Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Planet Fitness are hypocrites.

A few months back I joined a local Planet Fitness. Although I work at one of the best equipped private personal training studios in central Florida, I felt it was important that I train at a "regular" gym for the sake of the bodybuilding book I'm writing. The majority of the people I am writing this book for work out either at similar gyms or with a basic free weight set up at home and I think it is important that I train in a similar environment to keep a more typical gym experience in mind when writing the book. Although the equipment is sub par - dumbbells only go up to 80, too few Olympic bars, too few squat racks, and the selectorized equipment is generally second-rate stuff like Cybex and Body Masters - it isn't a terrible place to train. During off-peak hours it is usually possible to get a good workout in without spending too much time waiting for equipment.

The first place I usually go when I enter the gym is the squat rack, either to squat or to use the bar for deadlifts since the rest of the Olympic bars are usually being used on one of the few benches. When I arrived tonight I noticed the equipment had been rearranged, and the squat racks were not where I expected them to be. It turned out they weren't anywhere else either. I asked one of the front desk people what happened to the squat racks and he said the management had them removed. Apparently, Planet Fitness feels the squat racks are intimidating to their general membership and they don't want to project the image of being a "bodybuilding" gym.

"Judgment free zone" my ass. Apparently, Planet Fitness doesn't appreciate the irony in claiming to be a "judgment free zone" while negatively judging bodybuilders, or realize how stupid it is to consider squat racks as something exclusive to bodybuilding, powerlifting, and other potentially "intimidating" activities. If they were truly interested in a judgment free environment they would drop their anti-semitic, anti-muslim dress code (they do not allow the skullcaps worn by some Muslims, Hasidic and Orthodox Jews and some other religious groups) and other policies that seem specifically aimed to discourage people with an interest in bodybuilding and heavy lifting in general from joining.

Removing the squat racks also shows how little Planet Fitness knows (or cares) about providing effective training equipment for their members. Assuming a person has no physical condition that would prevent them from squatting, a properly performed barbell squat is one of the most productive exercises a person can perform. In fact, if the dozens of people I regularly see wasting their time barely exerting themselves on the treadmills, eliptical machines and other steady-state machines started squatting regularly instead, they might actually start seeing some results.

In any case, I was not about to let these misguided assholes prevent me from squatting.

Before squat racks, people would get under the bar for squats by tipping it on end, getting a wide, even grip on the bar, leaning towards it and placing the bar across the traps and shoulders, then squatting down while rocking the bar over onto their back. This is known as a "Steinborn lift", named after the legendary strongman and wrestler Milo Steinborn. I grabbed one of the Olympic bars, found an open space, and loaded up one side with a 45 and a 25 to see if Planet Fitness's cheap spring collars would hold the plates with the bar tipped up on its end. Quite a bit less than I would normally squat, but since I hadn't done a Steinborn lift before and was not very confident in the collars, I figured I'd start light and get a feel for the movement, and make up for the lack of weight with heigher reps for tonight. Surprisingly, the collar held, but I'm going to buy a pair of heavy duty ones to bring with me next time.

I loaded up the other side, and despite expecting the movement to be a bit awkward, it turned out to be easier than I thought. Getting the bar back on the ground afterwards was a little more difficult, as I had to do so slowly to avoid breaking Planet Fitness's noise rule and setting off their "Lunk" alarm - an alarm complete with flashing light and siren Planet Fitness uses to threaten people who break their rules about no grunting or dropping weights with public humiliation. Apparently, Planet Fitness doesn't care if they make people who train with heavy weights feel uncomfortable, as long as those people don't make everybody else uncomfortable.

On their web site, Planet Fitness claims they are there to provide an environment in which anyone can be comfortable and everyone feels accepted and respected. I certainly don't feel any of those things when they remove a piece of equipment I value as an important part of my workouts, and why am I and everyone who shares my opinion less important than the rest of their members? I was definitely not the only one pissed off about this. After my set of squats, several other members made comments about how angry they were about the squat racks being removed. Planet Fitness is definitely not making any of these people feel comfortable. Quite the opposite.

To be fair, the person at the desk I talked to seemed just as pissed off about the squat racks being removed, and suggested I go to the Planet Fitness web site and use the contact form to send a complaint. I don't blame the staff, I blame the morons at corporate and the individual gym owners who went along with the decision.

If they don't put the squat racks back soon I'm just going to cancel my membership and go somewhere else. In the meanwhile, I'm going to keep squatting despite their hypocritical attempts to prevent it. Ironically, again, their attempt at preventing people from performing one "intimidating" exercise, is going to result in people resorting to even more "intimidating" behavior, by going old-school and performing the Steinborn lift to be able to squat.

A couple more things; If you're in a similar situation and want to try the Steinborn lift use common sense. Make sure the collars are going to hold the weight you're using when the barbell is tilted on its end before you attempt each lift. Start light and practice getting the bar up and back down again using progressively heavier weights until you get to the heaviest weight you feel you can safely perform the movement with. Use a spotter or two possible. Train hard, but be safe.

If you work out at a Planet Fitness that has recently removed their squat racks, the best thing to do may be to cancel your membership and go workout somewhere where the owners are not hypocritical assholes. Don't reward Planet Fitness's disregard for and prejudice towards you by continuing to pay dues there.