Healthspan Blog

Anyone a member of Planet Fitness? I had never heard of this franchise until today, as they apparently only have two locations in California. Apparently, they operate under the motto “The Judgement Free Zone,” which they strive to achieve through such measures as removing scales from the bathroom, limiting their dumbbell weights to 80 lbs, and having a FREAKING ALARM THAT SOUNDS WHENEVER SOMEONE GRUNTS WITH EFFORT, which I suppose they figure might hurt the feelings of someone who isn’t exerting the same amount of effort. My God, is this true? Has anyone ever been?

Answer 1: Yeah, it’s kinda weird. They do the same chit around here… BUT it is $10 BUCKS A MONTH so I think I can stop grunting on a bench to save 60-70 bucks a month.

Answer 2: And apparently, everything in there is purple. You know, like Barney the Dinosaur. And they limit the amount of water you can bring to 20 oz. Ostensibly because the casual exerciser (like myself actually, I am sub-casual, as I tend to go the gym every election year) might be intimidated by those whose dedication to exercise requires them to consume a large amount of water.

Answer 3: I belong. Use it for cardio only, their weight equipment sucks. They also told me I couldn’t wear a bandana in there. They had an incident in Wappinger Falls where a guy was grunting and they had him escorted out by the Police, was all over the place, ESPN, NY Times.

Answer 4: I recently hit one. yeah the purple equipment looks funny. Didn’t hear alarms though. Rubberized weights. Insanely cheap - 60 up front then just 10 per month no contract. I’ll stick with the Y though.

Answer 5: The atmosphere absolutely blows but it has heavy stuff I can pick up and things I can run on and not go anywhere. And it’s 5 minutes from my house. So I go.

Answer 6: The colors don’t bother me, I wasn’t aware of the water thing though. It is just RIDICULOUS cheap per month, and the equipment in the couple I’ve been to was well kept up. Dumbbells to 80lbs sucks, but for $10 a month I may join just to use it to break up working out in my basement everyday. I don’t grunt that much anyway… LOL

Answer 7: Cheap as hell, convenient, and the alarm is just for show. My biggest issue is that with the low pricepoint it is crowded and you get lots of kids. I understand the financial appeal and certainly, I wish my monthly gym bill were a mere 10 bucks instead of 27 (which is pretty cheap in its own right), particularly because I am essentially only paying for a little card I can carry around. I just don’t go often, as I am a sucker. I do ride my bike often enough to stay fairly healthy.

But it sounds to me like this gym, with these rules designed to foster an air of “no judgement,” is a bizarre oxymoron of sorts. It is saying, “Exercise because it is healthy, but do so with the same tendency towards the path of least resistance that you adhere to in every other thing in your life.”

Answer 8: It’s fair game. I mean, what does it say about our society in which people’s tendency to pursue laziness, poor health or underachievement is not condemned or even just merely discouraged, but instead is accommodated — for profit — by an institution that should by definition be a respite from laziness, poor health or underachievement?

I read somewhere about a guy having his membership pulled for grunting too loud. Not that I’m a grunter, but I wouldn’t want to work out in a place like that. It sounds like a place where people go to be seen rather than to work.

Answer 9: That’s my gym. They basically don’t cater to the powerlifter/body builder types. It’s regular folks trying to stay fit and lose the spare tire(s). I pay 20 bucks a month for me and my wife. The focus of Planet Fitness is to attract people who wouldn’t ordinarily join a gym. The idea is to make a place appealing to someone who may be intimidated or turned off by other options in the fitness industry. Your comments about it fostering laziness or a place to be seen are wrong. It is not a hard core gym in the traditional sense but many people I know love it because of the atmosphere, and they are just as committed to improving their health but are not into performance measurement.

Answer 10: Speaking of average Joe’s, it kind of looks like globo-gym being that all the machines are bright yellow and purple. I go there as a guest with my roomate sometimes. $10 membership and you get to bring guest for free everytime - pretty good deal

Answer 11: I used to be a member of one of their local franchises. I quit because of the stupid rules and the clientele. Basically they cater to the cellphone crowd — people who would rather stand around yakking on cellphones instead of working up a sweat. Supposedly one guy in the area almost got arrested because he grunted too loud and refused to leave the gym when they reprimanded him on it, so the police were called in. The price is nice, but if you’re serious about fitness, look elsewhere.

Answer 12: I am a recent member of one in South Florida. Now to think of it, I have never heard anyone grunt loudly. The only rule that I know they have is to not drop the weights, but I do it all the time, and no one has said anything to me. I suppose each Planet Fitness gym is different.