Thank you Planet Fitness...

Bari_Tone

Planet Fitness (PF) has opened a second new gym in my town. As such, my full service gym at about 4 times the cost of PF ($11/month), has no holiday/New Year's crowds developing yet. I mean hardly any new faces at all! We'll see what next week brings, but both PF parking lots are already full.

I hope Planet Fitness opens another gym so maybe my gym will start lowering prices.

cmriverside

Not sure, but is this a humble-brag about your pricey gym?

Bari_Tone

haha - not humble bragging at all. Just loving the easy parking and lack of crowds.

Cherimoose

If your gym doesn't get enough traffic, it may close. Be careful what you wish for.

Theoldguy1

Cherimoose wrote: »

If your gym doesn't get enough traffic, it may close. Be careful what you wish for.

Yep, then you would be stuck with PF.

riffraff2112

My little gym is pretty quiet right now as well. PF opened up as well and has probably gobbled up most the newyears crowd that usually starts showing up in late december. I dont mind people in the gym but ealry jan tends to get crazy

gwinhart17

Ugh, planet fitness. My husband was a member for almost a year. It was on his way home from work and convenient, plus he had a few work buddies that went also. Once all his buddies stopped going, he decided to cancel and come back to our regular gym (after the holidays, we are too broke to afford much of anything for a few weeks, lol) ....well planet fitness made the most of this cancellation by hitting our account for $90! A few days before Christmas of course. Now I know this is partly hubby's fault for NEVER getting all the info on anything. But still, ugh!

liftingbro

PF is the gym for cardio bunnies. But most have pretty limited free weights and stupid policies about what you can and can't do in the gym. I'd rather pay my $20 (work pays $20 too) instead of $10 and have a good free weight setup and freedom to act how I like in the gym so long as I'm not bothering other people.

Azdak

PF not my my style. But the “hiss of shame” ad makes me laugh. They definitely have a feel for the excesses of bro culture.

jseams1234

liftingbro wrote: »

PF is the gym for cardio bunnies. But most have pretty limited free weights and stupid policies about what you can and can't do in the gym. I'd rather pay my $20 (work pays $20 too) instead of $10 and have a good free weight setup and freedom to act how I like in the gym so long as I'm not bothering other people.

Yeah, I was visiting my son and parents over Christmas and they have PF memberships. I went and almost immediately got in trouble for using a dip belt and plates to do pull-ups. “No outside equipment” and “it intimidates” the other members were the reasons for the ban-hammer. lol

huntersvonnegut

gwinhart17 wrote: »

Ugh, planet fitness. My husband was a member for almost a year. It was on his way home from work and convenient, plus he had a few work buddies that went also. Once all his buddies stopped going, he decided to cancel and come back to our regular gym (after the holidays, we are too broke to afford much of anything for a few weeks, lol) ....well planet fitness made the most of this cancellation by hitting our account for $90! A few days before Christmas of course. Now I know this is partly hubby's fault for NEVER getting all the info on anything. But still, ugh!

I don’t know what to tell you. My daughter and I both joined after our other gym doubled the monthly fee but she eventually decided to drop it and didn’t have any issues. We didn’t have any problem dropping the other gym either. For $10 a month it has what I need and like your husband it’s right in my way home so that just makes it mentally easier for me to get there. Maybe I’ve just been luckier with my gym experiences.

robertwroach1250

I've had very good experience with Planet Fitness. Affordable, close to home ( 5 miles), always open, very very CLEAN, never have to wait on equipment, the massages are worth to price of the membership. Very happy with my PT in Tennessee.

panda4153

I feel like PF gets a bad name unfairly sometimes. I am not a member and never have been, but I know many people who are. Being a “cardio bunny” is not a bad thing, some people much prefer cardio and it’s what they like so it’s what they do. Being intimidated about going to a gym as a very really anxiety some people have. I’m not saying that people at the gym are intentionally intimidating, I think a lot us know that’s not true, but it does not make the fear and anxiety that some people have any less real. PF is for people who want or need what they offer, and it is a benefit to that market. It’s not for everyone and that’s ok too. I think it’s unfair to paint a negative picture of it though.

spartan_d

The OP is correct. This is one advantage of PF for sure.

eric2light

liftingbro wrote: »

what you can and can't do

What are you talking about? What would they stop me from doing that I would care about?

eric2light

robertwroach1250 wrote: »

massages are worth to price of the membership.

You mean massages chair and beds, not human massages, right?

Theoldguy1

eric2light wrote: »

liftingbro wrote: »

what you can and can't do

What are you talking about? What would they stop me from doing that I would care about?

Something like deadlifts not being allowed because of the intimidation factor.

spartan_d

eric2light wrote: »

liftingbro wrote: »

what you can and can't do

What are you talking about? What would they stop me from doing that I would care about?

Apart from the deadlifting issue, they (officially, at least) prohibit any "intimidating" exercises. The degree of enforcement will vary from one location to another, but this typically includes moves such as overhead presses.

One friend of mine has to hide his burpees from the staff when he works out at PF. And I have encountered people who were scolded for jumping rope or for running too fast on the treadmill. Again, the exact list of offenses will vary from one location to another.

spartan_d

Azdak wrote: »

PF not my my style. But the “hiss of shame” ad makes me laugh. They definitely have a feel for the excesses of bro culture.

I don't think it shows that they "have a feel" for it at all. And a spin class is hardly "bro culture."

Rather, they feed on people's intimidations and foster them. That's why they deliberately exaggerate what it's like to be in a spin class. By and large, such classes are meant to be welcoming to beginners and out of shape people. It would be most unusual for an instructor to have the class hiss at somebody for failing to keep up.

PF's business model requires making potential clients believe that other gyms are filled with horrible customers and instructors who want to humiliate them. Hence all these ridiculous caricatures.

Lobsterboxtops

spartan_d wrote: »

eric2light wrote: »

liftingbro wrote: »

what you can and can't do

What are you talking about? What would they stop me from doing that I would care about?

Apart from the deadlifting issue, they (officially, at least) prohibit any "intimidating" exercises. The degree of enforcement will vary from one location to another, but this typically includes moves such as overhead presses.

One friend of mine has to hide his burpees from the staff when he works out at PF. And I have encountered people who were scolded for jumping rope or for running too fast on the treadmill. Again, the exact list of offenses will vary from one location to another.

I honestly cannot think of any exercise as being intimidating. This sounds so bizarre.

MikePTY

My gym on January 2nd 😂



I can't say I blame everybody though. Planet Fitness type prices with full service gym quality. Love this place.