Planet Fitness is a gym that is often used by beginners. They offer a wide variety of machines at a low price of $10 a month. The best thing about that is that there is no commitment when you sign up.
Planet Fitness likes to call themselves a “judgement free zone”. This is encouraging for beginners and more casual gym users. At first, the idea of working out and going to the gym can feel intimidating. Having people that are in the same boat as you physically, makes the intimidation factor of working out not as bad.
While Planet Fitness is one of the fastest growing gym chains in America, there are some pros and cons you must know before signing up with them.
| Pros | Cons |
| Open 24 hours Monday-Friday (7-7 Saturday and Sunday) | Serves junk food |
| Inexpensive | No group classes; only individual workouts |
| Clean and spacious | Equipment |
| No wait for machines | The Lunk Alarm |
| Judgement free zone |
As most things in life, there are pros and cons to it. This list is to help if Planet Fitness is right for you.
Planet Fitness Pros
- Planet Fitness being open 24 hours is a huge advantage to most gyms and gives the customer the most flexibility possible. One of the first few things you want to figure out when you are starting out in the gym is what schedule works best for you. Planet Fitness being open 24 hours helps make that choice for you.
- It only costs $10 a month to access Planet Fitness. They also usually have promos throughout the year where you can join for $1 and get the rest of the month free.
- Planet Fitness makes sure their gym is cleaned with various wipes that the customers can use before and after their workouts along with the routine cleaning that the staff would do.
- Planet Fitness has a wide range of cardio machines that you usually don’t have to wait for one.
- As mentioned before, Planet Fitness calls themselves a “judgment free zone”. Which means no matter who you are and what you look like you’ll be able to workout in peace.
Planet Fitness Cons
- On the first Monday of each month, Planet Fitness offers pizza to each of their members. Some people believe that Planet Fitness does this to keep their members out of shape and continue working out at their gym. Regardless if this is true or not, the idea is counterintuitive.
- This may not be a con to all, but some people enjoy to work in group settings with workouts that include cycling, yoga, or pilates.
- Planet Fitness lacks in the equipment department with the amount of free weights they offer. Their free weights go up to only 75 pounds. Depending on how advance you are at the gym they may not be enough for you. Planet Fitness also does not offer free squat racks or bench press machines. Instead they offer smith machines, which may not be ideal for everyone.
- Since Planet Fitness is a judgment free zone, they have an alarm in their gym called the “Lunk Alarm”. This alarm goes off by the staff when they feel that members of the gym are being excessive in their workouts by slamming the weights or screaming. This idea doesn’t let customers possibly push to their full potential because they might be afraid to set off the alarm.
If you are a beginner in the gym, Planet Fitness is the place for you. Planet Fitness offers enough machines and weights that you can get an ideal workout in order to hit whatever goals you’re in. If you a more advanced lifter, Planet Fitness is probably not the best idea for you.