobs with hard work and dedication it is just inexplicable.

Maybe I should look up Planet Fitness?

[Deleted]

They also removed all their squat racks because they thought they were too intimidating for a majority of their members. I don't understand how someone lifting heavy ass weight is a threat to someone... If anything the person watching should try to apply as much intensity to their workout as the big dude does. Before I begin ranting, i'll just let this video do it for me:

Dat roid rage. What a dumbass lol

[crakerjack]

If you look like Hulk Hogan I will giggle a little internally when I see you. You do not get to look like that by "overcom(ing) various debilitating injuries". It takes a LOT of dedication and probably some malfunctioning mirrors.

There are a lot of example of what "what dedication to exercise can accomplish" but the Hulk Hogans of the world just display to total lack of taste. I do go to the gym quite a bit and whenever I see one of those lumbering piles of flabby gym muscles I think of packing it in. Add some "sexy" gym clothes to that and it is enough to make your stomach turn.

Men with boobs aren't very attractive but when you actively set out to get boobs with hard work and dedication it is just inexplicable.

Maybe I should look up Planet Fitness?

I honestly can't comprehend when you're trying to state...

[Deleted]

I honestly can't comprehend when you're trying to state...

i really dont understand how you're talking about...

[prwraith]

Planet fitness is not a gym for people interested in getting fit.

The fact that they have bagel and pizza days and actively prohibit you from doing real workouts should tell you everything you need to know.