My Planet Fitness Experience

[F4iGuy]

I went with my mother (a member) to help her with some exercises. The membership is 10$ per month so I figured it might be a good deal. The symbol on the sign out front is a large Thumbs Up with the slogan "Judgement Free Zone" underneath.

Looking around I notice a weight area the size of my bedroom. There are 100's of treadmills, eliptical machines, and exercise bikes. There are no barbells, not 1. There are no benches (2 smith machines). There is a sign above the dumbell rack "Warning! An alarm will sound if a weight is dropped or a grunt is emitted." No joke. At this point I'm thinking, maybe a second gym for cardio and lighter days?

I approached the counter to ask if I could get a tour of the gym. A rather thin fellow (about 5'7" 140) greeted me. He wanted to give me and another woman a tour. At the start of our tour he looked at me and said: "We do not have dumbells over 80lbs. because we do not cater to bodybuilders or powerlifters. This is a judgement free gym so we try to avoid that type of crowd here" He repeated this "We do not cater to bodybuildes or powerlifters" statement to me 5 times on our 15minute tour.

So after this 'tour' (more like attempt to get rid of me) I asked if my mother could show me some of the equipment. He said "Do you know what level of membership she has" I said "Not sure, I believe it's 10$ per month". He tells me that, because of her membership level, I am not able to be in the gym area unless I pay $20. I may sit in the waiting room. I walked over to my mother and told her we should leave. I'm not feeling very welcome in this judgement free zone.

Yea, judgement free my ass. I never knew that looking like a bodybuilder means I throw weights with reckless abandon, grunt, yell, and judge everbody around me!? I didn't know how to react. As I walked out and the kid said "Thanks for comming" I flexed my pecs, grunted, and laughed at him.

Anybody have a similar experience of being unwelcome in an exercise facility based upon your appearance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3xT39htUyM

[Epic1]

I got told after 15 mins of working out..." we dont need your kind here. Come to the front desk get your money back and get outta here"

I said..."You mean native american?" lol

I got my money and left. Dumbells only went to 50 anyways. It was right when they were converting over. a few years ago

[ReX357]

Wow! Being in Canada I never heard of Planet Fitness but I can guarantee you something: If I was treated like meathead, I'd make sure to act like one. The person at the counter would of been sorry to "judge".

[Kratos]

I go to planet shitness...it's close by and cheap

it isn't as bad as you say...but not all that great
it gets the job done though

my major complaints are
dumbells only go to 80 pounds
and there is only one squat rack and no cages but 4 smith machines

I've been asked to quiet down once for clicking the weights together on butteflys
other then that it gets the job done for a good price
plus it's under 1 mile from my house

[stack_it]

There slogan should be " keeping fit people away so you feel better about your fat ass!"

The place seems to be a joke. I pay $20 a month at a club fitness and you can grunt and do whatever you want.

[MotoLifter]

hahaha! this thread is great!!!

i went there for 2 weeks and was asked to leave. my mother also goes there with her friends and they use the tredmills and such.

She said the other day, her and her friends were there and the gym held a PIZZA PARTY for all the members, as soon as the pizza got ther everyone ran to grab some.

not a bad idea if you own the place; keep em fat so they keep paying thier gym memberships.


Moto

[chuckt12345]

lol awesome,, i thought you were joking about the alarm but i guess thats real. One time at a YMCA a older lady worker came up to me cus i dropped the dumbells on a incline bench. Tole me "dont drop the weights, its against the rules". I fkn snapped at her like a rapid dog,, poor thing,, i never saw her again.

[bjpennnn]

wow man i could not imagine going to a gym like that. that sounds terrible.

[Bossman]

I installed a roof on a Planet Fitness a couple of years back. I had a long talk with the owner who used to be a national level NPC competitor. This Planet Fitness had been a Powerhouse for years and maintained a membership of about 900. He said now he has nearly 4000 members. It's all about the money. They too had pizza night once a month and there were tootsie rolls to grab on your way out after each workout.

[BG]

My OG gym became a PF, I was just going to re-join for the $10 deal but forgot, its right down the road, would have been nice for just cardio and abs on off days. Be fun to see how ridiculous the place is now.

[kojak_x]

Well some people think my gym is shit. Its grimy as hell, dirty, old, small but the dumbells are the highest in my city (Canada near Toronto) 150's. You can scream, grunt smash the dumbells, use chalk. We got cops, hells angles, asians, blacks, white supremacists, some people smoke up before they go in. Everyone goes there for one reason only. To work the fuc.k out. Best gym ever. Everyone shows the outmost respect no matter who you are. If your just starting out there will always be a regular to help out, but I have to say its not for everyone. You have to be a certain type of person to go in there.

[Hazard]

My mom goes to planet fitness..... i've gone a few times to do shoulders. EVERYONE watched me and my father workout..... it was ridiculous and just solidified why I workout at home.

That alarm went off once BTW..... LMFAO the guy was so pissed!

Here's what I propose...... We need to file a class action lawsuit for discrimination against bodybuilders..... we can all make some cash and buy GH with it LOLOLOL

~Haz~

[Dukkit]

ive gone there with a few ex's to show them a routine. place is a joke. take my shirt off to show muscle shirt underneath and all eyes on me. ridiculous. i wanna burn em all down. cept my mom goes there. lol

[DS21]

It's a great money maker. Think about it, you get people to pay and then never go or go once a week. Like the guy above said, if you have 4,000 members and even if they all paid the $10, that's $40,000 per month. It can't cost more then $20,000 per month to operate = $250,000 per year, not bad. If you get people that actually use the equipment, then you would have to replace it quicker

[stpete]

Level of membership? What a bunch of shit. I would pull my mother out of there and take her to a real gym. That place is a joke.

[SunHangDo]

There is a sign above the dumbell rack "Warning! An alarm will sound if a weight is dropped or a grunt is emitted." No joke. At this point I'm thinking, maybe a second gym for cardio and lighter days?

They should have just called it a "women's gym". I bet they have signs above the toilets that say "Sitting Only".

Remember folks, it's okay to discriminate against white men!

[F4iGuy]

Ha. I posted this story on facebook and found a girl who trains there with a 'black' level membership. She says she can bring a guest for FREE! She felt bad about my situation and offered to put me as her guest. I can't wait to see the look on the kids face when I return. Shame they don't allow deadlifting. And you can't 'click' the weights on flyes? Kratos, have you ever set off the alarm?

I wonder what they'd do if I brought my buddy who's 6'8" 370. The alarm would go off and you'd hear screams: "AHHHH GODZIRRA! EVERYBODY EVACUATE!

CGB, your comment concerns me. Powerhouse is not an intimidating atmosphere. I used to train there. It was a mix of bodybuilders, powerlifters, young, old, and everything in between. I learned most of what I know today from the bodybuilders and powerlifters. They were more than willing to help out a skinny 18 year old. I don't recall being judged unless I asked for criticism. Through hard work and discipline I transformed my body. Are people so ignorant that they believe simply being present in a gym will help them improve? Pizza parties, tootsie rolls (they actually have planet fitness wrappers), Noise alarms, No barbells, No cages? No bodybuilders, powerlifters (both great sources of info.), No grunts, No 'clicking' weights... What do these people hope to accomplish? It reminds me of 'the matrix' for some reason. I'm to tired to make the connection right now but something eerie about the place.

Do most people look at us and think we are assholes? Planet Fitness makes it clear that bodybuilders/powerlifters are not welcome. I was told this several times on my tour. Soooo.... I guess we make a lot of people uncomfortable, so much so that they join a gym that disuades us. People are constantly asking me for advice at my gym. I always thought of myself as approachable, not intimidating. Oh well. It was never my goal to be average.

[edenfield]

Apparently they have pizza fridays or like free donut days...

[Nicotine]

i go to a gym here in niagara falls, Pur Fitness.

the owner was MAMMOTH when i found the gym initially...

he was like 280lbs when i first saw him.

he kinda went to prison for 3 yrs for robbing an armored truck and selling substances :P

it's the gym in niagara that has the biggest and best bodies. hands down.

all the good serious big boys go there, dumbells from 10 all the way to 200lb dumbells.

love my gym. 24hrs, 365 days, full of juice pigs and the thing is - the "meat head" nonsense, i usually find, is the people who are the smallest .....

they gain 5lbs, and think they are the best thing walking..

yet the guys that are 250lbs, are the nicest, smartest, and most helpful people.

i'd rather be in a gym full of knowledgeable big guys - then a gym full of fat or scrawny people...

[Eviluncle]

Yep PF is no better in Australia i got asked to leave for excesive noise cause i was counting out loud while bench pressing

[Kratos]

Ha. I posted this story on facebook and found a girl who trains there with a 'black' level membership. She says she can bring a guest for FREE! She felt bad about my situation and offered to put me as her guest. I can't wait to see the look on the kids face when I return. Shame they don't allow deadlifting. And you can't 'click' the weights on flyes? Kratos, have you ever set off the alarm?

.

I have the black card as well...free guests...I can use all locations and unlimited free tanning.
all for $20 bucks per month

The lack of cage is the biggest issue for me, because I squat decently heavy and I feel it's a safety concern. I've fallen forward before and had the cage save me. Also being 6'3'' the bars can't be set high enough with the standard rack.

The deadlift thing...people do them anyway.

Never set off the lunk alarm...just had a cheerful judgement free talking to.

A friend of mine set it off 3x in one visit and was asked to never come back...so if you make a lot of noise stay away from this gym.

It's really not all that bad, they have all the basics. It's the most cost effective and convienent for me. Plus there just aren't any hard core gyms around so it's all I know. Either you join the Planet shittness or WOW. I I walked though the WOW and it was nothing special, really no different. Also I use-to go to the YMCA, they have a really good set up there but because they have a nice pool and stuff like that it's $46 per month. I don't use the pool so it isn't worth it for me. There was a place called powerhouse for all the juice heads but they went out of business and it became a CVS.

It's clean and cheap and new and I'm pretty happy overall. But it's far from perfect and some people here would just plain hate it. I think it's one of the bigger better equiped locations though.

[F4iGuy]

Well, considering my current membership is almost $60 per month thats CHEAP! I know I'd get kicked out though. I'm not loud compared to most, but I will emit a grunt on occasion. And I have been known to make a bit of noise doing deads.