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Planet Fitness Is Not a Gym
Planet Fitness Is Not a Gym
And it’s stupid to keep pretending it is
By Lou Schuler
On January 7, a Category 2 shitstorm exploded on Reddit when a Planet Fitness member complained that his local club had removed its only squat rack. By way of explanation, an employee told him “a customer complained that it was intimidating.”
As of Friday morning, the post had generated more than 1,400 comments, and links to the rant showed up all over my Facebook feed. When my New Rules of Lifting coauthor Alwyn Cosgrove wrote about it, his post got 70 shares and more than 300 likes.
But you know what the weirdest part of the story is? That a Planet Fitness franchise still had a squat rack to remove.
“That’s not a typical Planet Fitness,” says McCall Gosselin, the company’s director of public relations. “Our clubs don’t have equipment like squat racks and Olympic benches. Our dumbbells only go up to 80 pounds.”
Understand that Gosselin isn’t apologizing for any of this. This is the company whose commercials make fun of bodybuilders and gym bunnies, the people most dedicated to serious training. This is the place with “lunk alarms” that go off when someone grunts while lifting.
Planet Fitness isn’t embarrassed to be known as the wimpiest gym in town. It’s the business model, and it works. Gosselin says the chain has tripled in size in the past five years, from 242 clubs to more than 750 by the end of 2013. They’re in 47 states and Puerto Rico, with more than 4.5 million members.
Gosselin is also candid about why it works: “The gym industry was built on bodybuilders, people who work out multiple times a week. Planet Fitness was founded as a place for the other 85 percent.”
Or, to be precise, the other 82.5 percent.
According to IHRSA, the trade association for the health-club industry, gym membership in the U.S. peaked in 2011 at just over 51 million, or 18 percent of the population. It declined to 17.5 percent in 2012. But at the same time, Planet Fitness grew.
That’s partly because of the price. “Gyms that charged $10 a month really thrived during the recession,” says Stuart Goldman, executive editor of the trade magazine Club Industry. Another boost was the company’s sponsorship of The Biggest Loser. But there’s also no getting around the broad appeal of its unique branding.
“A lot of people are not lunkheads,” Goldman says. “They just want to get in, get on the treadmill for 30 minutes, and get out. They don’t want to be bothered by anything else.”
Still, Goldman wonders how much longer the business model can continue to work. “If I’m a club owner, I’m going to keep that 15 percent happy,” he says. “There are a lot more options than there were 20 years ago.”
RMKICKS IS POWERED BY: A UNIQUE DESIRE TO EXCELL, BNSF & LF GEAR!!!!
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Post Thanks / Like - 1 Thanks, 1 Likes, 0 Dislikes
chsaw thanked for this post
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they could easily change their business model by having a larger facility and segregating the two, bodybuilders go to this weight lifting room, and peeny weenies go to that weight lifting groom. but they do make a great point as far as their market strategy, very smart, i think it will last a good long time especially with all the fatties we have roaming around chomping on micky deez.
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Post Thanks / Like - 1 Thanks, 0 Likes, 0 Dislikes
chsaw thanked for this post
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Like sensitive said, their business model was well executed. There are too many gyms that are trying to please everyone, which makes both sides of the issue angry about it. My gym has 2 squat racks and dumbbells that go up to 180lbs. But the guy running the place is constantly playing some EDM/Dance Musice/Alternative Rock 'because of other members in the gym'.
But lets be honest here. These people who aren't hurling the big weights are barely be there, don't damage the gym equipment, and will continue to pay out of sheer guilt that they don't work out enough. It's the BEST people to have for a gym owner. Limited liability, and they pay the same amount (monthly/yearly) as those guys causing structural damage from dropping 500lb loaded bars on the ground after 1RM deadlift. Can you blame these guys?
I was in a Planet Fitness once to show one of my ex's some shit around the weight room. It was pizza day. I wanted to break everything until I didn't see purple anymore.
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First and only time I ever went in a Planet Fitness was while on vacation in Daytona Beach Fla. a couple years back. I noticed the weirdness of the place right from the start. It was shoulder day I am pretty sure because I had to use a smith machine to do my presses on. People began looking at me pretty weird right from the start. To make a long story short I had never really heard to much about what people say concerning these gyms. But I was looking in the mirror while doing my lateral raises etc. and looked up and saw the Lunk Alert sign and a light. Now it did not take me long to figure out what it was and meant. I remember getting mad thinking if these pansies turn that thing on and embarrass me I am going to go off.
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It's clearly not a gym. So what the fuck is it?
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It's kind of weird (maybe sad) that a corporation's bread and butter is made off of a group of people's desire to be mediocre . I'm not of the mind that everyone needs to be "hardcore" like we are but this corp is openly hostile to anyone who wants to push themselves even a little bit.
It reminds me of the little leagues around this country that refuse to keep score . What's wrong with the desire to be great or to strive to be great ? I'm sure they would say nothing's wrong with that but not at our gym . Can't wrap my little brain around this kind of thinking .
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Good post brother! I went there once, I got to work out but it took me 5
Minutes just to get in. They were trying to keep me from getting. Then
the Lunk Alarm went off while i was on their smith machine. I saw their
definition of a lunk and just left. haven't been back since
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Thanks BB! They go out of their way to single u out , embarrass u and that's ok? The double standard is sickening is almost funny .Have no doubt U handled yourself just fine but why try and make anyone feel unwelcome ? Isn't that what they dislike about us?
Us meatheads have more substance than we are given credit for . Lol
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Do they really have a fucking "lunk alarm"?!? Please tell me this isn't true.
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It's so true bro!! Check YouTube
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