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No intimidation "gyms"
Replies
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Tacklewasher wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »
Still waiting for mine dammit
When my husband and I go camping, we can use their showers and then if this hits the first Friday of the month! Winning!5 -
youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers
) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
Thank you for making my point.21 -
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My sister in law worked at a Planet Fitness for a while. She would tell me that a significant number of the people who had memberships only showed up for free pizza day and they never missed it.
I looked it up and google says PF offers free pizza once per month and likewise for bagels. It doesn't seem logical that members would be in it only for the free food if it's only twice a month.3 -
somethingsoright wrote: »My sister in law worked at a Planet Fitness for a while. She would tell me that a significant number of the people who had memberships only showed up for free pizza day and they never missed it.
I looked it up and google says PF offers free pizza once per month and likewise for bagels. It doesn't seem logical that members would be in it only for the free food if it's only twice a month.
$10.95+ a month for free pizza? I didn't buy it either. It was definitely hearsay.3 -
somethingsoright wrote: »My sister in law worked at a Planet Fitness for a while. She would tell me that a significant number of the people who had memberships only showed up for free pizza day and they never missed it.
I looked it up and google says PF offers free pizza once per month and likewise for bagels. It doesn't seem logical that members would be in it only for the free food if it's only twice a month.
Yeah, I mean it isn't that hard to get some pizza if you want it. I can get 2 slices and a soda for $5 at any number of places, I don't need to go to the artifice of joining a gym to get it.
I appreciate the posts here recognizing the irony of calling out and judging people who choose a no intimidation style gym.12 -
happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".11 -
youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.16 -
happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.13 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Yep. I worked with a personal trainer for a little while and even though she was a good trainer, her theories on nutrition were godawful. But she knew she wasn't qualified to give nutrition advice so she didn't try, I just picked up on her philosophy through conversation (mentioning that her mom gained weight because she was inflamed from eating lots of meat lol).4 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"
I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?4 -
youcantflexcardio wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"
I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?
Yes that would be fine but personal trainers have a certification that afaik does not require any nutrition knowledge at all. Many trainers have bad ideas about nutrition just like many people generally have bad ideas about nutrition. To prompt a client to look up energy balance they need to understand its importance themselves.
As I mentioned above I had a trainer with really bad ideas about nutrition, but she told me when we started working together that I should talk to my doctor or a dietician for nutrition advice. I imagine many trainers don't even bring up the topic to avoid liability or because they genuinely have no clue.0 -
youcantflexcardio wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"
I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?
I find that weird too. But I am calling hearsay. I have had trainers give me advice about my nutrition, so I think your friend's sister has left out some vital information to you. She could have asked, why am I not losing weight? but she did not? Yep, that's weird.3 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"
I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?
I find that weird too. But I am calling hearsay. I have had trainers give me advice about my nutrition, so I think your friend's sister has left out some vital information to you. She could have asked, why am I not losing weight? but she did not? Yep, that's weird.
I'll give you that - It is quite possible she did not give me the full story. When she asked me the question it was something along the lines of "I've been working out with my trainer at PF for almost a year, I've gotten a little stronger but I can't seem to cut this belly fat" and I simply replied "are you on top of your nutrition? Are you tracking your food? Are you eating a caloric deficit" and when she said no, I told her "nutrition is 80% of results, until you lo ck that down, the change you are going to see is minimal. Also, you can't spot reduce fat."...she looked like I slapped her in the face - that is when I explained all the other stuff.0 -
OMG, people. Such drama. Planet Fitness is just a run-of-the-mill gym.
I honestly pay no attention to stupid marketing gimmicks, so all that PF "no judgment" crap doesn't even matter to me. What I like is the 24-7 access, the cheap price, and the convenient location. It's got all the basic stuff I need, no one hassles me, and I can pretty much do whatever I want there. I've been going there for years now, and the "lunk alarm" isn't even hooked up. It's just for show. I see women wearing really skimpy stuff and no one gets butthurt or runs and tattle-tales. All kinds of people - some fit, some not so fit - go there. Plenty of people are grunting and sweating. LOL.
I doubt very many of them go there because they cry themselves to sleep at night worrying about gym bullies. There aren't a bunch of whiny baby "victims" sitting around eating donuts or whatever else the stereotypes say they do. There aren't any "gym police" monitoring our behavior. It's just a chain gym. Maybe a few infamous locations are hardcore PF driven, but mine is super chill. Most people probably go there for the same reasons I do. It's the gym with the best deal in the area. Who cares about lunks?
No need to get outraged or defensive about the existence of "no-intimidation gyms." It's not the end of society. It's not a threat to you, personally. If you don't like it, don't go there. Sheesh! First-world problems...
32 -
happytree923 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Yep. I worked with a personal trainer for a little while and even though she was a good trainer, her theories on nutrition were godawful. But she knew she wasn't qualified to give nutrition advice so she didn't try, I just picked up on her philosophy through conversation (mentioning that her mom gained weight because she was inflamed from eating lots of meat lol).
I worked with a personal trainer and he tried to advise me on diet/macro splits. I completely ignored him because I knew his advice on macros wouldn't work for me.
When I stopped seeing him, he admitted that I was right to ignore him. I had lost about 70 pounds over the time I was training with him.
6 -
L1zardQueen wrote: »somethingsoright wrote: »My sister in law worked at a Planet Fitness for a while. She would tell me that a significant number of the people who had memberships only showed up for free pizza day and they never missed it.
I looked it up and google says PF offers free pizza once per month and likewise for bagels. It doesn't seem logical that members would be in it only for the free food if it's only twice a month.
$10.95+ a month for free pizza? I didn't buy it either. It was definitely hearsay.
I've read in some areas homeless individuals who have a bank account/credit card are signing up. Since many locations are 24/7 they can get out of.the weather and have shower facilities for $10 a month.5 -
youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
In my area the PF doesn't require trainers to have anything other than CPR certification.
Actually I took and passed.a PT certification class. Most certifications will allow the trainer to speak in broad generalities regarding diet. You cannot provide specific dietary guidance to a client, however you can inform the client on the US governmental nutritional guidelines.2 -
GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Yep. I worked with a personal trainer for a little while and even though she was a good trainer, her theories on nutrition were godawful. But she knew she wasn't qualified to give nutrition advice so she didn't try, I just picked up on her philosophy through conversation (mentioning that her mom gained weight because she was inflamed from eating lots of meat lol).
I worked with a personal trainer and he tried to advise me on diet/macro splits. I completely ignored him because I knew his advice on macros wouldn't work for me.
When I stopped seeing him, he admitted that I was right to ignore him. I had lost about 70 pounds over the time I was training with him.
As per my earlier post he was most likely exceeding his scope.of practice by giving you specific macro splits.0 -
youcantflexcardio wrote: »L1zardQueen wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
Oh, so your point is that some personal trainers suck. Groundbreaking.
Also I am sure most chain gyms do not do this because it can very quickly veer into medical advice territory which personal trainers are not qualified to give.
To add, most trainers are NOT registered dieticians.
Does that stop them from prompting a client to look up some stuff themselves? I understand that you cant give dietary advice without certain certifications - but is there anything against a trainer saying "in order for the exercise to work properly in transforming your body, you need to have solid, targeted nutrition. I am not authorized to give you specific advice, but a calorie tracking app and some research on different macro splits, BMR TDEE, and a basic understanding of the food you consume goes a long way"
I'm seriously asking...is something as generalized as this not even allowed without a FNS or similar certification?
Based on what I learned from the ACE certification what you are saying, perhaps with a suggestion to discuss with their physician would be appropriate0 -
youcantflexcardio wrote: »happytree923 wrote: »youcantflexcardio wrote: »Referencing the OP. It's breth-takingly ego-centric to assume that anyone who has fitness goals that differ from yours is basically a fat lazy slob, especially the part about blaming anyone who isn't up to your standards as being part of what's wrong with the country. I'm not even getting the association between gym environments and body positive movements (even the fringe ones) - if a fat person wants to become more fit that's not OK? Fat people who go to a regular gym should be shamed until they lose weight? If your goal is to maintain strength and not add muscle why even bother?
For the record, I belonged to a women's only gym for a couple of years long ago (Linda Evens, for you old-timers ) It had cardio equipment, machines and dumbbells. My goal was to maintain upper body strength and improve cardio, the environment was low-key and suited me. At the same time, I was riding 100 mile cycling events so I wasn't exactly out of shape. If PF had been around at the time, I might have considered it too intimidating (in spite of the judgey "no judgement" ads).
When did I EVER say that a fat person wanting to become fit is not okay? Or any of that shaming *kitten* you referenced?
I said the "no intimidation" gym thing is not okay. First off, it blatantly discriminates against those who have worked for months or years to attain a high level of fitness. The advertising shames those people as absolute morons. Shouldn't those people be looked up to in the fitness world, or at the very least be given a begrudging respect for the work they have put in?
There is a difference between fat shaming, and giving an honest assessment as to someone's fitness, weight, and health. If someone is in a gym they obviously at least want to give some modicum of a *kitten* about it. Is teaching someone how to properly lift, eat for a goal, and educating them on BMI and body fat%, and telling them "no, 20 minutes on the elliptical did not earn you a trip to dairy queen" evil just because it is bluntly true?
instead of fostering a mentality of victimization with the whole "intimidation" thing, maybe they should be educated on why the gym bro in a stringer carries a gallon of water (to stay hydrated), and grunts (he's putting out max effort) "drops" weights (you aren't setting a 450 deadlift down without noise), and looks angry (he's probably listening to music to bring out raw emotion he probably doesn't always like that he uses to fuel his lifts). He looks good because he has been disciplined about his training and diet for years - and if that makes someone feel inadequate with their diet and exercise choices, that is something they should face and maybe ask themselves why they feel that way, not go run and hide in a "gym" that those types of people are discouraged from going to.
Lastly - I say this all as an overweight person. I used to be what you would call a "gym bro" - for a bunch of BS excuses I used to call reasons, I gained near 100lbs in 2 years. I have been back at it for a good while now, but I still have a minimum of 40lbs to go. It is NOT wrong for someone to call me overweight. When I was close to 300 and hadn't trained or ate right in 2 years, it would not have been wrong to call me fat. It was true - and I knew it. About 4 months after I started lifting again, I was complaining that I hadn't lost any weight one day, and someone said to me "Stop whining - I've seen what you used to look like - you know what to do. Clean up your diet, and eat less calories than you burn." He wasn't being hateful, he was being honest. That is not the type of mentality that these types of gyms promote - and I do think that is a problem.
What does the 'honest assessment' you keep going on about look like in a gym environment? Do you bring a scale and body fat calipers to the gym with you and calculate body fat % for random strangers? Do you follow them home to make sure they don't stop at Dairy Queen? This mythical 'honest assessment' requires detailed knowledge about a person's life that you absolutely could not glean from just going to the same gym. So yes, if you are giving 'honest assessments' to random strangers in the gym you are making a lot of assumptions about their life and it is most definitely unwelcome. People who need guidance can seek that out from books, websites, and paid professionals. They don't need Johnny McSwole bothering them when they're on elliptical.
I am not talking about me or anyone else going up to strangers...I would have thought that was obvious..Do you really think people do that, cause I didn't think anyone would make that kind of assumtion. I am referencing the trainers at these sorts of "gyms".
A personal example of this is that I have a friend who's sister is a member of and has been paying for training at PF for close to a year. She started asking me questions as I have noticibly cut weight since she had last seen me. I explained CICO, macro splits, the fact that diet is 80% of results, different types of training splits, him, bf% etc - she was absolutely floored, it was all new information. She was also surprised to hear that I still had to cut a good 60+ pounds, and that would STILL have me at an overweight BMI but at the top range of fit on a BF%. This was pretty obvious (that I am overweight) - and yet someone who has paid for personal training for close to a year knew none of this. This prompted me to do some research, and I found out that many PF locations don't even offer nutritional coaching or information. Nutrition is the most important piece of any fitness puzzle - these gyms put more effort into providing members with free pizza, tootsie rolls, and bagels than on nutrition coaching. After further conversation, she didnt even know her BMI, let alone BF%. What exactly is her "trainer" teaching her then?
That's what I mean by honest assessments are not given...the person in my story had to go outside of her gym and ask someone else about why she wasn't cutting weight...when she pays for a trainer. Does her "trainer" not understand CICO herself? Maybe, but I think it is much more likely that her trainer works at a "gym" that wont even let her tell a client "your BMI is highly in the overweight category, and your diet is largely bad and you need to eat a caloric deficit to lose weight".
I go to a gym with lots of heavy-lifting, grunting, weight-dropping bros. Most are really nice folks. I've only had a few offer unsolicited advice, most of which was reasonably accurate in an average sort of way, none of which took into account my personal goals, current fitness levels, or current injury-recovery issues -- well, except for the month or so I was coming to the gym after a bicycle accident, with visible scrapes and bruises still healing and two fingers in a metal splint to keep them immobile. Then I got advice not to do things I was perfectly capable of doing without undue risk of further injury. I always thank them and take the advice for what it's worth -- good thing I know enough to know when and why it wasn't good advice for me, and that I'm not the easily intimidated type.
I wouldn't take nutrition advice from a personal trainer without training in that field, no matter what kind of gym they worked at. We have a "nutritionist" on staff at our gym, and she publishes articles in the gym newsletter, and pretty much 100% of her advice is of the behavioral sort (have a glass of water before eating, don't eat after dinner, etc.), all of which may help people stay at an appropriate deficit or maintenance level, but isn't really about how much or what to eat.
Why does it bother you so much that there are businesses that are providing a service that some people need to feel comfortable going to a gym in the first place? Surely it's better that people go get some kind of exercise, even if it's not in a place that you want to go, than that the only places available for them to exercise are places they won't be comfortable going and so they don't get any exercise.20 -
When I was finally working on getting into a regular workout routine again (after too many years of neglecting that side of my life post-college), I actually really appreciated my local Planet Fitness. I bounced around a couple local gyms, and at the time, that was the best fit.
They had a crap-ton of "entry level" workout equipment, an easy full body routine, and the amenities I needed. It wasn't over crowded and I was almost never waiting to use equipment. It was great to get me started, and I liked that I wasn't the "only" out-of-shape person there.
Yes, I eventually "outgrew" PF and had to move on to a normal gym, and I like my "normal" gyms just fine too, but even as someone who knows what I'm doing, it can be a little "intimidating" to use equipment when you know the body-building bros are waiting for it. Doesn't stop me from doing my routine, but might have when I was first getting going.
Yes, the marketing scheme is a marketing scheme, but obviously people pay for it, so I fail to see the issue. People who are serious about their health and fitness will likely out grow those gyms and move on to others.
In the meantime, of the people who wouldn't want to join a normal gym, but do join one of these, even if it's only 1 out of every 100 people who stick with it, I think it's a good thing. Sure as heck isn't hurting anything, and they probably help free up space at my regular gym so I have less waiting time to use what I need to use.13 -
HoneyBadger155 wrote: »Yes, the marketing scheme is a marketing scheme, but obviously people pay for it, so I fail to see the issue. People who are serious about their health and fitness will likely out grow those gyms and move on to others.
It's insulting to anyone who doesn't fit their target. They can market to whoever they like without being insulting.
I would not be happy if Anytime Fitness (where I'm going) said "no fatties".
Other than that, more power to them.
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annaskiski wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »I'm not sure I entirely get the post, but what is wrong with gyms targeted to people who do want to be bothered by strangers giving them unsolicited advice they didn't want or didn't ask for? There are plenty of different gyms for different type of people. But the gym going experience can be intimidating for a lot of people, made worse by wanna be experts who think they are personal trainers because they go to the gym every day.
It's not "PC culture" to not bother people who don't want to be bothered. It's basic decency. Let those who want to train in peace do so. There are plenty of other gyms to do other things at.
My sample of 1 experience.
I've been going to gyms for over 40 years. Everything from college rec centers, YMCAs, local clubs, powerlifting gyms, national chains and had day passes at 2 places that make most lists of the most hardcore gyms in the US. I have never received unsolicited advice (although I have received good advice when politely asking someone).
So... you're a guy?
Because I've definitely been given unsolicited advice....
Women-only gyms exist for a reason. Planet Fitness gyms exist for a reason.
The OP's rant is exactly why some people don't want to go to 'bro' gyms.
I agree with you, but not everyone experiences these things first hand. The gyms I’ve been to have included zero unsolicited advice. Some glaring for being in the way or using equipment they wanted but that’s about it. But I’m a short round gal on the bicycle or stretching. Friends who are fit & use weights get hit on at the gym constantly with unsolicited advice. But if they hadn’t told me, i would have never known that was a thing.5 -
I appreciated PF when I was a broke college student trying to stay healthy/active as cheaply as possible. Now that I'm more interested in Olympic Lifts those gyms no longer suit my needs, but I'm not upset at them for that, I'm just no longer their target demographic. I hate how it sounds when I drop my weights, but sometimes it's unavoidable when getting close to max; so I get why the "lunk alarm" could be frustrating, but they make those rules super clear before you sign up so it's not like you didn't have an opportunity to pick somewhere else. I guess I just don't understand being angry that something exists that I don't have use for. I've seen advertisements for all sorts of things that don't apply to me, I've also seen many that do. I only consider the ones that do and move on with my day. PF isn't for me, but my gym is perfect for me, so I attend the one I like best.9
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Planet Fitness is one of several places that I work out (in addition to a community rec center, workplace gym, my house, and the great outdoors). My observations are:
1) My primary motivation for going to PF is convenience – it is on the way to work, it is open all night, it is clean, and people keep to themselves. It is also very cheap, the monthly fee is less than some people I know spend on coffee each day.
2) Most people who are infuriated by PF have never set foot in a PF.
3) The membership at PF is indistinguishable from the membership at my community rec center, the latter having the same sort of culture that frowns on the “lunkhead” type of members – it just isn’t articulated as openly.
4) PF’s marketing plan has been ridiculously successful, I believe they are the largest gym franchise in the world. Don’t look for them to change in order to please people who aren’t their targeted customers.
5) Fitness isn’t about the venue, it is about how hard you work, how consistently you work out, and your eating habits. I have seen extremely fit members at PF and obese, unfit members at powerlifting/bodybuilding types of gyms. There are inmates doing nothing but bodyweight resistance exercises in solitary confinement in prison who are just as jacked as most “lift heavy things” bruhs.
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I work out at a Planet Fitness gym. I love it. The gym is clean. The patrons and workers are courteous. It has all of the machines that I like to use. It isn't crowded. It has all of the programs available for me to watch as I ride the bike, run on the treadmill or use the power steps. It is open 24/7. All of this for $10.00 a month. Not bad, I say.11
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allarounddice wrote: »I work out at a Planet Fitness gym. I love it. The gym is clean. The patrons and workers are courteous. It has all of the machines that I like to use. It isn't crowded. It has all of the programs available for me to watch as I ride the bike, run on the treadmill or use the power steps. It is open 24/7. All of this for $10.00 a month. Not bad, I say.
Liar! If I have learned anything at all from MFP, it is that Planet Fitness members are only in it for the free pizza.
*sarcasm*9 -
This post made me interested to look up the Planet Fitness gyms in my country, and it turns out the memberships here are $15 a month!
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