Planet Fitness Is The Worst Gym In Existence

Not purely, but it's certainly a bonus. I am more likely to do the workout when the equipment is staring me in the face. I have a heavy bag in my dining room, and my lifting cage and treadmill in the living room. I do go to the rec centre to swim. But when it's -30C outside, it's hard to talk myself into it. In other words, I'm pretty lazy.

lachiespior wrote: »

We have all had bad experiences with gyms and often the people in them, but i continually see Planet Fitness being constantly ridiculed for being extremely judge mental and not caring for their patrons!? I did some research and i found heaps of videos of them even kicking people out of their gym!? I found this article about why PlanetFitness Kills Gains idealtestosterone.com/planet-fitness-mistakes/ and i wanted to know if you guys agree with it? or have your own opinions on the gym? not sure whether to join or not!

That article is geared toward people who want to do lifting with a focus on heavy lifting and Olympic-style movements. So yes, Planet Fitness is not going to provide the equipment they need to reach those goals (nor do they pretend that they do). That does not mean that it is not a good option for other people.

It seems to have a low membership cost and there seem to be a decent number of facilities, so if you are someone who would like the option of working out close to work and close to home, it would fit your needs. They have cardio equipment, some free weights, and machines. The majority of their clientele are going to be people who want to get in some exercise, but may not have specific fitness goals which would require a facility with certain equipment.

Apparently, offering pizza to their members once a month is a thing. There is nothing wrong with eating pizza once a month (or any other time), and no one is making you eat the pizza, so it's kind of a ridiculous thing to consider as a negative.

Given the price and availability, it's not a bad place to start if you are looking to get back into exercise and the equipment and schedule meet your needs. How long it meet your needs is going to depend entirely on your goals.

I will say I went because of their "no judgement" policy. I was obese and had a real fear of what people would think of me at the gym. A couple of my super fit friends have a general disdain for overweight folks having once been overweight themselves, for whatever reason they tend to overlook that I'm obese when they make comments in front of me. I can't understand fully but I think it has more to do with their former self.

Anyhoo, I was doing the c25k at Planet Fitness and I injured myself after 3 weeks. So I only went 3x's a week for 3 weeks. People seemed to just do their thing. I never heard the lunk/lump or whatever alarm go off.

I think it has it's place, maybe for those just starting out. idk

PF member here. I like it fine. Plenty of equipment that suits my needs. Open 24 hours. Nobody bothers me.

I have love for PF because it was the gym I joined when I started my journey. I lost 120 lbs while going to that gym. I left and joined Anytime Fitness because I wanted to deadlift.

Gallowmere1984 wrote: »

It works fine for what it is: a wad of glorified hamster wheels marketed to those who accept mediocrity as acceptable. Unfortunately, given that they have spread like the plague, there are clearly a lot of people that fit that description.

Mediocrity is sitting at home on the couch, like the average slob does. Going to the gym - any gym - and putting in effort is not mediocre. I do most of my running and cycling outdoors on trails, but the weather and my schedule don't always allow for it. Those glorified hamster wheels get the job done. I also use free weights and a few of the machines, because I'm not hardcore. I'm just "mediocre", and that's cool with me. What's there gets the job done for my purposes. I'm sure that if you are a hardcore weight trainer this may NOT be the ideal gym for you. It's OK that we don't all share the same high-level fitness goals, and this particular style of gym serves a basic need for a lot of people and it's super affordable. I would think people would love that there is a place like this. It keeps the plague of mediocrity was spilling over into your gym.

Cappy29 wrote: »

In my estimation, if you want to build muscle Planet Fitness isn't the place to do it. To do that you must lift heavy, which means grunting and dropping weights. I'm not talking about becoming a body builder I'm talking about increasing mass. I avoid that gym because of that. After reading your linked piece, it seems to me PF wants people to join and not come. You know pay for a year without going. The owner of the gym I lift at calls it, "making a donation to the cause." There are other, better gyms. Good luck.

progressive tension overload with adequate volume are the things necessary to signal adaptations responsible for hypertrophy.

Dropping weights and grunting aren't necessary components of that.