Planet Fitness – and gyms like this – has long been the end of the jokes in the world. Full of purple decoration, “lunk alarms”, free pizza nights and “zones without crisis”, but lacking bavaria, squat shelves and Deadlift platforms, it is known as the kind of place in which serious athletes and dedicated lifters will not catch dead. Planet Fitness has a dealer to be the type of beginner gymnastics in January, unnecessarily to fly around for a few weeks without changing their bodies and then stop going – while continuing to pay for a difficult participation.
This was basically my reception at Planet Fitness for a long time.
Although I was once a member of a twenty years ago-when Kate and I were married and we could not afford anything else-I had then become the kind of Barbell-Barbell Zealot who looked under my nose with the so-called “Globo-Gyms”.
But, in middle age, I have changed his mind about some things. For example, while I was only a clean cleaner, I now believe that fitness machines can play a healthy role in building strength and muscle.
This made me wonder if I also had a bad appreciation for Planet Fitness and similar gyms.
So recently, I decided to return to Planet Fitness for the first time in two decades to see what kind of training you can really do in a cheap globo-gym. I took a day pass to a nearby location to check it out and do a workout.
Experience surprised me.
Here is my reference.
Note: Because the internet has made us all so cursed and cynical, this is not a sponsorship for Planet Fitness. I have nothing to do with them and have not received a penny from them. To spend the passage of the day, I had to go over my phone number and email, and now I’m bombarded with advertising texts and emails from Planet Fitness. The sacrifices must be made for journalism! I use Planet Fitness as a stand-in for all chain gyms (such as 10GYM) offering cheap monthly membership fees.
My return to Planet Fitness: First impressions
The gymnastics planet I visited is in a mall and once hosted a Walmart many years back.
Enrollment was a breeze. I told the man that I just wanted to train for the day and said they had a free pass for the possible new members I could use.
I said I wasn’t interested in joining, just training for the day.
“This is cool. You can still use Free Day Pass. Good workout!” replied. No upgrade. It didn’t push me to join.
Beautiful.
If I had joined, I could buy one year of participation for $ 15 a month, as well as a starting fee of $ 59 and a $ 49 annual fee. Added in total, this is coming to $ 24 a month for one year. It’s a good deal. Many gyms are double and even four times.
I walked around the installation to take a place on the earth.
My overall first impression of the planet gym since I didn’t visit almost twenty years?
Paradoxically it was impressed.
This planet was truly clean and well maintained-cleaner and better maintained by the $ 75-month gym to which I belonged before I built my garage gym.
Even the bathrooms/locker rooms were really clean.
I didn’t see anything for the night of pizza, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a slice of Pope John after a workout if it fits my macros. Pizza is a decent food after training-a nice balance of carbohydrates, protein and fat.
They still have the “lunk alarm”. He never left while I was there. I imagine rarely, if ever, he ever does. It is a more brand symbol than the disciplinary device.
And honestly, as a Curmudgeonly 40-something, I’m happy Planet Fitness has a rule against people who are loud while working out. While there is evidence that gushing and voice can slightly improve your athletic performance, you need to balance this moderate impulse against the annoying and distracting other people. One of the processing agreements in a shared space is that you are in honor of acting as a careful community citizen.
The lunks that make a noise beam during education are, in the words of Mark Rippetoe, Unsvesfessful “flamboyant, historical pussies, trying to make noise to pay attention to themselves. ”
I am not a weightlifter fan unless you make elevators of the Olympic Games.
As for this third possible violation of Lunk-Alarm-Riggering, I’m not sure you judge if one judges and how/how it is imposed.
So overall, I find the idea to create an alarm for the police what should be a tacit etiquette silly, but tolerable.
Now, what about equipment?
Better than I remembered.
While they are ready in a horrible purple primer, there were many machines for every part of the body you would like to train. Most of it was Precor, but they also had some hammer power machines. All machines were in excellent condition. It looked new. Here are the machines you will find at most PF or 10GYMS:
- Thoracic machine
- Shoulder
- Pec Deck/Reverse Fly Machine
- Side shoulder lifting machine
- Lat Pull-Down Machine
- Seated
- Machine Press and Extension of the feet
- Curl machine
- Hack squat machine
- Bicep Curls and Tricep Extension Machine
- Racking machine
You can create a program that operates your whole body with all these machines.
In addition to the machines, the PF had several cable towers where you could do Lat Pull-Downs and Tricep Pushdowns. There was an operating trainer (which we have written before).
Planet Fitness’ The Dumbbell option was impressive. Their dumbbells were from the American bar and felt good in my hands. You could create a full -body workout only with the dumbbells they have.
While they have no squat shelves, they have smith engines. I’m not a huge Smith engine fan (especially for the bench), but it is a decent choice for squatters, rdls, series and lunges.
And, of course, they had plenty of corridors and elliptical machines where you could make a heart zone 2 while watching Columbo.
Apart from the absence of squatter shelves, there are no Barbells or Deadlift platforms.
But you still have everything you need to create a well -rounded exercise program and get jacked in the process.
Muscle growth science is not interested in your gym branding
Here’s the thing about muscle growth: it doesn’t care if your gym looks like Barney The Dinosaur, whether you use barbells or engines, or if you pay $ 15 or $ 100 a month for a gym.
Your muscles respond to mechanical intensity and progressive overload. Period.
When you submit a muscle. In adequate mechanical intensity and then let it recover with adequate nutrition and rest, it grows. This procedure is the same whether you use a 500 -pound bar or a PIN type machine set to 300 pounds.
Research confirms this. Have found studies These free weights and machines are equally effective in increasing endurance and muscle mass. If you get sufficient mechanical tension to stimulate muscle growth and gradually overload your muscle training in training, you will become bigger and stronger. . . Even if you use bright purple weight machines.
A sample routine you can use in a cheap globo-gym
So you have everything you need to get jacked at Planet Fitness or 10GYM.
I had a great upper body training while I was there. You have a fantastic pump with this purple barney the dinosaur equipment.
Below is a four -day upper/lower split that you could do on every planet throughout the country:
Day 1: Above (this is the exact workout I did on my visit to pf)
- Thoracic machine: 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions
- Sitting Shrugger Shoulder Type: 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions
- Lat Pull-Downs: 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions
- Shoulder Machine Side Lift: 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions
- Pec Deck: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Machine Bicep Hammer Curl: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Tricep Pushdown Cable: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Day 2: Lower (Quad Focus)
- Smith Machine RDL: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Hack Squat: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Bulgarian separated occupation: 3 sets of 8-12 repetitions
- Seated leg extensions: 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions
- Smith Machine Calf Increases: 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions
Day 3: Up
- Shoulder Machine Click: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Hammer Strength Machine Click: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Sitting Machine Series: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Face Care: 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions
- Curls Dumbbell: 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions
- Dips: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
Day 4: lower
- Smith Machine Squat: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Single foot Dumbbell Rdls: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Foot pressure: 3 sets of 10-12 repetitions
- Machine’s leg curls: 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions
- Glute Machine: 3 sets of 12-15 repetitions
- Machine seated beef increases: 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions
I would do this Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. I would make a heart on Wednesday and Saturday.
You can also use this prompt for the chatgpt. Created a truly compact upper/lower separation for me:
You are a training trainer who specializes in hypertrophy. Create a 4 -day lower/lower split using equipment that you can find in Planet Fitness gyms. The purpose is to pack as much muscle as possible.
If your budget or circumstances take you to Planet Fitness or 10GYM, go for it. Train hard, be consistent, focus on progressive overload and you will be surprised by what you can achieve in this purple and yellow zone without crisis.
The iron does not care where you lift it. And neither you.
