I let out a chuckle as I drove through town one day and spied the big purple and yellow sign.
"Planet Fitness coming soon!"
I hadn't heard much good about the place, and had only seen the jokes about them serving pizza.
Now, I like pizza. I think pizza has a place in everyone's life, and often make it fit in my macros. But to serve it a gym where people are often struggling to eat well, and workout? I don't agree with it.
Anyway.....
They moved in quickly, and pretty soon I had friends joining, and telling their friends. I didn't want anything to do with it after I heard you couldn't do deadlifts, or press a barbell overhead.
I'll stick to training at home, thanks.
Then my mom joined, and chose the option to bring a guest. She invited me to go with her, and kind of walk her through her workout, and I didn't turn her down.
I sat in my car Wednesday evening, looking at the front of the gym with it's big "Judgment Free Zone" , plastered across the front wondering what I was doing here, hoping I didn't see anyone I knew.
I was hoping for at least a squat rack and was sad when all I saw were Smith machines. :(
We signed in, and I took a better look around. It was pretty busy since people were getting off work, but overall it had a clean and relatively pleasant atmosphere.
I helped my mom through her workout, and was eager to get going with mine. I was starting day 1 of Triple Threat (still not running much at the moment) and was starting off with squats.
I made a huge mistake and completely forgot to warm up before diving in. I put 70lbs on the bar, and dove into my timed squats. When I finished those 5 sets my legs felt like jello. Then came walking lunges. Then leg extensions, and more jello. The gym only has two leg press machines, and both were taken so I swapped that out for something else.
There's a little section with Kettlebells, battle ropes (which I thought were kind of cheesy), bands, an adjustable box jump, and whatnot.
My mom had gone to run errands, so I had some time to kill. I grabbed the 30lb KB and did three rounds of 10 KB swings, and 10 burpees as a finisher. I was sweating like a pig, and could literally barely walk. I hadn't had a workout quite this intense or heavy in quite a while!
I don't normally do cardio on strength days, but I still had some time so I hopped on the treadmill fully intending to just go easy as a cool down. I got on there and promptly started bumping the incline as far as it would go , and sped it up. The gal next to me looked like I was insane as I stood there, my machine beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beeping. I lasted all of two minutes before the shaking in my legs got so bad, so I called it quits and went to change.
The next day I was so sore. I was supposed to do conditioning, but I could barley walk or sit. My glutes, hamstrings and quads were hating me at work. Or maybe I was hating them?
I lay in bed last night debating whether or not to get a membership. It was cheap.....but no squat rack????? Back and forth, back and forth....
Then today I did a thing. A thing I said I would never do. I got a planet fitness membership.
Why?
Because I was in a training funk. I would groan as I bundled up in the cold to train with my weights and barbell, and I've been running the same road for three years. Once I got going I was okay, and enjoyed myself, but I needed a different atmosphere.
Would I rather join a Crossfit gym? Absolutely. Can I afford it? Nope. Do I wish they had a real squat rack? Duh.
I've heard people say "You can't get fit at a Planet Fitness, But I'm going to let you in on a little secret.....
You can get fit at home using just your body. You can get fit with a barbell and a few weights. You can get fit with machines. You can get fit at a Planet Fitness.
If you are eating smart and training hard, (and correctly), you can reach your goals. It's as simple as that.
I don't just love PF, but I'm looking forward to getting out of my rut and crushing my new training plan. I will still have days were I train at home and get in my deadlifts, front squats and (my favorite), push presses, but a change of scenery is very muchly needed right now.
So to all the PF haters, (speaking partially to myself), yes, there lot's of newbies who you'll see performing "Bro Reps", and whatnot, but you'll also find more experienced people who ignore everyone else, go in, get work done, and leave. They're not just there to socialize, and flaunt their muscles.
Plus, it's only $10 . Even I can afford that.
