Planet Fitness Sucks

Just signed up to planet fitness the other day and had my first work out this afternoon. Wasn’t too sure about the polices, but knew from the orientation that they were not too supportive of body builders. With that in mind, I worked out my usual intensity, just was more cautious of my surroundings.

I went on to dead lift and after after my first set there was a “sales man” right on my ass telling me that dead lift is not allowed because of the noise it makes. I gave him a weird look, took a long pause and said sure not problem, policy is policy and continued to my next exercise (There was someone doing squats right next to me which is why I was confused). He looked at me like I was an asshole and walked away.

So I go on and am in the end of doing back for the day, when I get a phone call from my g/f. I decide to answer, and wouldn’t you know it there was that same guy on my case again. This time he raised his voice when he explained to me that members cannot talk on the cell phone in the free weight or machine area, that we needed to go outside or in the locker room.

This time, instead of getting pissed and flipping out, I gave him my key tag and told him to shove this 99$ membership up his ass and walked out. Moral of the story, planet fitness sucks!

People who talk on their cell phones in the gym suck.

Given what you wrote, I imagine they were right and you were making a racket.

Good riddance.

anyone could have told you that.

i cant believe you signed up after going in and seeing theres no freeweights, just those DBs going up to a massive 60 whole pounds. the gym im at now only goes up to 100 and thats kinda gay, my other went up to 130 and one before that 115 i think.

just find a real gym. i mean dude im going to a fucking ballys for christs sake and its not bad there.

[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
People who talk on their cell phones in the gym suck.

Given what you wrote, I imagine they were right and you were making a racket.

Good riddance.[/quote]

QFT

Planet Fitness isn’t lame. It’s not a bodybuilders’ gym and you’re a bodybuilder. Duh - go find a bodybuilding gym. End of your issue.

I own a national franchise gym. We’re not a bodybuilders’ gym either. We get guys coming in saying we should add DBs up to 150lbs. I’m making money just fine with my 100lb DBs and my members who mostly don’t need anything over 75/80lbs.

Every gym is designed for a specific market. Go find one geared for you and stop whining because there are gyms out there for the every day person.

BTW, I have cancelled memberships for people annoying the shit out of everyone else by talking on their mobile phone. Put that shit away while you’re working out. Some people love going to the gym to get away from that crap. I’m glad that salesman looking guy gave you shit for it.

I’m sorry, I’m not a fan of cell phones in the gym, but how can anyone tell you to get off the phone, much less revoke a membership? How is that any different than talking to someone standing right beside you?

as for the OP, not allowed to do DL’s is a gay rule too, hardcore gym or not.

so there is noise, oh well suck it up gym. Now using chalk and making a mess that others have to clean up, I can see that maybe.

btw- I do work at a gym, and it’s not a hardcore gym. we cater to a lot of different people, and for the guy that owns a national chain, you would probably more money by not alienating people but rather by welcoming those that want to join with good customer service.

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
I’m sorry, I’m not a fan of cell phones in the gym, but how can anyone tell you to get off the phone, much less revoke a membership? How is that any different than talking to someone standing right beside you?

btw- I do work at a gym, and it’s not a hardcore gym. we cater to a lot of different people, and for the guy that owns a national chain, you would probably more money by not alienating people but rather by welcoming those that want to join with good customer service.[/quote]

A fitness club is just that - a club. Any club with paying members agree to follow the rules set forth in the membership agreement they sign on day one. No flip flop sandals, no chatting on mobile phones, no gratuitous swearing, no attention whore grunting, etc. You agree when you sign on the dotted line. You break the rules, you’re outta there.

Talking on a mobile phone is different than talking to someone next to you because you don’t have to talk louder to hear the person on the other end of the phone when you’re right next to them and they don’t have to call your phone which is amazingly always set to the loudest ring volume, etc etc.

We don’t alienate people in our operation. My gym’s capacity is 1000 members are we ride that line day in, day out. You don’t have to appeal to every single person in the world, just enough people in your target market. We have astounding customer service!

I cannot tell you how many members have commended us for kicking out members who constantly refuse to abide by the club’s policies. They love it!

As a bodybuilder, you don’t go to Curves seeking deadlift platforms, so why expect anything different at PF?

guess I’ve never been to a PF so I wouldn’t know the type of gym.

a gym to me is a place where you exercise. If a guy wants to do DLs how is that not allowed? it boggles the mind, lol

some of these gyms have weird rules I guess.

For what it is worth if you looked up Planet Fitness Sucks in Google you would see any number of these stories - but I digress.

A fitness club is just that - a club. Any club with paying members agree to follow the rules set forth in the membership agreement they sign on day one. No flip flop sandals, no chatting on mobile phones, no gratuitous swearing, no attention whore grunting, etc. You agree when you sign on the dotted line. You break the rules, you’re outta there.

Talking on a mobile phone is different than talking to someone next to you because you don’t have to talk louder to hear the person on the other end of the phone when you’re right next to them and they don’t have to call your phone which is amazingly always set to the loudest ring volume, etc etc.

ugh - I think there is a microphone inside of the handset. People who feel the need to shout in the phone baffle me. Not to mention those who talk on phones at the gym but that is another story.

We don’t alienate people in our operation.

You stated that you kick people out of your gym. Is that not a form of alienation?

My gym’s capacity is 1000 members are we ride that line day in, day out.

1000 members? How many “total members” do you have? If you follow the 80/20 rule of business I would say you have done your job as a gym owner very well. After all it is a club’s job to sell memberships. Getting people in shape is something else - that we do charge for BTW.

You don’t have to appeal to every single person in the world, just enough people in your target market. We have astounding customer service!

I am sure you do. 1000 people a day is nothing to shake a stick at. All those people and not one call that is amazing.

I cannot tell you how many members have commended us for kicking out members who constantly refuse to abide by the club’s policies. They love it!

And so would anyone else who needs to really give a hoot about the social asspects of the club. Anything that interferes with that is uncomfortable and not to be tolerated. Why not escort people out who do curls in the power rack, or stand 2 feet in front of the dumb bells restricting access to the other members? Are these not an affront to other people’s experience?

As a bodybuilder, you don’t go to Curves (in his defence, he didn’t go to curves) seeking deadlift platforms, so why expect anything different at PF?[/quote]

And as a customer of a fitness facility you do expect some latitude to use the equipment in a fashion that you believe is appropriate. If you kicked people out of your club that didn’t lift correctly you wouldn’t very many members left to applaud as you escorted the phone guy out the door.

The next thing I can’t wait to see is someone claiming bodybuilder discrimination and is looking for “pain and suffering” damages. (please laugh but people are so absurd this could happen)

We need to get tougher (stop bitching) and more tolerant of others. Too many people walking around this planet thinking they are special.

(This is a rant - I am the unhappy looking guy who wears his headphones and keeps his head down in the gym. You want a club go to the Palladium. You want to train go to the gym.)

[quote]RWElder0 wrote:
For what it is worth if you looked up Planet Fitness Sucks in Google you would see any number of these stories - but I digress.

A fitness club is just that - a club. Any club with paying members agree to follow the rules set forth in the membership agreement they sign on day one. No flip flop sandals, no chatting on mobile phones, no gratuitous swearing, no attention whore grunting, etc. You agree when you sign on the dotted line. You break the rules, you’re outta there.

Talking on a mobile phone is different than talking to someone next to you because you don’t have to talk louder to hear the person on the other end of the phone when you’re right next to them and they don’t have to call your phone which is amazingly always set to the loudest ring volume, etc etc.

ugh - I think there is a microphone inside of the handset. People who feel the need to shout in the phone baffle me. Not to mention those who talk on phones at the gym but that is another story.

We don’t alienate people in our operation.

You stated that you kick people out of your gym. Is that not a form of alienation?

My gym’s capacity is 1000 members are we ride that line day in, day out.

1000 members? How many “total members” do you have? If you follow the 80/20 rule of business I would say you have done your job as a gym owner very well. After all it is a club’s job to sell memberships. Getting people in shape is something else - that we do charge for BTW.

You don’t have to appeal to every single person in the world, just enough people in your target market. We have astounding customer service!

I am sure you do. 1000 people a day is nothing to shake a stick at. All those people and not one call that is amazing.

I cannot tell you how many members have commended us for kicking out members who constantly refuse to abide by the club’s policies. They love it!

And so would anyone else who needs to really give a hoot about the social asspects of the club. Anything that interferes with that is uncomfortable and not to be tolerated. Why not escort people out who do curls in the power rack, or stand 2 feet in front of the dumb bells restricting access to the other members? Are these not an affront to other people’s experience?

As a bodybuilder, you don’t go to Curves (in his defence, he didn’t go to curves) seeking deadlift platforms, so why expect anything different at PF?

And as a customer of a fitness facility you do expect some latitude to use the equipment in a fashion that you believe is appropriate. If you kicked people out of your club that didn’t lift correctly you wouldn’t very many members left to applaud as you escorted the phone guy out the door.

The next thing I can’t wait to see is someone claiming bodybuilder discrimination and is looking for “pain and suffering” damages. (please laugh but people are so absurd this could happen)

We need to get tougher (stop bitching) and more tolerant of others. Too many people walking around this planet thinking they are special.

(This is a rant - I am the unhappy looking guy who wears his headphones and keeps his head down in the gym. You want a club go to the Palladium. You want to train go to the gym.)[/quote]

Wow, this is going to be fun.

Googling Planet Fitness Sucks has no value whatsoever. I could equally Google Gold’s Gym Sucks, 24 Hour Fitness Sucks, or Equinox Sucks and find any number of unhappy posts. Just because someone doesn’t like a place doesn’t mean it sucks. It just meant that person or those persons didn’t like what they offered. Like I said before, fitness clubs (or any business for that matter) don’t aim to please 100% of the general population. They have a target market. People outside that market who try to bend the club into what they are really looking for doesn’t constitute making the club suck because it’s not what they wanted. Actually, it makes the member look foolish for not doing his homework before joining said club. Don’t pawn your lack of knowledge about clubs off on the club because they don’t offer what you want.

I didn’t invent the mobile phone nor do I control those who use them. I have no control over people thinking it’s necessary to yell into their phones. It just seems to be the way people use them, especially in a gym with plenty of background noise that makes it even harder to hear the person on the other end.

Like I said previously, we do not alienate our members. We hold our members to our policies. When you have a disruptive member who ruins the environment for the rest of the members, the offender is going to lose. Those who join the club know the rules going into it. If they can’t take our warnings seriously, then they are let go so that the rest of the members can enjoy what they paid for. Your take then is that it must be wrong to alienate criminals from society. You make no sense. Perhaps we shouldn’t have alienated Saddam Hussein either?

I never said I kicked people out of the club for lifting “incorrectly” or anything related to that. If they injure themselves that’s their fault. Just like skiing, working out in a gym is a skill sport. People lifting in whatever way they want aren’t affecting the other members. We have 1000 total members and daily attendance around 200. Everyone knows our policies and, no, we do not have issues with people always making phone calls in the gym. They know it simply isn’t allowed. They go outside and make their calls. Of course, there is that one member who will do it, but like I said, we ask them to discontinue and after two warnings they’re out.

Not every fitness club is going to offer every type of weight equipment for everyone. That’s a given. You can’t walk into PF and just expect that you’re allowed to deadlift at will. Hell, the Gold’s I used to train at even stopped allowing deadlifting. To be honest, there aren’t a ton of bodybuilding gyms left these days. The fitness industry realizes that about 84% of the American population has never stepped foot in a gym. That’s a huge market. What’s happening now is the migration toward a general fitness club with a low intimidation factor to get average joe’s in the door.

My gym appeals to the general public, even though due to my personal tastes I do have 3 power racks for guys who like that type of thing. About 30-40% of my membership base has never joined a gym before. They say they feel comfortable here, unlike “regular gyms”.

Anyway, moral of story is: don’t bitch about a gym that doesn’t have what you want, go find one that does. You and the other gym members will thank you for it. Cheers!

[quote]sumgai wrote:
RWElder0 wrote:

Anyway, moral of story is: don’t bitch about a gym that doesn’t have what you want, go find one that does. You and the other gym members will thank you for it. Cheers![/quote]

but apparently PF had what he wanted (like most gyms)

barbell and plates, what he chooses to do with them (in a safe manner) should be at his discretion.

I’d be pissed if some place didn’t allow me to do a DL (and I’m not even a big DL guy). I just think it’s absolutely absurd.

I hear that you’re not happy they don’t allow deadlifting. I think it’s wise to ask what is and isn’t allowed next time before joining a gym. That takes a lot less effort than being stuck in a membership you’re unhappy with. I’m an advocate of being proactive and taking responsibility rather than blaming others for your own unhappiness.

I’m just surprised the OP is a member of this site and yet still joined Planet Fitness.

I don’t know of anyone that belongs to Planet Fitness and I’ve never seen one in my area, but I can see where it would appeal to some folks. I am a member of 24-Hour Fitness which I know is disdained by some folks on here but it suits me just fine.

I just think the OP should have asked more questions and known what he was signing up for before he did it.

The Lunk Alarm has had its own thread here a few times.

buyer beware

Planet Fitness is a rather new franchising system. Their big aim, like many other new franchises, is to hit the 84% of Americans who have never joined a gym before. They pride themselves on non-intimidating environments, thus the no deadlifting policy.

The public is vastly uneducated in fitness and tend to look at deadlifting (we’re talking about heavy deads with drops from full extension) as a musclehead type exercise without realizing the wonderful benefits to just about everyone.

Unfortunately, the loud booming of dropped bumper plates scares the pants off most casual gym members. PF is just trying to hit a segment of the market that is largely untapped. They’re not trying to piss off the 5% of the population who wants to deadlift.

As funny as it seems, there are many Gold’s Gyms now that do not allow deadlifting. They too realize the money to be made off that untapped 84% is HUGE. I know a lady here in NorCal who owns 6 Gold’s Gyms and she is at odds with the corporate office (she is part stakeholder in Gold’s corporate entity BTW) because of their unwillingness to stick to their roots as a heavy hitter type gym that built their brand the past few decades.

As most gyms volley toward pleasing the general population, there is increasingly a void in the bodybuilding gym arena. I have a side project I’m working on to address this issue.

I guess the policy varies by franchise. I was a member of PF for a while and it wasn’t all that bad. They had squat racks, plenty of people did deadlifts there, the dumbbells went up to 100 lbs. I imagine if someone were just dropping the bar after each DL rep then there might be a problem, but I and everyone else managed to set it down without making too much of a racket.

sumgai, no offense, but your logic is retarded :wink:

by your thoughts, then anyone joining a gym should ask if they are allowed to do every single exercise (out of thousands).

shouldn’t it be the responsibility of the gym to point out during membership what the rules are?

the member should have been told up front what the rules are, not after the fact. sounds like shoddy sales people IMO

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
sumgai, no offense, but your logic is retarded :wink:

by your thoughts, then anyone joining a gym should ask if they are allowed to do every single exercise (out of thousands).

shouldn’t it be the responsibility of the gym to point out during membership what the rules are?

the member should have been told up front what the rules are, not after the fact. sounds like shoddy sales people IMO[/quote]

I see what you are saying, and I agree to a point, but the person buying has a responsibility also.

I guess since I have read the threads about Planet Fitness I would have a heads up, but I can see where you are saying that someone off the street would have no previous knowledge of the ways of Planet Fitness. Along those lines, if the rules of the gym are beyond the scope of what is normal or expected as a gym activity then yes, maybe they should have to give the purchaser a heads up. But I do think that the majority of the onus is still on the buyer.

I was a member of Planet Fitness for a year. It was $19/month, and I could bring my girlfriend for free every single time I went. Two for the price of one.

We deadlifted, chinned, benched and did Waterbury routines for a year. No one made faces at us, no problems, no Lunk Alarms, no issues. One day we arrive to work out and the benches are gone, the squat racks are gone. Fitness Express equipment is in. We putz around doing dips and chins. I cancel my membership. No problem.

And the cell phone thing, signs are prominently displayed that they aren’t permitted. No problem.

[quote]jehovasfitness wrote:
sumgai, no offense, but your logic is retarded :wink:

by your thoughts, then anyone joining a gym should ask if they are allowed to do every single exercise (out of thousands).

shouldn’t it be the responsibility of the gym to point out during membership what the rules are?

the member should have been told up front what the rules are, not after the fact. sounds like shoddy sales people IMO[/quote]

LOL I thought the same of your comments. 8)

In my member agreement, it plainly states what is and isn’t allowed. I ask prospective members if they have any questions before they sign the membership agreement. I state the obvious things that are big items of interest for most people. There are definitely some shoddy sales people in the industry, as any industry. There are always a few bad apples unfortunately.

The point is that deadlifting (again, I want to make sure we understand we’re talking about heavy, bumper plate, drop from full extension deadlifting, not romanian deadlifting, etc) is not very common in most gyms. There aren’t a whole heck of a lot of people doing it. There aren’t a whole heck of a lot of people who would even think of doing it. When it comes to anything with Olympic plate movements, you really have to ask the gym if they allow it. If they have bumper plates, chances are they do. If they don’t have bumper plates, then you can pretty much bet it’s a no go. I don’t know any gym owners who will let you bounce their iron plates off the floor. That would rack up huge repair bills in a hurry.

I think it’s rather silly to take the black and white approach to this issue. You do need to ask about deadlifting, but don’t take it to the extreme and then ask me why you don’t have to ask if you can do dumbell curls. There’s no extraneous sound or violent motion involved as there is with deads and the like.

The funny part is that I would LOVE to get a set of bumpers in my gym and deadlift away, but I know it would offend most if not all of the women and plenty of the guys there. I laugh at times…I own the joint and can’t even do deads. Well, I will get a set of bumpers at home and get my legs done there eventually. And in the meantime I’m still moving forward on that musclehead gym project of mine. The beauty is that it doesn’t have to be a huge place that requires millions of dollars of investment. Plus, the equipment for that type of place runs a lot less than what the average joe expects.

Anyway, I hope everyone finds the gym that fits their needs and just keeping using it.

Peace out peeps.

[quote]OctoberGirl wrote:

I’m just surprised the OP is a member of this site and yet still joined Planet Fitness.

I don’t know of anyone that belongs to Planet Fitness and I’ve never seen one in my area, but I can see where it would appeal to some folks. I am a member of 24-Hour Fitness which I know is disdained by some folks on here but it suits me just fine.

I just think the OP should have asked more questions and known what he was signing up for before he did it.

The Lunk Alarm has had its own thread here a few times.

buyer beware[/quote]

I only joined because I just finished college and moved back home until I find a real job. It is only 5 mins down the road and the closest real gym is 20 mins away. Being only $99, I thought I’d give it a try.