And I knew others were going to bring up the fact that I had been kicked out of my former gym before Planet Fitness in an attempt to somehow de-legitimize my OP; I brought up my history in my very first sentence. But I am not hiding anything, PlanetFitness is an abhorrent place and I am not alone in being banished from it. The circumstances for my first “gym-banning” were quite different from those of the PF banning. To say the least.
I like my Planet Fitness quite a lot, though due to changes in my schedule I haven’t been going there much in recent months. I love the “no dropping weights” rule and like the “no grunting” thing too - they succeed in making the weight area feel like an accessible place for me at my current level rather than a clubhouse for bodybuilders where I’m trespassing. I am definitely in PF’s target market and the OP isn’t.
The idea of someone coming through specifically to weed out members seems very strange to me especially since one of things I like most about my PF location (clear across the country from the OP’s) is that I feel anonymous there. The staff is friendly and help if I ask for advice using machines, but I don’t feel like anyone’s keeping tabs on me or watching my behavior or progress. Not staff or other members either. It’s very businesslike, not a social experience and I like that a lot. I do seem to remember from the contract I signed that they don’t have to give any warnings, membership can be revoked at any time by the staff. Maybe that’s different at the OP’s location?
I will say I think the alarm is the stupidest thing about the franchise - way worse than the pizza and bagels. I usually avoid the times when the food is there because the idea of eating random food at the gym grosses me out, but I have often felt that if the alarm goes off when I’m there and it’s as bad as I imagine I’ll cancel my membership then and there. Luckily in a year and a half (during which there have been times I’ve gone 5 days a week) I’ve never seen it on.
So, yay Planet Fitness! Ambivalid, I hope your other gym meets your needs better.
??Vendetta against me?? I’m not sure where you are coming from with that one??
I’m not totally sure why I got the boot. I am obviously a very fit athlete when I am in the gym; if not necessarily a bodybuilder. I don’t consider tshirts and tanktops to be “fully clothed”, either. Serious athlete is not a demographic they are after (bodybuilders just happen to be SO “not sought after” as members that they are comically vilified by PF). Add to this the fact that I am disabled and use a wheelchair and I am definitely an unwanted commodity. This view is supported by the fact that, despite continuous efforts on my part to get them to equip the gym with wheelchair accessible cardiovascular equipment, PF never even lifted one finger. And I never saw one other wheelchair user there in my time at the gym.
[quot3e=Ambivalid]The circumstances for my first “gym-banning” were quite different from those of the PF banning. To say the least.
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Not really. They’re both all about how very abused and oppressed you are. There are always rules, and everyone has to follow them. Everyone thinks that they’re special, and by definition almost everyone is mistaken.
" Add to this the fact that I am disabled and use a wheelchair and I am definitely an unwanted commodity."
But that’s illegal under ADA. Did you ever address that with them? I feel like you would have had a case if you had, but if you say something now, you just appear to be sour grapes.
Not really. They’re both all about how very abused and oppressed you are. There are always rules, and everyone has to follow them. Everyone thinks that they’re special, and by definition almost everyone is mistaken.
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Wrong. This thread ISN"T about me. This thread is about PlanetFitness and the ridiculous policies that are going to end up hurting someone and costing them in the long run. Please don’t try to twist this around
Like they would ever admit to such a thing. And I don’t WANT my membership back; you get what you pay for and it was a $10/month membership. I just wanted to vent about a terrible place with insane policies.
When do we get to the revelation that you chained yourself to the watercooler and shat yourself, or is that always saved for Page 2?
I get it–I’m cool with the vent. I don’t think that your experience with them makes them terrible though. That’s a very general statement, and just because you had a bad experience doesn’t make them a bad company. Try to get out of the extreme thinking! Not everything is so black and white! 
As for the other part, it would not have mattered if they would have admitted to being accessible. Legally, they have to be. Period. If you’d said this, and they disregarded it, you would have had a case–any lawyer would have been all over it. But not staying firm in your conviction made you appear complacent. It’s not right per se, but again, speaking up now would just make you look angry.
Go somewhere else. Purple and gold are hard on the eyes anyway. 
No, they are a terrible company but not because of my experience with them. They are a terrible company because of the ridiculous philosophy that they base their gyms on.
The equipment in the facility is accessible. They weren’t in any ADA violation.
Relax dude, I was just wondering what your theory was. Since you deny doing any of the things that get people banned, I was just wondering why you thought you were kicked out. You ruled out most of the other reasons, so I’m forced to assume that you think they have personal issues with you.
This came up in your last thread about being dumped by a gym. The gym has to be accessible, per ADA (as I understand it). They have no obligation to buy special fitness equipment for you just because you want it, any more that they are obliged to buy you heavier weights because you’d like them. You can ask, but they can say no, and I really doubt your ‘continuous efforts’ would make any difference (or make you any friends, for that matter). I’m unclear on why you feel that them not buying this equipment is evidence that they have a problem with your disability. All it means is that they don’t think such a machine would see enough use or draw in enough new clients to justify the expense. The fact that you’ve never seen another wheelchair user there suggests that this is true. Presumably they have a limited budget and have to decide what equipment makes sense for them.
I only brought up the cardio equipment issue (or lack thereof) as support to my notion that perhaps they didn’t want me and my wheelchair there. They gave me lip-service, telling me all the right things; but nothing ever happened. I didn’t really push matters; I had already found a gym with cardio equipment but it would have been nice to have it closer to home at PF. And did you ever think that perhaps the reason no other wheelchair users were there is because PF never did a thing to make their gym welcoming to those who use wheelchairs? Not only disabled people can use arm-bikes; if they were to furnish their gym with one it would get more than enough use.
Jamie, this may not go anywhere, but I get the impression from here and your other posts that you aren’t exactly hurting financially. Is there any possibility of you moving somewhere that’s a little more … disabled-friendly? At the very least, perhaps moving to a much larger metro area would make your life easier due to higher concentrations of people, meaning more people who potentially need/desire accommodations and alterations from various businesses.
I ask because you seem constantly on the prowl for businesses and individuals to have disabled-specific machines and items and conveniences, but you also constantly mention that you are just about the only “fit” disabled person in your area. Surely you can see that there isn’t any money to be made in spending upwards of thousands of dollars for expensive specialized equipment if you’re the only person who needs it. That’s not them being discriminating towards you, that’s them making sound business decisions about their investments and equipment.
It seems to me that a lot of your complaints and difficulties would be remedied if instead of constantly harping on people to fix things specifically for you in your area, you instead looked for a place that had a significant disabled population, or someplace that catered more obviously and materially towards that population. Surely there is somewhere that deals heavily with people with special athletic and work-out needs?
I know it seems like a pat suggestion, and I’m not making it lightly - but it really seems like your blood pressure and your general happiness towards life and your fellow humans would be better off if you lived somewhere you didn’t feel like you were constantly singled out because you make adjustments or request changes for accommodations.
Ambivalid, you might enjoy this Daily Show piece on Planet Fitness. The workout shirt in the video is from Iron Sport Gym, which made this response commercial to PF. The look at 0:25 makes me laugh.
Thanks- I needed to snort as I was trying to eat lunch 
You are taking things out of context here. The lack of equipment that I need for working out (specifically cardio equipment) is not what this pitting is about; it is about the ridiculous philosophy that PF bases all their gyms on. I merely brought up the equipment issue because I was discussing the possible reasons I was banned; given the fact that I was NOT slamming weights nor making excessive noise with them I have to suspect a reason other than the reason given (that of slamming weights; the fact that the “multiple warnings” couldn’t be corroborated support this).
While I agree with you that many of the headaches I deal with in life would be alleviated by moving to a larger metro area with a larger population; that is not something that is feasible currently in my life (for more than one reason). But this thread was never intended as an indictment of PF as a gym that failed me as a disabled athlete. It was meant as an indictment of PF as an ignorant, potentially dangerous place for anyone to use if they want to get in the best shape of their lives.
Not to be stalker-ish, but I found your story online. It says that your membership was revoked because you blocked someone in who had parked in a handicapped spot at your last gym. The article also says that you were confrontational and belligerent and contributed to the escalation of the situation. The same article says that you then joined PF and blocked someone in there, as well. Is there a chance that PF wanted to avoid a similar situation so they used your dropping the weights as an opportunity to intervene early? I’m not saying that you would relive the parking lot scene, but I am guessing that today did not come out of no where…
Damn, that PF woman is a beeyaatch. Ugh. She’s just like the assassin who was sent in to axe me. Smug asshole. That was a funny clip tho.
You admitted in your OP that you **do **drop weights. Judging by your past tendency to paint yourself in as biased a rosy light as possible, I’m certain it was louder than you’re admitting. Like I said, gyms LIKE to take your money. They wouldn’t have terminated your membership without a reason, as much as you’d like to paint it that way. Oh poor you, you want to work out and PF won’t let you work hard enough. Stop whining and go somewhere else. ANYWHERE else. Where outside of PF are weightlifters negatively judged and asked to work out more quietly? You over-privileged butthead.
Do you really want to talk about prejudgments in a fucking gym? Do you know what it feels like to walk into a “normal” gym as a fat person and try to exercise? PF and Curves are some of the *only *places that a fat person can get a decent workout without feeling like the fat kid on the kindergarten playground.
Even better, save up to buy your own handbike and use it at home.
Get some perspective. What do you think it feels like to wheel into a gym as a paraplegic and try to fit in and exercise? I didn’t come out this way; I had to do it myself. Get over yourself.