PLANET FITNESS: What Planet Am I On?

Posted on 16. Sep, 2007 by Kaiser in Workout

My brother Shahed’s told me about his new gym, and it’s a story too strange to believe. He’s talking about the Planet Fitness in Binghamton New York, which has over 100 locations across the country.

The motto of the gym is the “Judgement Free Zone”, and I think what they mean is they’ve used no good judgment in creating their rules. For one thing, they don’t allow any noise or grunting of any kind. I’m like most people and find most moaning and grunting during exercise very annoying, but every now and then, we all do make some noise on the last rep of our hardest set.

But if you do that here, the most unbelievable thing happens; they have a huge alarm on the front wall of the gym, called the lunk alarm. Under it is the definition of lunk, which they’ve defined as “anyone who grunts, drops weights or judges (whatever that means)” – if you do any of that, the alarm immediately goes off for the whole gym to hear and a staff member comes over and gives you a warning.

Here’s a news story about a Planet Fitness in our area:

That lunk alarm is ridiculous, but not the end of the strange practices at this place. Unbelievably, the gym hosts a “pizza day” the first Monday of the month, where they offer free, unlimited pizza to their members. Shahed actually told me that he was trying real hard to stay on his diet, but when he saw all the free pizza in front of him, he had to have some. When he asked the front desk employee why they were serving pizza in a gym, he was chastised and ridiculed. There’s also a bagel morning the first Tuesday of every month and an ever present bowl of tootsie roles at the front desk.

I’m not the first to blog about this place – a search on the web will find you many other reviews talking about the strange practices here. In Shahed’s opinion, the staff is also rude and grossly out of shape and it’s really hard to find a positive review. If judgement free means that you’re not encouraged to set goals, push yourself, or make any progress at all, then why bother to go?

It’s really something out of a sci-fi movie – it can’t be real that this level of behavior control and mediocrity is enforced in America. Shahed’s never seen personal trainer at the gym, and I think it would probably be against the rules of the place for someone to push you harder and give you a good exercise routine – that would be considered “judgment”.

I can understand having a no loud grunting rule, or rules against unruly behavior or dropping weights; those are the rules of the gym where I train, the Evolution Fitness Club in Astoria. In cases where I have dropped weights or forgot to return them to the racks, the owner or manager has politely reminded me, and I didn’t do it again. But if an alarm went off every time I did it, or if they were serving pizza in the gym, that’s just criminal.

On the opposite end of the spectrum of Planet Fitness is the Powerhouse Gym in Bayside. I think the rules of Planet Fitness were created with the members at Powerhouse in mind, many of whom yell for really no reason at all and love to get into staring contests. Funny enough, Powerhouse was shut down last week in a steroid raid and deemed a public nuisance. I’m not surprised at all because that gym had a toxic vibe and enforced a different kind of mediocrity, one of self-absorption and mindless ritual.

But most other gyms where I’ve been in my life fall in the middle zone of sanity where the rest of us in society live. Where we can accept our differences and respect our boundaries. There are always some people that cross the line and they need to be reminded, but I think the rest of us don’t need that kind of constant, heavy policing when we train.

11 Responses to “PLANET FITNESS: What Planet Am I On?”

  1. Kaiser

    03. Apr, 2008

    An added note to this post – I visited the Binghamton in question in this post, the Planet Fitness in Binghamton where my brother trains. I was there at about 1 AM so I can’t say I got a complete feel for the atmosphere, and didn’t train with any of the weights, but I’ve got to say overall I was impressed. I only did cardio, of which there was a tremendous selection of machines, and dozens of flat screens everywhere. Looking out on the gym floor, and seeing the locker rooms, I’ve got to say that it’s a good franchise. It looks like they’re trying to be the anti-GOLDS Gym or Powerhouse; the quality control in those places is very bad at certain locations. So, in some ways I stand corrected, but they still shouldn’t be blairing an alarm at anyone or serving pizza in a gym!!!

  2. Powerhouse Home Gyms

    07. May, 2008

    Powerhouse Home Gyms…

    I don’t mean to be too in your face, but I’m not sure I agree with this. Anyhow, thanks for sharing and I think I’ll come to this blog more often….

  3. Spectrum Fitness Home Gym

    08. May, 2008

    Spectrum Fitness Home Gym…

    You always fall when you?re training, that?s sort of part of the process. If you?re not falling, you?re not training hard enough. ~ Michelle Trachtenberg…

  4. Harris

    24. Mar, 2009

    I’m a fit, 23 year old male, and I can respond to everything mentioned in this post. I lived in Binghamton for a year, and there were no good places to work out. It is a poor city, and an affordable fitness club is just what it needs. I’ve lived in Bayside and avoided Powerhouse Gym because of the atmosphere. I instead went to Bell Plaza, near Bell and Northern. I visited Evolution in Astoria, and I thought it was great, but Planet Fitness has a better cardio area, plus it is less than half the price. I have never heard the Lunk alarm go off. Eating 2 tiny tootsie rolls at the gym or getting some pizza once a month is definitely just an encouragement to come to the gym, and not something that will make you fat.

  5. nadia

    04. May, 2009

    the best thing about planet fitness: fees only $10/month

  6. Sergio

    22. Aug, 2009

    Guess what: Im not a advertise guy, but would like to help you out because when good things happen in our lives, we must share.

    I was NYSC member in Astoria since they got open. I was suffocated in there, dont ask me why, but probably the F***ing CLOSE Atmosphere of people and sooooo expensive: Members dont talk, barely say Hi and egos a lot (nothing against them, but again: im trying to help you out!)

    Last week just sing up to PF on Stainway. My goodness, what a nice place to be: Humble members, fantastic staff, very clean place, nice equipments, shinny lockerrooms , people see each other and talk easily (just say Hi). It’s prohibited EGOs and Judgement (the RED light comes out so bright…be careful)…I FEEL LIKE IN HOME. Im so happy. The price ??!! Hun, are you kidding me?@!!!

    The most important: GREAT ATMOSPHERE and no stupid persons showing out their bodies like GOLD.

    Gotta tell you, Im better URGE you…..Sing up and be happy. Trust me!

    BTW: and anything you need to know Im available to be your friend in there. Just say Hi, Sergio :-)
    And let’s workout!

    All the best.

  7. Jen

    02. Jan, 2010

    I agree with Sergio. PF is great! And sorry to say but if your brother is fighting his food demons ( like many of us- me included) then it is not PF’s fault that they offer pizza & bagels. Remember every diet needs a little wiggle room!

  8. Plainville CT PF

    21. Jan, 2010

    I’m sorry, I just needed to comment on this.

    “And sorry to say but if your brother is fighting his food demons ( like many of us- me included) then it is not PF’s fault that they offer pizza & bagels. Remember every diet needs a little wiggle room!”

    Pizza and bagels at the gym reinforces horrible eating habits. Why would you want to link unhealthy food with pseudo-fitness? This is not a reward for working out, you’re essentially negating the workout. Planet Fitness tries it’s hardest to enforce mediocrity, and if you want to have an actual productive workout outside of cardio then you are in the minority, good luck to you.

  9. SteveA

    16. Mar, 2010

    Wow, so it’s a “judgement free zone” where they judge others?
    Yeah thats what you call a bunch of sanctimonious a-holes.

  10. Teufelhunden_JD

    29. Mar, 2010

    Anyone else notice that the only people who like this place are the ones going for the hamster wheels?

  11. Jim

    09. Jun, 2010

    “Eating 2 tiny tootsie rolls at the gym or getting some pizza once a month is definitely just an encouragement to come to the gym, and not something that will make you fat.”

    Two tiny tootsie rolls is about 50 calories each for a total of 100 calories. That’s an extra 10-20 mins of cardio (depending on intensity) you have to do to burn it off. The little things add up to make you fat.

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