- Planet Fitness is always very clean.
- The staff is friendly and helpful.
- There are rows and rows of cardio equipment.
- They have lots of free weights and weight machines.
- It's open 24 hours!
These are all very wonderful things. But I thought of 5 things that Planet Fitness could do to be just a little bit better!
1. Cool it down! It is always hot in there. Do you think if we all agreed to pay $11 a month they'd turn the A/C up a little?
2. Have televisions on the cardio equipment. Right now the TVs are far away on a wall and you can't change the channels.
3. Increase the max time on cardio equipment. Speaking of the cardio machines, I wish you could set the time for more than 60 minutes on the treadmill. I hate stopping mid workout because the machine timed out. There is no rule at PF that you can only be on the machine for 60 minutes, so I don't understand why they are all set up like that?
4. Get more weight benches. I rarely lift at Planet Fitness anymore, but when I did, there were peak times at the gym where I really wished they had a couple more weight benches. Oh, and while they're at it...
5. Get another assisted pull up machine. They only have one, and it wouldn't be so bad except that that's the machine people LOVE to hog!
I feel bad for even complaining at all about Planet Fitness. For $10 a month, it is soooooo worth it to be a member there. I know sometimes the place gets a bad wrap, but honestly, besides these quite minor complaints, there is nothing wrong with working out there!
Over the years of my blog, it looks like I have had a lot to say about Planet Fitness! In the spirit of Friday 5, here are 5 more posts about Planet Fitness that I have written.
Have you ever been a member of Planet Fitness?
How could your gym be better?
Today, I'm linking up with the DC girls for Friday 5!
Well, since we moved, my "gym" has moved from the basement (quite posh) to the garage (it has the needed head room for the mill). It is COLD, but dry. I have a big TV directly in front of the mill. The improvement would be that I need to find a show I want to watch that is on Apple TV...but it is "free"!
ReplyDeleteWell your gym is definitely convenient! I am not familiar with what is on Apple TV. I hope you find something good!
DeleteThat default programming on cardio equipment is annoying. My home treadmill defaults to 30 minutes. I do have the option to extend it but it requires pressing the minute button one time per minute so it is a bit time-consuming. Extra finger workout, I guess?
ReplyDeletelol that is funny! PF's tacks on a 5 min cool down but the machine automatically slows down each min. So you could bump it back up the first min but it will go back down after a min is up.
DeleteI've never been to Planet Fitness, but always see it / referenced in the Bigger Loser. They make it seem nice!
ReplyDeleteIt is very clean and friendly. Oh, and they never call me! I was a member at LA Fitness for like 2 months and they called me like once a week to sign up for personal training. It was sooooo annoying. I have been a PF member for 10 years and they have NEVER called me! :)
DeleteWe dont' have Planet Fitness here but I probably wouldn't join if it didn't have a pool. I do love our town's rec center and it has 2 beautiful pools BUT I wished they opened at 5 am every day. They open at 5:30 am M-F and that extra 1/2 hour wait kills me (LOL), then 6 am on Saturday and not until 11 am on Sunday! Mostly not an issue for the weekend times since I tend to swim during the week. Overall, though, I really love the facility -- it's huge!
ReplyDeleteThat is cool you have such a huge facility that you love! Our YMCA is huge and has a pool but they have similar hours to your rec center- they don't open until 5:30 on weekdays and Sundays they don't open until like noon or one!!!
DeleteSeriously by 11 am if I have not worked out...it's not happening. Well, truth be told, if I don't do it first thing before the sun comes up, it's not happening!
DeleteWell, #1 has a silver lining: heat acclimation training! I actually wish our gym were a bit warmer for this reason, I think the days spent running there will come in handy when race day is the first hot day after training in all cool weather, because why wouldn't it be??
ReplyDeleteThat is definitely a benefit but at the time, UGH! Hot + stuffy + smelly = sucky!
DeleteUgh a hot gym is the pits. Literally. :D
ReplyDeleteMany moons ago when I belonged to Bally's they instituted this thing where you had to make a treadmill "reservation". I'll never forget once I was running along for all of 10 minutes not knowing this when the person who reserved it came up and ordered me off. Talk about a sucky system.
When I was at college my first two years there, we only had one gym and it only had like 5 pieces of cardio equipment and you had to sign up for it like you did! Very strange!
DeleteYeah, I was going to say you better have "cool it down" as your number one thing to change! And honestly, joking aside, it's actually dangerous to have it that hot. They need to fix that STAT! Happy Friday, Megs! :)
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday, Suzy!!!! :)
DeleteWe had TVs on the treadmills at the Y in CO. I hated them because they were ALWAYS on the fritz. People would spray the damn screen (and treadmill buttons) with the disinfectant and ruin them. I think getting stuck with a broken TV was the worst. Plus, if you don't want to watch them, they were positioned kind of high and got in the way. At 5'2", most gym treadmills make me feel boxed in because the screens and rails are too high for us short people to be totally comfortable.
ReplyDeleteWe have a cheap gym here that I want to try. It's orange something? Or the color is just orange? It's $10 just for equipment use. $20 if you want to do the classes. The classes are Les Mills, so I'm thinking about it. But no child care, so I'd be screwed in the summer.
Well that is certainly a different perspective on the whole TVs on cardio equipment thing. I always thought it would be nice to have it right there.
DeleteThat stinks that they don't have childcare, but I guess for that cheap, no bells and whistles.
I hope you like your PF as well! Let me know how it is! :) $65 is a lot. The "nice" gyms around here are anywhere between 30-60 depending on how many bells and whistles.
ReplyDeleteIf there were a planet fitness with in 10 minutes of me I would join.
ReplyDeleteLuckily mine is close and also on the WAY to work.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize that gyms could control the time limit on those treadmills! I kind of thought they were just set that way. It would definitely make sense for them to allow longer times unless there is a wait or something!
ReplyDeleteWell that's a good point, I guess it could be that the machines are set that way.
DeleteA lot of my east coast peeps join for the winter so they can run inside. There are no membership commitments, I think? Everyone I know seems to like it but they haven't mentioned the time limit on the treadmills. That would annoy me too!
ReplyDeleteIt is basically the only reason I am a member there at this point since now I have weights to lift at home. Yup, no commitments and super cheap!
DeleteI used to go to Bally's which is now LA Fitness. Kind of the same thing. Cheap and no frills. I just used the weights. Worked out fine at the time.
ReplyDeleteOur LA Fitness here is pretty frilly. It's pretty much the opposite of PF.... in my neck of the woods, anyway!
DeleteI used to be a member of Planet Fitness, I was use some of the machines and the treadmill. If I wanted to do more free weights, I'd have to go really early when it's not packed!
ReplyDeleteMy PF is really crowded between 4-7. I couldn't imagine trying to lift then!
DeleteLOL. I couldn't stand a warm gym. And I NEED tv on the treadmill! But $10 is a bargain.
ReplyDeleteI know! That's why I feel bad complaining!
DeleteHMMMMMMMMMMM
ReplyDeleteI just had three comments disappear! test test test
lol of course that's the one that shows up!
DeleteI am so sorry, Kristina! Is it still your phone? Does this happen a lot?
DeleteLast night it was on my work laptop and tonight it was on my personal laptop. I think when I use the Name/URL option now it might be marking me as spam? It looks like the comment goes through but it just doesn't show up.
DeleteWhen I use my Google sign-in it seems to work perfectly! :)
I belong to a very small gym they only have 15 cardio machines for example and one set of weights). I love the size but try to avoid peak hours else it is not fun.
ReplyDeleteOh man I can imagine! But if you had the whole place basically to yourself it could be nice and cozy. :)
DeleteI'm only familiar with Planet Fitness because of the commercials, which actually drive me crazy! $10 a month is a great deal though. I do hate that treadmills are pre-programmed to 60 minutes.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I ever saw the commercials. Are they really cheesy?
Deleteno gym membership here because i go to pure barre and have an office gym now. but we do have a new planet fitness located by us!
ReplyDeleteThat's awesome that you have a gym at your office! So convenient!
DeleteWe don't have a Planet Fitness in my little town. :) But my biggest pet peeve about a gym is when they keep it too hot. I don't want to sweat BEFORE I start working out. I also never understand why equipment times out after 60 minutes. It seems like it is like that everywhere.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like it does do that everywhere. Someone pointed out in the comments that maybe that is something that can't be changed on the machine?
DeleteI feel like the time on the treadmills is pretty standard, but I have NO idea why it exists. Is it a safety measure? In case you've fallen asleep on it or something?! haha!
ReplyDeleteI've considered joining the new PF near me. I think for how little I'd use it, $10 a month would be a fair price!
It is great o have in your back pocket for bad weather days when you still need to run. Even if I didn't go all year, I'll pay $120 to have a back up to put my mind at ease! (But I have gone at least like10-15 times so far this year so at least I can truly say I am getting my money's worth finally!
DeleteMy gym has the same issue! Televisions are super far away and I cannot change the channel. Sometimes I'm trying to watch Ellen reading subtitles and not having a clue what they say because they're so tiny.
ReplyDeleteEllen in subtitles is a travesty.
Delete