my gym doesn't have free weights :(
hilaryhill
Posts: 156 Member
I just moved to a new state and joined a Planet Fitness. I joined without exploring the gym first, ugh!!! So I go to work out today and I'm on the elliptical and I realize there are no free weights, like no barbells. They have the barbell thing on the rack that goes up and down, but they aren't "free" if you KWIM. I'm so disappointed!!! Can I still do the SL program with these kind of machines?? 
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that sounds like a smith machine . . . ? barbell that moves up and down in a fixed track, and there are grooves all the way along the track that you can hook the bar onto if you need to.
everything i've heard says it's best to avoid using the smith because the fixed bar path is unnatural and your body misses out on all the micro-adjustments and whole-system workout that you get when your body has to learn how to balance a free bar correctly while moving it. in fact, the consensus seems to be that smiths are dangerous although i've never given one a chance to injure me, personally. i do see people using the one at my rec centre, mostly for squats, benching or shrugs, but idk how safe it is. i use it now and then as a chin/pullup bar, or the random moments when i feel like trying pushups.
is there any chance your gym has barbells or kettlebells? i can imagine how disappointed you must be, but you can make a good start using these, and get pretty strong with them too.0 -
So, there aren't any benches for bench press? I used to belong to a Planet Fitness and there were free weights, just not a lot. 2 or 3 benches with Olympic bars and 1 squat rack tucked into a corner. I used to use the squat rack and then use the bar from the rack to do rows and deadlifts (if no one else needed to rack). Same with OHP, although, I had to work up to using the 45 lb oly bar. I started with preloaded bars (30 lb) which PF also had. I know PF is a franchise and each location can be different. They certainly don't promote heavy lifting. But I would be surprised if they didn't at least have benches and only bars, free weights since that's all guys want to do; bench and curl. I've heard that some people try to do SL with dumbbells but that is harder to maintain stability and good form.0
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From the (not-so) recent uproar among the youtube fintess community, I think PF has actually moved over to the point where you just can't lift heavy at all. No deadlifts. No barbell squats. And they give you pizza and doughnuts.
For a "judgment free" zone they're awfully judgmental about people that want to go in there and actually DO WORK.
There's usually an appraisal period on the gym membership contracts. I would ask to speak to a manager and review/cancel your membership if you really want to do SL. Machines are not going to give you what people doing free weights are typically after. And their "rules" simply do not fit with the mentality of anyone that goes in there to workout hard.
If you look up Planet Fitness & squat racks on google you get fun stuff like this:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/comments/1un397/planet_fitness_removed_flat_bench_incline_bench/
So yeah.
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I remember all the uproar about PF removing squat racks when I was a member. And, yep, donuts & pizza every month. But I guess I was lucky that our location had free weights & at least one rack. I did leave because I discovered heavy lifting and felt I'd do better at home with my own equipment.0
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I just cannot believe they would take out flat benches! WTH?!0
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So, there aren't any benches for bench press? I used to belong to a Planet Fitness and there were free weights, just not a lot. 2 or 3 benches with Olympic bars and 1 squat rack tucked into a corner. I used to use the squat rack and then use the bar from the rack to do rows and deadlifts (if no one else needed to rack). Same with OHP, although, I had to work up to using the 45 lb oly bar. I started with preloaded bars (30 lb) which PF also had. I know PF is a franchise and each location can be different. They certainly don't promote heavy lifting. But I would be surprised if they didn't at least have benches and only bars, free weights since that's all guys want to do; bench and curl. I've heard that some people try to do SL with dumbbells but that is harder to maintain stability and good form.
That's why I'm so surprised!!! I guess I was naive and had never even heard of a "gym" that didn't have barbells, squat racks, and benches and all that. But they don't! They have the Smith machine and few dumb bells, but that's it!!! I feel so ripped off!!! 0 -
well, hell. i'd take the pizza and doughnuts. and do my best to eat my membership's worth every month, if i couldn't get out of my contract with them. i might even toy with the idea of organizing a global ARMY of serious lifters who'd be willing to pay the dues, invade pf on their free-calorie day, and then mill around telling people the reason they can stuff four slices of pizza into their mouths at a time is heavy lifting . . . which they do somewhere else.
or do they ration it so that each member is only allowed to eat around $5.87 worth?0 -
Sooo I just called and talked to a manager and they are letting me out of the contract and not charging me!!! WOOHOO thank God!! Now to find somewhere else to go...
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I was going to suggest you do that. PF was cool when I wanted to get out of my contract. Good luck & I hope you find a good gym!0
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Glad they were good about it. Still not understanding the whole planet fitness deal, although I would totally eat their pizza and doughnuts0
