So which is it? Are some of them (like my gym, apparently) fine or do they promote mediocrity? We’re just going to keep going around and around so it’ll probably be helpful to answer all Planet Fitness-related questions with…
Untwist your manties, dude. So you found the rare PF that doesn’t suck. Congratulations.
That does not negate their stated and increasingly enforced corporate policies and their active public promotion of anti-fitness messages and ridiculing of people who are in shape. By the way, it seems that corporate is in the process of bringing the various locations into line, so don’t be surprised if you walk in one day to find that all the “offensive” equipment is gone.
Why are you taking this personally?
I cannot entirely agree with that. Some of their rules are matters of common sense, such as wearing shirts and proper shoes. The vast majority of gyms have the same rules though, so this is by no means a unique virtue of Planet Fitness.
Not wearing spaghetti strap tank tops, though? There’s no reason why sure attire should be outlawed, except insofar as they’re typically worn by bodybuilders – the kind of people that PF considers detestable.
“Don’t drop weights?” You certainly don’t want to slam the weights to the ground, as there’s no cause for that. Dropping them from a few inches off the ground should not be a problem though, especially after a very heavy set.
“No grunting?” Not even a light grunt? The video that I linked to earlier shows how ridiculous that policy is.
They even have a rule against carrying gallon just of water. Again, there’s no justification for that, except insofar as this is something bodybuilders and other high-performance athletes are more likely to do.
Courtesy and common sense? Not entirely, no.
I never said that it was fine… just that some are better than others. The entire philosophy is still horrible, though some affiliates aren’t as bad as those that completely toe the corporate line.
Here’s the thing though. You have a dozen and more different gyms to choose from that promote bodybuilders, above and beyond fitness, and doing 110% all the time every time. Why does it matter that planet fitness does not cater to this market segment? So what if one gym out of 12 gyms is not specifically tailored to you?
If I’m “mediocre”, as negative as that comes across, that’s fine by me. I don’t need or want to go above and beyond when it comes to fitness. I’m in the gym to maintain a reasonable standard (I chose army-ready for myself), not to bodybuild, see how much I can lift, give it my all every day every rep all the time, etc. That planet fitness is NOT in the style of “get up and do it GO GO GO you lazy ass” is exactly what I am looking for in a gym. Yes, it’s true that “judgement-free zone” is a misnomer because obviously their marketing is trying to pick a specific market segment (“discriminate”). So by definition they are judging some people are more in line with their gym philosophy than others and they would prefer one set over the other. That this is true (some people wouldn’t fit in well) seems abundantly obvious from what’s been said in this thread. For instance, this is one of the commercials that I hear often on the radio. I don’t think this is particularly insulting. There are absolutely boot-camp style fitness programs offered at other gyms that will have a guy standing there yelling just like that and no way do I want any part of that. That commercial shows me exactly what I want to hear - that planet fitness doesn’t have it and I’ll never even overhear it there. I could do without the “no lunks” line as it is a bit insulting (when was “lunk” ever used positively?) but other than that I see nothing wrong with the rest of the commercial or the philosophy. Nobody has to work it to the bone all the time to get in shape. Hell, every thread that comes up here about losing weight, emphasis is placed again and again on the benefits of merely walking every day (and nothing more!) as a way to maintain your health.
Look, straight up, the way JThunder and Green Bean type their posts, no, I would not want to share a gym with them. I don’t want to work out around people like them if that’s how they’d act around me. Planet fitness has so far given me exactly that, so I’m happy.
Exactly, the strident work out types don’t realize how much they tend to dominate. But even in this thread, once they began, the other voices mostly fell away.
There are people who just want to get moving, because moving more is a good start, and something is better than nothing. They deserve a place to do so in peace. Without having to listen to lengthy conversations about ‘real weights’ etc!
And the strident types deserve to hang with people they don’t feel are ‘doing it all wrong’. So why shouldn’t there be different types of gyms? Seems to make perfect sense to me.
I’m perfectly happy with the idea that a gym like Planet Fitness exists. The big payoff in terms of public health is getting sedentary people to move on a regular basis, and if “no judgment” zones are what it takes to achieve that, then so be it.
I’m not so wild about their business model, though. That doesn’t seem right.
You people have extremely vivid imaginations. Have you ever even been to a real gym?
Most people at real gyms aren’t giving 110%, or even pushing themselves most of the time. Most of them just jump on the elliptical for a half-hour, do a couple of ab exercises, and leave. Same as they do at Planet Fitness.
Then you’d fit right in at the vast majority of real gyms. See above.
The boot camp program in my gym is in a separate section, and the instructors don’t yell at all. I guess there are probably ones where the instructors yell. I dunno.
You won’t hear it at my gym either. All you’ll hear is pretty decent music, people saying hi to each other, and some quiet conversations.
The only thing intimidating about me in the gym is that I might accidentally bump into you while I’m flailing around like a spastic rhinoceros in Zumba class.
I’m not sure how you think I’d “act” around you in a gym. The worst I’d do is offer to show you where the wipes were if I noticed you sweating all over something and not wiping it off after.
People in the gym are much too busy doing their own thing to pass judgment on you or have “lengthy conversations about real weights.” Maybe some bodybuilders talk about their own stuff, but you can ignore that just like I ignore the women in the locker room chatting about their jobs/kids/whatever.
Oh wait–there was a conversation in the weight area the other day. This really slender woman had a bar with about 300 pounds laid across her lap and was lifting it with her hips! I stared in amazement. When she was done with her set, she smiled at me and said “It’s good for your heinie!” Then we introduced ourselves to each other, said “hope to see you around again,” and went back to our workouts.
If a pretty and friendly lady like that ruins your gym experience just because she can lift more with her hips than you can with a pallet jack, then I don’t know what to tell you.
Know what’s great about Planet Fitness? When I was a member, I was only spending $12 a month to not go to the gym as opposed to $50 a month or more for other options. 
Plus, to me, for what I was going for, one stationary bike or treadmill is much like the next.
Then what’s with all the “If you start at Planet Fitness, you may never recognize the severe limitations of the place” stuff going on in this thread? If I can get the exact same thing at planet fitness…yeah, guess what, I’m gonna go to PF and pay only $10 a month instead of tons more!
Because someone is wrong on the Internet!
Look, there is room for more than one type of gym out there and I like Planet Fitness because it’s cheap and it offers more than enough equipment for me. I just want to lose some weight. If I’m never “cut” or “ripped” or “chiseled,” that’s fine by me. And I’m not much of a fan of free weights anyway because that section is always ridiculously crowded.
I’m disappointed that PF doesn’t have rowing machines, but the treadmills and weight machines are exactly the same as what you’d find at the Y.
I always join a gym near my office because I like to exercise at lunch or just right after work. I’ve belonged to a few gyms over the years and it just so happens that the current gym is Planet Fitness.
The body type I strive for is the lean and athletic look with defined but not large muscles and Planet Fitness has enough equipment to help towards that end. I like doing triathlons and bike rides so I have to do a lot of exercise outside of Planet Fitness too but that’s the case with any gym. When I do do weights at Planet Fitness I’ve been known to grunt, but I never grunt loud enough for the whole gym to hear which is where mine draws the line. I’m friends with the staff they tell me they don’t want people that are overly loud and excessively hard on their weights and machines. The vast vast majority of people out there that work out in any gym I’ve been in don’t work out to that level.
So from my point of view - if you’re just looking for a gym for general fitness and cardio then Planet Fitness is a good fit. If you’re wanting to do serious body building and sculpting then there are gyms that cater to you and you should try them instead. Likewise if you are motivated by lots of screaming and yelling (and there’s not a damned thing wrong with that, it’s fun!) then don’t go to Planet Fitness. At some point I’m going to join Cross Fit, but I’ll probably still keep my Planet Fitness membership just because I like having the treadmill at lunch and I’m happy paying 10 bucks a month for that.
So…OP solost, have you made a decision?
As an aside, I got my fat friend to do 3x10 lat pulldowns at 10 lbs this morning. I told her “if you can sit in a chair and simultaneously move your arms, you can do this.” She did.
Woo! Congratulations to her!
Watch out…one day she may be able to bench press YOU. 
Excellent post. PF pushes this image of other gyms as being full of hard-core weighlifting addicts who sneer, mock and stare at everyone who isnt at their levels of fitness. This false image is targeted towards a specific segment of the population; namely out-of-shape people who have never been to a gym before but now are interested in maybe getting healthier.
This marketing strategy must vilify other gyms in order to pay off. It’s a bit more than the regular model of “sell as many memberships as possible with the expectation/hope that as many of those memberships as possible are not used”. It’s an incredibly cynical strategy, IMO. Take advantage of people’s pre-existing psychological “weak spots” in order to sell them a simply false reality; and subsequently a $10 membership.
Excellent summary. Amazingly, some people don’t have a problem with that, as long as the monthly fee is cheap and the equipment meets their needs. For the rest of us though, it’s a matter of principle and ethics.
I’m not talking about chiroptera, of course. As chiroptera said, she belongs to a Planet Fitness because of its cost, but this hasn’t blinded her to their manipulative tactics, the falsehoods that they spread, and they way they needlessly hinder the progress of their members.
Look, if you like the cost, that’s fine. If this is the most convenient option for you, I understand. If their equipment is all that you’re looking for, that’s your decision. Our criticisms of Planet Fitness are based entirely on their tactics and their business model, for which their is simply no excuse.
Please re-read her post. Green Bean didn’t say that you can get the same exact thing at Planet Fitness that you can at other gyms. She said that other gyms are NOT filled with bodybuilders or hard-core maniacs. Rather, they’re filled with everyday folks, most of whom put in an ordinary amount of effort at best. Heck, most of the gyms I’ve attended have had more than their share of overweight and otherwise out-of-shape people. This completely defies the frightening stereotype that Planet Fitness likes to paint.
The Planet’s fitness is horrendous, I think it should go for 90 minute walks every second day.
Completely true, this. Non Planet Fitness gyms (I’ve belonged to a couple; both fairly high end) definitely have plenty of “regular folks” and people who are obviously not fit, or body builders, or Tough Mudders - and I never noticed anyone acting scary or judgmental at those places. And I say that as a regular Jane gym-goer.
When the chirpy little thing who signed my friend and I up was going through her spiel and got to the “non judgmental” part of her script, I did comment that they did actually seem to judge and discriminate against so-called “lunks” but I just got a wide-eyed smile and she forged on without acknowledging my comment.
I hope so! I told her that any time she came with me, I was going to keep poking her with a stick to push herself a little bit more. Now that she is getting more confident I think she’ll keep it going.