Thanks for the advice. I used to work out at home but since I moved don't have the space. I'm looking for weights mostly, and it's about five minutes from my house.

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

the dress code

Tell me about the dress code, please.

I'm 82, some health problems, reinforcing hardware in my hip & thigh, and some balance problems. Doctor thinks I should walk, I don't feel safe walking in my neighborhood (some traffic, no sidewalks, and I'm not confident about my balance). I was thinking of joining a gym just so I could use a treadmill to walk for maybe half hour most days.

Planet Fitness is probably the cheapest around here.


What's the dress code you mentioned?

Consider a place with a pool and offering water aerobics. The water is so much easier on your joints and you get a wonderful workout.

Oh, and you might consider one oriented to Seniors. Or not

But seriously, exercise in the pool. I’m not talking about swimming I’m talking about water up to your chest, moving around with or without resistant things. You’re buoyant, easy on your joints, great workout. You’ll have a class, instructor\leader. My Wellness Center has a huge Salt Water Pool.

Surely in your area there is a wellness center for Seniors. Mine requires you to be an age of 50+, for example here: OKC Wellness Center

Good luck to you.
.

Maybe a slight thread drift. there is a kind of life hack with PF...
o They are pretty much everywhere. Persons who want to do say an extended motorcycle trip and don't want to stay in motels, stop by a PF shower, change and walk right out.

Ten bucks a month, a once a year re-up charge about thirty bucks IIRC. The local one getting a treadmill was a problem at times. The 24/7 part is not on weekends though and closed on most holidays.

Another thing was the dress code. No jeans rule was a PITA. Why should it matter if jeans or sweats? Guess I'm a grumpy old man, too many years I had others (school and workplace) dictate what I could and could not wear,damn if someone is going to tell me what I can wear if I am paying to use their facility. I don't like leaving my wallet in a communal locker room, locks are to keep honest people honest nor do I wish to leave it in my car in the parking lot.

My new Medicare Advantage plan pays for my membership at Snap Fitness, a true 24/7/365 operation. Most mornings when I go in there maybe only one other person there. Busy time is early mornings and the 5-7 after work crowd. I can walk in wearing street clothes, the only thing they ask is that in inclement weather we do not walk in from outside wearing the shoes we workout in. Fair enough.

One thing and I know it was a problem with the local PF was their Wi-Fi. Signal was horrible there. The TV's were set on news, daytime TV and other foo-foo channels, no individual controls so you watched their crap while on the treadmill or listen to the 90's crap music over the loudspeakers. I complained numerous times about the Wi-Fi and never was anything done on a permanent basis. A few spots inside I could get an Internet signal on my phone but I could literally move three feet over and lose it but that is what I was stuck with.

I’ve maintained a PF Black membership for 5 yearsborbso as a secondary gym. My main fitness place was always a “circuit training” studio that doesn’t have weight machines or cardio stuff... not really a gym, just class based circuits.

Anyway, PF would be my place for cardio or isolated lifting. I maintained the $20 Black membership because it allows unlimited access to all clubs in the nation, allows me to bring a friend on every single visit to my home club (my wife didn’t need a membership as she won’t go alone), and accsss to the massage table/chairs.

The positives: staff is always friendly, helpful, and they always leave you alone. It’s always clean. Always relaxed. Not much in the way of “serious gym rats” which turn some people off. The bathrooms/locker rooms are spacious and clean. Lots of cardio machines, lots of eight machines. Good tv audio system at every cardio machine. Open all the time.

The only downside is the free weight selection. Dumbbells only go to about 60lbs at my local clubs. No full bars to load up for benching or squats. They do have a counter weighted smith rack or three which works ok for most things.

The downside limits a relatively small amount of customers, I imagine. I personally would use dumbbells up to about 100, but there are ways around that (more reps) depending on your goals.

Back around 2011 I had a membership at PF evacuee I had a strange work schedule and wanted access to their treadmills, I had a squat rack and bench etc in my garage but I was getting off work after 10 so too late to go out running in the sketchy neiborhood I was living in.

Anyways, I got kicked out of Pf for being too serious about running, I guess cranking up the treadmill and doing an hour at 7min/mile was too intimidating for people struggling to get a 15 minute walk in. It was pretty ridiculous, I never grunted or dropped weights, I’d go in late at night, out on my earphones and zone out for an hour, wipe off the machine and leave. They weren’t cool with that.

Places like PF exist because of roided up douches that ruin it for others. I had one try to intimidate me into moving off the equipment I was using so he could get his sets in. Lol

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:

Places like PF exist because of roided up douches that ruin it for others. I had one try to intimidate me into moving off the equipment I was using so he could get his sets in. Lol

This was at a Planet Fitness location?

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:

Places like PF exist because of roided up douches that ruin it for others. I had one try to intimidate me into moving off the equipment I was using so he could get his sets in. Lol

This was at a Planet Fitness location?

No. This happened where I currently workout. PF is modeled to keep those types away.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
no jeans, boots, sandals, or string tank tops. Not to stifling really

Tell that to the young lady who was told to leave a local PF for wearing something like this:



She did leave, btw. She's now a member at my gym.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
Anyways, I got kicked out of Pf for being too serious about running, I guess cranking up the treadmill and doing an hour at 7min/mile was too intimidating for people struggling to get a 15 minute walk in.

Yours is not the first story I've heard from ex-PF members who got the boot for being too intense.

They advertise as a "judgement-free zone." What that often means is them eliminating people self-judging based on the appearance or effort on the part of others.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Places like PF exist because of roided up douches that ruin it for others.

*shrug* I've had memberships at three other gyms at various times. None as anal as PF and I've never had a problem with "roided up douches."

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
no jeans, boots, sandals, or string tank tops. Not to stifling really

Tell that to the young lady who was told to leave a local PF for wearing something like this:



She did leave, btw. She's now a member at my gym.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
Anyways, I got kicked out of Pf for being too serious about running, I guess cranking up the treadmill and doing an hour at 7min/mile was too intimidating for people struggling to get a 15 minute walk in.

Yours is not the first story I've heard from ex-PF members who got the boot for being too intense.

They advertise as a "judgement-free zone." What that often means is them eliminating people self-judging based on the appearance or effort on the part of others.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Places like PF exist because of roided up douches that ruin it for others.

*shrug* I've had memberships at three other gyms at various times. None as anal as PF and I've never had a problem with "roided up douches."

Its supposed to be uniform for all planet fitnesses but I think that some locations are more militant than others. I've never seen the lunk alarm used or anybody hassled for the dress code at my location

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin101:
no jeans, boots, sandals, or string tank tops. Not to stifling really

Tell that to the young lady who was told to leave a local PF for wearing something like this:



She did leave, btw. She's now a member at my gym.

quote:

Originally posted by newmexican:
Anyways, I got kicked out of Pf for being too serious about running, I guess cranking up the treadmill and doing an hour at 7min/mile was too intimidating for people struggling to get a 15 minute walk in.

Yours is not the first story I've heard from ex-PF members who got the boot for being too intense.

They advertise as a "judgement-free zone." What that often means is them eliminating people self-judging based on the appearance or effort on the part of others.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Places like PF exist because of roided up douches that ruin it for others.

*shrug* I've had memberships at three other gyms at various times. None as anal as PF and I've never had a problem with "roided up douches."

Its supposed to be uniform for all planet fitnesses but I think that some locations are more militant than others. I've never seen the lunk alarm used or anybody hassled for the dress code at my location

I'm not a roided up douche, I enjoy my gym time but My goal is always to get my work in and leave, I don't make the gym my home.

I didn't think I was running to hard, like I said, Id put on my headphones and just go for an hour, I wasn't paying attention to anybody but myself.

Never seen the lunk alarm or dress code violations at my PF. There are some pretty jacked dudes at mine who breathe heavy while lifting and no one cares. And there are definitely women with sports bras.

My location is quite convenient to my house and doesn't kill the wallet if I don't go all that regularly.

I can see how it's not enough for those at the upper end, but for most people, it's fine. My only complaint is that on weekends, parking is hard to come by, but that's also combined with a very busy kids dance studio next door.

quote:

Originally posted by thumperfbc:
The positives: staff is always friendly, helpful, and they always leave you alone. It’s always clean. Always relaxed. Not much in the way of “serious gym rats” which turn some people off. The bathrooms/locker rooms are spacious and clean. Lots of cardio machines, lots of weight machines. Good tv audio system at every cardio machine. Open all the time.

I'll echo this. I go, hit the treadmill or other machines, and am largely left alone. The place runs on the no-intimidation policy, and for a generally skinny guy like me that's a good thing. The Lunk Alarm is sort of a deterrent to the "Crossfit mentality" -- the lunkheads who shout, drop weights, and act like jerks.

Again, I go there and I'm largely left alone. If I need help or information, it's readily available. It's clean, it's "non-jocklike," and it's a pleasant experience. I'm clearly not in the "gym rat" stereotype, and I'll say I like PF because it's not aimed at the typical "gym rat."

Ten bucks a month? I'm down. Can't complain about that a bit.

quote:

Originally posted by PowerSurge:
Places like PF exist because of roided up douches that ruin it for others.

Exactly.

As for the "dress code," all I see in that is that they don't particularly like people wearing jeans or boots for their workouts. I don't see anything problematic about that.

If you are getting caught up in the dress code or the lunk alarm you need to rethink your behavior outside your own home. I've been a member for a couple years and have not seen any reasonable person get caught up with either of those policies.

If you wear jeans or boots while working out the problem lies with you.

I used to go to PF, but no longer work in that area. Where I go now, I hate everyone else there with the fire of 1000 suns. I cannot stand the d'bags who stand right in front of the weight racks, so they can look at themselves in the mirror, the narcissistic dooshes who take selfies in the locker room mirror, the a-holes who place their gallon water jug on a machine to reserve it while they go socialize. Gawd, I hate those people. But the gym is close to my house, affordable and has great facilities.

My current gym is 24hr Fitness. I've been going there for over 8 years now. I wanted to try a different gym this winter because they keep it very cold. Like 60-65 degrees or so. I take blood thinners and that temp affects me a lot. In my quest, I walked into A PF and walked right back out. Didn't do a thing for me. Also tried LA Fitness and did sign up there and worked out a few times. It was a bit warmer. But I ended up going back to 24 Hr and just wearing sweats instead of shorts.

Don't know OP's age or insurance option, but in Texas Medicare Advantage programs give you free gym memberships at all of the popular fitness centers.

I just quit Planet in favor of a larger gym in my area.

I liked Planet as it served a purpose, it got me back into a gym and got me working out again.

The "lunk alarm" and dress code were never issues for me as I never actually heard the alarm and I am not there for a fashion show.

I left for a couple of different reasons...

My location was fairly small so it would get very crowded and while they had a ton of cardio there was always a log jam on the weight equipment.

I also found the location to be really hot/humid and between that and the dark color scheme it just did not fee like a positive place.

For $10.00 a month it is a great deal and if you have a good location near you then that is awesome. I always found the staff to be very friendly and helpful

I was able to justify the added expense of a "real" gym because my wife had been paying for Orange Theory each month for herself which is very pricey and she wanted out so with that gone we were ale to do a couples memebership for only a few dollars more than what I had been spending on both

quote:

Originally posted by Kevmo:
I just quit Planet in favor of a larger gym in my area.

I had been a Life Time Fitness member for ten years, I guess?, when I tried to save $55/mo. with PF. That lasted a month. Just couldn't do it. So I dropped PF and went back to LTF.

My LTF facility had been a really nice gym, but had become overrun by... *cough*... "a class of people," shall we say?, that didn't know how to conduct themselves in civilized society. Plus management had turned the place into a childrens' day care in the summertime and had begun replacing some of the machines with what I felt to be inferior equipment. Announcing raising my rate to $74/mo. was the straw that broke this camel's back.

I found a local, one-off, "mom-and-pop" operated gym. No pool, saunas, whirlpool, rock-climbing wall, basketball or racquet ball courts, etc., but had all the equipment I needed, a really pleasant environment and is only $25/mo.