If your intention is to lose weight and stay thin by constant exercising, please do not join planet fitness gyms. While most of the locations have all the equipment’s you can use to workout, the design is not conducive to those looking to stay thin.
I have been a member for at least one year, and the following observations will make you think twice before joining that “party atmosphere” gym. I recently canceled my membership privileges, and you can use my insights to save yourself from the agony and weight gain that would occur if you join this gym party.
The best place to start is the slogan of no judgment zone. That in itself is a psychological ploy, to let you know this is really not a workout gym, but a place where you can just visit once in a while, and be happy that you’re doing something to eliminate your weight gain.
It’s like enrolling your kids in a private school that do not give out report cards. This is probably the least bad thing done by this company, to stimulate weight gain in their members.
Before we get to the more nasty stuff that they do to make you gain weight, let’s look at the design of the gym. Each planet fitness location is designed as a bar theme atmosphere. The check in counter reminds you of a bar where you order drinks and food. The reason why treadmills are put up front is because most people use them once in a while.
The serious tools for those looking to build muscle are hidden. This is done for a purpose, as the company does not want hardcore bodybuilders crowding the gym. Planet fitness membership is targeted to people not serious about losing weight.
While the average membership for planet fitness locations is about 10,000, most only visit once every few months. This is why most locations can only accommodate about 250 to 300 people at a time, but has thousands of members.
Now the Incentives
More Obese Members
If you want to be rich, find some rich people to hang out with. People we surround ourselves with have a tremendous influence on our actions and success. If you doubt that, just take a look at your own life. Most of your friends are just like you, behavior wise. If you smoke or get “high” you’ll mostly likely have close friends that do the same.
If you’re poor, most of your friends will be poor. Same thing applies here, if you join a gym where all you see are people overweight and really not doing serious workouts, you’ll gain weight rather than lose those pounds.
The other members you meet will not make you want to lose those extra pounds you’re carrying, in fact, the reverse will be the truth.
Tootsie Roll Trick
Just ask yourself, why would a gym that wants you to lose weight give out a sweet stuff that makes you gain weight. The ingredients in most tootsie rolls are nothing but disguised poison.
The Tootsie Roll you get at planet fitness contains, sugar, partially hydrogenated soybean oil, corn syrup, cocoa, skim milk, condensed skim milk, soy lecithin, and other artificial flavors. I have seen members take a bunch of these rolls, and stuff them into hidden pockets.
This reminds me of a dentist that gave little kids candy after dental treatment, which was probably the main reason for the cavity in the first place.
Since most of the members rarely attend the gym despite having the monthly $10 deducted from their checking account, taking anything of value at the gym is a form of gratification for being a member.
Free Pizza to All Members
Once a month every planet fitness gym gives out free pizzas to every member. In fact, the boxes of pizza are left out in the open for anyone to eat as much as they want. Guess what, the most crowded day at any planet fitness location is free pizza day. Why would a fitness gym give out food that’s been known to cause weight gain?
Because it reinforces the guilt reward system established by the company. In your mindset, you can justify the $10 charged every month even if you rarely attend, simply because you get free pizzas once a month.
How do you feel after eating most foods? You’re tired, and the last thing you want to do is get on a treadmill and try to lose any extra pounds. Some will wait after working out, before accepting the free pizzas. So you spend an hour losing one or two pounds, and then collect food that would make you gain at least a few more pounds.
It’s a vicious cycle, and very profitable to planet fitness franchises. With pizza smell covering the gym, your workout routine will be short-lived. While they have a sign that says two slices to each member, most people just eat as much as they can. This is why most of the members you encounter at planet fitness are obese.
Some locations also have free donut days. Now you know why I am telling you to seek other gyms if your aim is to lose weight and stay thin. The way planet fitness gyms are setup will not encourage you to workout more, the opposite will be the case.
If you’re serious about losing those extra pounds, find a gym that encourages weight loss rather than weight gain. If you have doubts about my observations, go ahead and join planet, do come back in a few months to let us know if you lost a few pounds or gained some.
PF’s crowd depends on the location. I have two I go to, one in a richer area, it’s busier and the majority of the members look great and are inspiring. It’s your own fault/failure if you only attend once a month ; that wont work at any gym. If you have the obedience and determination to go most days of the week, then Planet Fitness will work. It’s only job is to provide the environment..it’s up to the user to take full advantage.
Actually this is ridiculous. It won’t make you gain weight unless you’re a glutton and eat a ridiculous amount then go home and eat even more. I’ve been with PF for awhile now and have lost weight, and I’ve eaten both pizza and bagels from them. They don’t put it out every day. It’s once a month.
Second – the tootisie rolls help balance your sugar after a work out. Do you have any idea how important that is?
While it is not a bad gym to join they do have a setup that’s not conducive for faster weight loss. Just ask yourself, why would a health gym give out free pizza and bagels? Those foods are not healthy by any stretch of the imagination. I used to be a member and I know a thing or two about subconscious manipulation techniques.
Contrary to what you said, tootsie rolls provide your body bad sugar, which ultimately leads to more weight gain. The article should not be used as a reason not to join planet fitness, but just an observation of the bad setup that actually encourages weight gain among all its members.
I joined different gyms and one of them being PF… I rarely went to any of them because I was lazy, I even had a gym in my apartment complex that was a few seconds away from me and I didn’t go. That is because I was lazy and was not serious about my weight loss…now I’m serious about loosing weight so I decided to join PF and I enjoy working out, I go every morning and I’m loosing weight. Your blog is general. There’s people who benefit from PF. I must admit I ABSOLUTELY HATE that whole pizza/bagel/ free tootsie roll thing… I just want to knock the whole set up on the floor….lol….but if you don’t know how to control yourself, then you’re going to go find that kind of food elsewhere. To say that PF will make you gain weight is an unreal statement.
PF is for people like me who want to lose weight, it’s a starter gym. everyone knows this, but people still make every complaint about it.