Their membership starts at $10 a month (“plus applicable taxes”) with a one-year commitment and $29.00 to join. Last gym I belonged to was significantly more spendy, and I really didn’t use the spa services, tanning, juice bar, pool, classes and other amenities. But I did have a personal trainer and worked out diligently 5-6 days a week. I’m planning on stopping by Planet Fitness this weekend to check it out.
I need to get back into working out/core strengthening because my chronic bad back/sciatica is becoming increasingly a constant pain and, well, I don’t see any downside to increasing my level of activity. As I recall, the year I spent diligently working out was a year when I had very minimal back pain. Plus I almost started to see a hint of a six-pack in my sort of squishy middle-aged mid-section.
Anyone here a member? Are their personal trainers any good (not included in the $10 a month but I found it enormously helpful the last time)? How busy are they early in the morning? How clean? Etc.
I’ve worked out at Planet Fitness. The things I liked is that they had a lot of machines and I almost never had to wait. But there wasn’t always a lot of upkeep and some of the machines looked pretty ratty. They worked, but often had peeling paint, ripped seats, and stuff like that. One thing that I thought was weird is that people were just hanging out at the gym not really working out. It’s like they were there to hang with their friends and they would work out a bit in between chatting. I wondered if with the low rates, they got a lot of people who weren’t really all that committed to working out. Their corporate policy is to not attract the hardcore, so maybe they attract a lot of people who are very casual about working out. Never tried a personal trainer.
You can get a 24 Hour Fitness membership at Costco which works out to about $14/mo. I like the environment there better since it’s more focused on working out. I find I have better motivation and are more focused in my workout. They also have classes and a pool, which PF didn’t have.
Actually, Ambivalid lives in my area so the PF he’s talking about in that thread is probably the one that I’m going to stop by at; in Burton Mich.
Mind you I am not anywhere even remotely close to being a competitive bodybuilder. I’m a 50-something vaguely squishy-middle person with a bad back and I don’t think I grunt when working out.
But I will keep reading and will take this under advisement. My other choice is a YMCA gym which is also super-affordable but I did a “free month” there a couple of years ago and it was crazy-busy first thing in the morning. Busy as in, people waiting in line for weights or machines.
Hmm. That’s what I wonder - at that low price point they are probably cutting corners every which way, and also counting on lots of people joining but not following through. No Costco in this county but there is a 24-Hour Fitness (I think.)
I really need a convenient location and easy access in the morning before work, though. I work in multiple, ever-changing locations and it MUST be somewhere I can get to conveniently, first thing in the morning, otherwise I simply won’t keep it up. I know me. . The Planet Fitness I’m thinking of is really convenient and on my way to most of my jobs.
Once a month. And bagels. I am very happy with planet fitness, they are 2-4x cheaper than other gyms I have joined and have far more cardio equipment with no time limits.
Plus all the cardio machines have 19" TVs. At the other gyms I’ve been to I had to avoid going to the gym around 4-6pm because the women would turn all the TVs to Oprah and Dr Phil. I don’t need to worry about that.
Yes, let’s just get that part out of the way:
They do bring in pizza once a month and bagels once a month. I have never been forced at gunpoint to even set foot in the place during these food fests, let alone eat the pizza or bagels. It might be a ridiculous thing for a gym to do, but it doesn’t affect my experience any.
A lot is going to depend on the individual location, your goals for using the gym, and what amenities (if any) are important to you. I don’t need anything from Planet Fitness but a place to run when it is too hot out or dangerously icy, where I am relatively unlikely to have to wait for a machine, and I can spend as long on that machine as I want. Places with 20 or 30 minute limits on cardio machines are bullshit to me. That’s as useless as pizza at the gym.
I’d go in and look at it, as well as try to find more local reviews on something like Yelp. And look at the content of the reviews. If people are giving it 5 stars because they like pizza or 1 star because the weights don’t go high enough for them, you’ll have to filter those reviews through your list of what’s important.
With the reimbursement I get back from my health insurance, Planet Fitness costs me exactly zero dollars per year. I’m willing to accept not getting much for that price.
My bodybuilder status really had nothing to do with PF kicking me out. They’ve kicked out so many people from that gym, most of which you would NEVER think of as a typical “lunk” or “meathead”. They were just guys who went regularly and worked hard. Planet Fitness doesn’t have a business model to support that type of gym-goer. They are in the “gym membership” business, not the fitness or gym business. So they devise excuses to get rid of these types of members. Heck, after I got booted, they even got rid of all the dumbbells over 55 lbs. I would really think twice about PF. It’s a terrible place. Terrible. At least the Burton one is.
Try walking on the treadmills while staring at the girls on the ellipticals in the row in front of you wearing tight pants instead, PF seems ok with that. Being a creepy voyeur has been kind to me. Who wants to join my gym?
Well, you just better make sure you keep your pace to a slow shuffle, and don’t get too familiar with the place either; breaking a sweat or repeated visits are grounds for immediate termination of membership privileges. Unless you come on Friday for free pizza and bring your whole family along; then they look the other way.
It’s not so much that one plans to be a bodybuilder, rather the whole business model is based on appealing to the lowest common denominator: Nobody enjoys working out (it’s one of life’s many effort-reward correlations). Everybody understands that they should undertake this pleasant activity. PF’s business model is to charge a bit of money, and they’ll furnish the Potemkin gymnasium, and your willingness to go along with the self-deception does the rest.
It really is little more than the fitness analogue to homeopathy.
I go to my PF almost everyday and use the bikes and circuit training. Not looking to be body builder, just looking for activity. It’s adequate and cheap. I don’t ask much from my gym and it provides.
This is probably the most important reason to go to PF. If it’s easy to go, you’ll go. It’s reasonably clean and there’s plenty of equipment. But it is lower end and other gyms will likely be nicer.
That’s just bullshit.
It’s not unusual for me to run 9 miles on their treadmills, at an average of 9 minutes per mile, while I’m there.
Again, if your specific location has an issue with people who actually exercise, that’s one thing, and yes, it’s a shame. But you can’t warn other posters that the PF in their location will kick them out! Immediately! For daring to make efforts to not be a fatass. And show me a gym that doesn’t bank on people spending more than they use in resources.
I’ve gone to a PF near my house a few times; my GF is a member and I can go for free. I’ve had no problems cranking out a good workout, either on the treadmills or at the free weights. It’s not ideal, but you can get a good workout and the price is hard to beat.
And as for the the pizza, losing weight is not the only reason to exercise. It’s a big reason, but there are many other health benefits to working out. Even if you never lose a pound you’re healthier if you exercise. You will have a healthier heart, stronger muscles, stronger bones, and better endurance. Partaking of the pizza and bagels won’t help your waistline, but it may help your motivation to continue going to the gym.
My other choice is a YMCA gym which is also super-affordable but I did a “free month” there a couple of years ago and it was crazy-busy first thing in the morning. Busy as in, people waiting in line for weights or machines.
. The Planet Fitness I’m thinking of is really convenient and on my way to most of my jobs.