Pretty funny stuff, right? Not to the bodybuilders and serious weight lifters who find the way they're portrayed in the commercials offensive and the way they're treated in Planet Fitness clubs quite possibly discriminatory.
Then there's the fact that certain bodybuilding exercises—like dead lifts and clean-and-jerks—are prohibited.
The facility also comes equipped with a "lunk alarm"—a siren that is supposed to go off whenever someone grunts too loudly or drops a heavy weight on the floor. (The latter is a moot point at most Planet Fitness locations, where they don't even have any large weights.)
I've been lectured by staffers for breathing too hard when lifting, and I've gotten dirty looks for excessive sweating in the weight room. Clearly it's not my planet either.
Although it seems paradoxical—like setting up an all-you-can-eat buffet with a "No Fatties Allowed" sign—there's a lot of money in tailoring a fitness club to people who don't actually want to work out. The percentage of Americans who belong to some sort of health club has been holding at 15 percent for years, according to Stuart Goldman, managing editor of Club Industry, a magazine for fitness-business professionals. That's left companies looking for new ways to tap into the doughy majority and capitalize on casual exercisers.
I would never join a Planet Fitness. One, the hypocrisy - they claim to be "nonjudgmental" but that's the one thing they are doing. They are being so judgmental of people who actually work out that they are driving them out of the gym. If "lunkheads" were staring at fat people in the gym and telling them to leave, then I am sure there would be an issue. Two, any gym that won't allow dead lifts and clean-and-jerks is fucking stupid - you don't have to do huge amounts of weight to do those exercises, and they are phenomenal exercises.
Except that when the average Jane and average Joe actually gets in shape, and can lift a 50 lb dumbell, I guess they're no longer welcome...."There are thousands of average Jane's and Joe's for every big lifter. Many of those Jane's and Joe's are intimidated by grunting and 50-lb dumbbells. So, they decided to cater to the thousands at the expense of a smaller segment. It seems to be working quite nicely for them."
http://www.slate.com/id/2293368/
