Planet Fitness

hey guys.
Anybody here a member of the planet fitness gym? Id recently been seeing their ads around saying that you could join their gym for only $10 a month so i did some checking around on their website to see if there were any catches. From what i could tell their were none. aide from their annual fee that i believe gets charged every october and even that isnt expensive, they gym membership really is only $10 a month.

That is a killer deal for a gym considering others charge like $80 a month which is the reason i never joined a gym cause i could never afford to.
My question is though, to you people that are members of the gym already is it a good place to go? I know the term is "You get what you pay for", or dont pay for in some cases, but what do you guys think personally about it from your own experiences?
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Replies

  • dakotababy
    dakotababy Posts: 2,407 Member
    I live in Canada...so luckily, planet fitness is not an option. I have heard nothing but bad things about this gym due to its consistent hypocritical views on others and body image. They are the worst for judgement, even though they claim to be "judgement free".

    Dont ever expect to dead lift or squat...apparently they dont allow people who do anything else besides run on a treadmill...and I even think running is not allowed, as it may intimidate others.
  • 47Jacqueline
    47Jacqueline Posts: 6,993 Member
    I went to Planet Fitness in Massachusetts with my sister in law once. It's just a gym. I have to say I was not impressed with the way they treated guests of members. They charged me $15 for the day (hour) and it's just weights and machines. I went to LA Fitness in Florida last winter and they gave me a free week with access to all the classes, which is what I do in my own gym. My gym give's free passes to guests as well.

    Also, I tried out their treadmill, entered in all my data, and the stupid machine wouldn't let me go as fast as I wanted because I put in my age and it calculated that I should only go so fast. It kept slowing down, which really pissed me off!

    Anyway, I do pay about $80 a month for my gym, but I'm there five days a week for anywhere from 1 to 3 classes each visit. I only belong to one gyn location, which saves me some money, but my location has the most classes, variety and instructors of all the others, so I don't need to travel. It's also a block away from my apartment and I can get there in five minutes. They provide towels and are friendly

    It's absolutely worth the money.
  • Madame_Goldbricker
    Madame_Goldbricker Posts: 1,625 Member
    Never been to a PF - However if it's within your budget or what you can afford then go for it.

    End of the day you're going there to work out not move in. If it fits your requirements for now then great. If that changes in the future then switch to another gym.

    Gym snobbery is over rated :wink:
  • Sarahliquid
    Sarahliquid Posts: 201 Member
    Golds is only $10 a month and they are awesome.
  • SnuggleSmacks
    SnuggleSmacks Posts: 3,731 Member
    I was a member of Planet Fitness for a short time. There's one right down the street from me, within an easy walking distance, and the price can't be beat. Also, having access 24 hours through most of the week was a big plus for me, as I work second shift and often want to do the gym after work.

    On the other hand, the equipment is very basic and minimal. If you want to do any real lifting, you're going to have issues. Most PFs don't have a power rack or any adjustable barbells at all, except on a Smith machine, and that's a terrible thing to use for most lifts. They have fairly extensive dumbbells, but only up to about 70 lbs. or so. They do have a wide range of cardio, however, and at my location, the gym was always kept clean and the machines in good repair.

    So you really want to ask yourself what are your goals, and does PF have the proper equipment to help you reach them? For me, the answer eventually was no, and I moved on to another gym with way more equipment, classes, pool and steam room, etc. which is also 24 hours, for only $30 per month. At worst, PF does not require a commitment, so you can always try it for a few months and see if it meets your needs.
  • ncrugbyprop
    ncrugbyprop Posts: 96 Member
    Ahh, Planet Fitness. You have tapped the vein of discontent that runs nearly universally throughout the MFP forums. I went with my wife regularly to PF for a year because she hated the power lifting gym I went to at that time. PF is fine for beginners who want to go through a range of machines to hit some muscle groups. The issue is that they have a limited amount of free weights and many openly discourage or ban members from doing compound lifts. This limits your potential and with the idiotic lunk alarm and the blatant hypocrisy of their 'judgement free zone' slogan, it really grinds on some people.

    Having said all that, I saw a lot of people achieve successful body transformations over that year using the available equipment and I presume an improved diet. I only heard the lunk alarm go off once, and luckily I wasn't in the middle of a lift. I never saw pizza night and had zero desire to ever grab a tootsie roll. The people that worked there were all very friendly, kept the place clean, and I never saw or heard of any clothing issues and some people wore fairly revealing outfits. The machines were always working but it was incredibly crowded at 5:30 and frequently difficult to keep the work rate up through a routine. Of course every gym is different and if the price is of prime importance, give it a shot. The good thing was that there was no contract and you could cancel at any time.
  • ebbingfat
    ebbingfat Posts: 117 Member
    hey guys.
    Anybody here a member of the planet fitness gym? Id recently been seeing their ads around saying that you could join their gym for only $10 a month so i did some checking around on their website to see if there were any catches. From what i could tell their were none. aide from their annual fee that i believe gets charged every october and even that isnt expensive, they gym membership really is only $10 a month.

    That is a killer deal for a gym considering others charge like $80 a month which is the reason i never joined a gym cause i could never afford to.
    My question is though, to you people that are members of the gym already is it a good place to go? I know the term is "You get what you pay for", or dont pay for in some cases, but what do you guys think personally about it from your own experiences?

    I am a member of Planet Fitness, and I personally love it. A lot of people are against Planet Fitness because they claim to be "judgement free" but then push judgement on people they define as "lunks" to stress the facts. "Lunks" are the typically gym-bros. Because of this they don't offer a lot of options for people who choose to do heavy lifting and what not.

    HOWEVER, while I understand how hypocritical this is, they do it because they are trying to tap into a very specific market - people who feel uncomfortable and intimidated with going into a gym because they are not in the best of shape. I am 250 pounds, and I personally feel more comfortable at Planet Fitness than any other gym I've been to, because I feel I'm on more equal footing with a lot of the other members there. I don't feel so bad being the 250 pound girl who's sweating while trying to endure briskly walking on the treadmil, because not everyone around me is in peak physical fitness either.

    Plus, as you said, it's only $10/mo. They do also have an annual fee they charge halfway through the membership year, but even that is only $25 dollars. So, $10/mo plus another $25 once a year, so by the year's end, that comes to about $145 throughout the year. Not bad at all.

    So, if your'e looking for cardio and weight machines, Planet Fitness has a great value. However, if you're looking for heavy freeweights for doing things like dead lifts and squats, go elsewhere. I personally plan on staying with Planet Fitness until I get into better shape, and then moving my membership elsewhere once I'm in good enough shape to really start pushing myself with weights and such.
  • SinCityFit
    SinCityFit Posts: 96
    They have Monday Pizza Night. I for one thought that was brilliant. Job security!

    What city and state are you in? Costco has $250 2-year memberships for 24HF. When it ends wait a couple of months and re-join. And here in Vegas we have a local chain called Las Vegas Athletic Club which is under 20 and awesome. I can find you a good deal.

    I belong to two chains, 24 Hour Fitness for $89 a year + $20 a month for the Supersport upgrade (I do triathlons and it adds a location with a pool next to work so it's worth it for me), so $28 a month, and LVAC for $179 a year or $15 a month, so I pay $43 for two. I like LVAC because of the indoor running track and I like the weight set up better at 24HF and I use both pools weekly. When I'm not into tri training mode I go to the group classes which I love.
  • Biggirllittledreams
    Biggirllittledreams Posts: 306 Member
    hey guys.
    Anybody here a member of the planet fitness gym? Id recently been seeing their ads around saying that you could join their gym for only $10 a month so i did some checking around on their website to see if there were any catches. From what i could tell their were none. aide from their annual fee that i believe gets charged every october and even that isnt expensive, they gym membership really is only $10 a month.

    That is a killer deal for a gym considering others charge like $80 a month which is the reason i never joined a gym cause i could never afford to.
    My question is though, to you people that are members of the gym already is it a good place to go? I know the term is "You get what you pay for", or dont pay for in some cases, but what do you guys think personally about it from your own experiences?

    There is no catch in terms of the price: after paying the initial starting fee, it really is just ten dollars a month.

    It all depends on the facility you go to i assume, but the one i went to was pretty nice. More than anything else, I enjoyed the atmosphere as it wasn't really a 'muscle head' environment, and more so an environment of just people working out. I didn't feel pressured or out of place there, which i'd experienced at most gyms. I don't have anything against body-builders, or 'gym rats', but i did find myself uncomfortable in gyms where i was surrounded by people of that nature. When i was at PF four years ago, i found people much more so at my pace.

    The facility i went to also provided snacks on certain days of the week, had tanning beds for the $20 members, pretty nice locker rooms, and the machinery/weights tended to stay in rather nice shape. :) I really liked the gym.
  • Biggirllittledreams
    Biggirllittledreams Posts: 306 Member
    Ahh, Planet Fitness. You have tapped the vein of discontent that runs nearly universally throughout the MFP forums. I went with my wife regularly to PF for a year because she hated the power lifting gym I went to at that time. PF is fine for beginners who want to go through a range of machines to hit some muscle groups. The issue is that they have a limited amount of free weights and many openly discourage or ban members from doing compound lifts. This limits your potential and with the idiotic lunk alarm and the blatant hypocrisy of their 'judgement free zone' slogan, it really grinds on some people.

    Having said all that, I saw a lot of people achieve successful body transformations over that year using the available equipment and I presume an improved diet. I only heard the lunk alarm go off once, and luckily I wasn't in the middle of a lift. I never saw pizza night and had zero desire to ever grab a tootsie roll. The people that worked there were all very friendly, kept the place clean, and I never saw or heard of any clothing issues and some people wore fairly revealing outfits. The machines were always working but it was incredibly crowded at 5:30 and frequently difficult to keep the work rate up through a routine. Of course every gym is different and if the price is of prime importance, give it a shot. The good thing was that there was no contract and you could cancel at any time.

    Exactly! It's a nice facility, but it really depends on your needs. I personally just got weights for my home, and started working out at home. But, that's just me....because i went broke and changed locations, therefore losing the car i was sharing with my father.

    I wonder if I grunt at the top of my lungs if they would pull the alarm on me? Or would that require me wearing a muscle-fat-suit sort of thing? Judgement free my @**.
  • acidstained
    acidstained Posts: 35 Member
    I am a member of Planet Fitness and it serves my needs. At the location I go to, the personal trainer will actually work you out or give you a personalized workout plan (instead of just holding classes that talk about different muscle groups like it says on their site) for free, so that has been a huge money saver for me.

    Honestly, I think it really just comes down to your needs. I'm not really comfortable with all the equipment and stuff, so I like that it is less intimidating and that the trainer is there to answer questions. Maybe in a year or so, I'll switch over to a different gym that has classes and stuff, since I'll be more comfortable using the weights/machines. For someone who is just starting out, though, I would recommend it.
  • KameHameHaaa
    KameHameHaaa Posts: 244 Member
    I would check out the facility first. I always hear bad things online but I've been a PF member at two different facilities in two different states. Never ever had a problem. Mine also had free weights, allowed deadlifts squats etc. I only heard the lunk alarm a few times and that was when someone was purposely smashing weights together.

    I've also lost 71 lbs so far since I originally joined :) in the end a gym is what you make of it and its equipment, so do a tour first and see if you like what you see. As far as I know the $10 month option isn't a contract you can cancel when you want.
  • bv109
    bv109 Posts: 83
    planet fitness is for beginners and/or people who are looking to do cardio and some weights.

    this is enough for women. (lol, not to be chauvinist), but i would never recommend this place to anyone who really wanted to make real gains but theyre mostly men anyway.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,204 Member
    planet fitness is for beginners and/or people who are looking to do cardio and some weights.

    this is enough for women. (lol, not to be chauvinist), but i would never recommend this place to anyone who really wanted to make real gains but theyre mostly men anyway.

    In to watch smackdown.
  • gmallan
    gmallan Posts: 2,099 Member
    planet fitness is for beginners and/or people who are looking to do cardio and some weights.

    this is enough for women. (lol, not to be chauvinist), but i would never recommend this place to anyone who really wanted to make real gains but theyre mostly men anyway.

    In to watch smackdown.

    You read my mind, I predict a riot
  • Keep_The_Laughter
    Keep_The_Laughter Posts: 183 Member
    planet fitness is for beginners and/or people who are looking to do cardio and some weights.

    this is enough for women. (lol, not to be chauvinist), but i would never recommend this place to anyone who really wanted to make real gains but theyre mostly men anyway.

    Ummm...yeah...this is not going to end well.
  • matthehat
    matthehat Posts: 38 Member
    A moment of silence for all the potential gains lost due to Planet Fitness...
  • Jessie24330
    Jessie24330 Posts: 224 Member
    My husband and I started at Planet Fitness about three weeks ago when it opened here. We had looked into other gyms but simply could not afford the price, all of the locals ones being at least $40 a month per person. There is plenty for us to do there being as we (especially me) are just starting out in this quest. They have TONS of cardio and quite a few options for weight machines but the weights don't go very high. Not a problem right now but I think my husband could outgrow this before too long.

    The price, at our gym because I don't know if different locations are different, is $10/month with a year long contract or $15/month without a commitment. You can also get their black card membership with a one year commitment for $20/month which allows you to bring a free guest everytime you go, gives you free access to their massage chairs and hydromassage, free tanning and half price cooler drinks (which are still WAY more expensive than Walmart even at half price). We opted to go with the $15/month.

    They have televisions overhead so you can watch while doing cardio but you are pretty much out of luck if news or sports are not your things. You can plug your headphones into your machine and listen to whichever channel you want or to your ipod. They also have free wifi so I just made my own playlist on YouTube and listen to that.

    The staff is really friendly so far but then again they have been open less than a month so we will have to give it time and see, lol. The people who go there to workout can come across as really rude a lot of the time but that would be the town I live in. These are the rudest people I have ever met in my life here. I have hated it from the day we moved here and can't wait til the day we leave. Sorry about that, complaints about my town over, lol.

    It is not worth going before 11pm here. Everyone has come from the other gyms due to the massive price difference and then also people starting out that couldn't afford a membership before and it is crazy busy before 11. My husband tried to go today which his friend and he said that there was not on piece of cardio that was not being used, and trust me, there is no lack of cardio equipment.

    Everyone tells horrible stories about the lunk alarm but I have never heard it go off. The dress code is not very well enforced here either. A lot of women are going around in what I would consider to be underwear personally.

    I think when it comes down to it, it is going to depend on which location you go to and what your needs are. If you are just starting out and don't have another similarly priced option then I would say go for it for sure.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    planet fitness is for beginners and/or people who are looking to do cardio and some weights.

    this is enough for women. (lol, not to be chauvinist), but i would never recommend this place to anyone who really wanted to make real gains but theyre mostly men anyway.

    I'm a woman and it's not enough for me... being not allowed to do deadlifts and the absence of squat racks is a major issue. And that if you accidentally grunt or drop a weight they sound that "lunk alarm"


    IMO a lot more women should be considering strength training/weight lifting as a way to get the physique they want... cardio does not result in the kind of body that many women want, but they're put off due to this stupid myth that they'll "get bulky" and so end up never achieving what they want to achieve. So your advice that PF is fine for women... well it's not. Yep some women like the look you get from a cardio bunny body, but I've seen so many women here complain that they *still* don't have the body they want after hours of cardio and a strict diet....... what they need to do is get in the free weights section and start lifting.
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    planet fitness is for beginners and/or people who are looking to do cardio and some weights.

    this is enough for women. (lol, not to be chauvinist), but i would never recommend this place to anyone who really wanted to make real gains but theyre mostly men anyway.

    In to watch smackdown.

    You read my mind, I predict a riot

    yep... planet fitness thread + some guy saying that women don't want to make real gains......

    *passes around the popcorn*
  • likitisplit
    likitisplit Posts: 9,420 Member
    In
  • tedrickp
    tedrickp Posts: 1,229 Member
    planet fitness is for beginners and/or people who are looking to do cardio and some weights.

    this is enough for women. (lol, not to be chauvinist), but i would never recommend this place to anyone who really wanted to make real gains but theyre mostly men anyway.

    Dis_gon_b_gud.gif
  • spara0038
    spara0038 Posts: 226 Member
    I had a PFit membership for a while, until I moved. I got on a deal where it was "only $99 for the year"- but they didn't tell me there was about a $40 annual membership fee that they added once a year. And cancelling my membership when I moved was a bit of a pain, but if you plan on sticking with it, just be aware of the annual fee.

    Saying "PF is for ___" in my opinion is like saying "eating veggies is for ___". Some people have great luck, some don't. All of the tools you need to get fit are there- treadmills, weights, etc. so it certainly can work for you. It's all about what you do with the membership. If you go, exercise, and leave... you'll do just fine. I tend to be the quiet one at the qym, so as long as people don't bug me (and they generally don't), we're good. The only 2 things I found funny were:

    1) Free food on certain days. Seriously? It's a friggin gym
    2) They had tanning at the one I went to, so some people looked legit orange. Like they just came from the Home Depot spray paint aisle. So hard to not laugh.

    But it was kind of fun to people watch while I was there. The one I went to was full of a bunch of interesting characters.
  • RWTBR
    RWTBR Posts: 140 Member
    Oh yay, this thread again!

    It's just everything that's wrong with America, but it's a fairly good "gym" for most Americans, I suppose.
  • thebigcb
    thebigcb Posts: 2,210 Member
    My view is

    It doesn;t matter what machines etc the gyn has, it what you "put in" in the gym that counts

    I look around my gym and there are people there for two hours, talking, texting etc,

    Go with a plan, stick too it, go hard at it for an hour, and go home
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
    My view is

    It doesn;t matter what machines etc the gyn has, it what you "put in" in the gym that counts

    It does for me, because my main goal is a 300lb+ deadlift and that's not going to happen in a gym that won't allow deadlifts, dropping of weights on the floor or grunting.
  • maizerage66
    maizerage66 Posts: 367 Member
    F*** planet fitness. They have more treadmills, ellipticals, and bikes than they do weights. Tons of machines for each muscle group, even the bench station (if you want to call it that) is a SMITH'S machine. That messes with any lifts like bench or squats. Some PF's have the free movement barbells but not the ones I've been to. And they call out all the guys in there actually trying to make gains and kick them out for being "lunks" and then all the old people and social gatherers in there get pissed off that some buff dude is in there showing them up. I've never had this happen to me but you can find plenty of videos on YouTube showing how these guys are treated...it's a joke of a gym and is getting to be a pain in the butt. Pizza Mondays? Isn't the point of going to the gym to get fit? Anyways, 97% of the people in PF are either running their butts off making little progress or using the weight machines with the lightest weights possible. It's a joke
  • postrockandcats
    postrockandcats Posts: 1,145 Member
    A gym is only as good as the location near you. I'm a very happy member of anytime fitness, but if I judged the place on the location I went to on a business trip one time, I'd never have joined. I've never been to a Planet Fitness, haven't heard good things, but I'd consider joining if they were close to me. Besides, no commitment? At the worst, you'd be out the $10 for a month.

    As a poster said above, they cater to a specific market, which more power to them.
  • UpEarly
    UpEarly Posts: 2,555 Member
    I LOVE my Planet Fitness membership.

    I do all my lifting at home, so I really don't care about squat racks and deadlifting rules. (Even though, my Planet Fitness allows deadlifts, has two squat racks, and has never sounded the lunk alarm). I guess it might be because the couple who owns the serious lifting gym in my town also owns the local Planet Fitness.

    The only reason I go to a gym is to periodically use low-impact cardio equipment when I need to cross-train or recover from an injury. I'm a serious hiker - 35-50 miles a week when I'm working my 8-5 desk job and even more miles when I have a week or two off my desk job. After lots of trail miles, I often have wear-and-tear pain in my knees/ankles/feet, so I like to have access to a stationary bike or an elliptical. They help me maintain my cardio/endurance when I need a break from high trail miles.

    I pay $10/month for a gym I only use periodically. I think it's a great deal and suits my gym needs perfectly. It would be ludicrous for me to pay more for a gym that I hardly use that has resources I don't need.

    And as far as the tootsie rolls, pizza and bagels - I think a healthy, normal, life-long maintenance diet can and should be able to accommodate food like this. I don't eat tootsie rolls because I don't like them, but pizza and bagels are foods I eat regularly. Not sure why it's so awful for the gym to serve them once a month? Isn't it all about moderation and learning to fit a variety of foods you enjoy into a healthy diet?

    ETA - And, my Planet Fitness has all different kinds of people there - cardio bunnies, men/women that very obviously put a lot of effort into getting stronger, total beginners, seniors looking to stay fit/flexible and weirdos who sit on the equipment playing on their smartphones. It's fine - there is something for everyone. I don't believe there is a 'Planet Fitness Type' - at least not at my PF.
  • thebigcb
    thebigcb Posts: 2,210 Member
    My view is

    It doesn;t matter what machines etc the gyn has, it what you "put in" in the gym that counts

    It does for me, because my main goal is a 300lb+ deadlift and that's not going to happen in a gym that won't allow deadlifts, dropping of weights on the floor or grunting.

    Is PLanet Fitness = Globo Gym?

    Thats mental. My gym €29 a month, no contract, do whatever you want, hamemrs, tires, you name,