Crap or crud
I had heard from a co-worker that Planet Fitness (aka. the gym that invented the Lunk Alarm) had changed their ways. She said they pulled out the lunk alarm and all of the bullshit rules that they had come up with are no longer enforced. She also said they added a bunch of new equipment.
Well I have been dealing with the filth, poor upkeep and general apathy that exists at Powerhouse Gym, now known as Pure Fitness to save him franchise fees. I went back to Powerhouse after the infamous lunk alarm was installed and they decided to pull out all weights heavier than 50 pounds. Pure Fitness is a Pure Shithole. Before doing any set with the dumbbells it is necessary to drop them on the floor and spin the weights to tighten them up, else they could fall right off. Same deal with the benches, I often begin a set by reaching underneath the bench and tightening the screws the best I can by hand so the bench isn’t wobbling back and forth. Seats and grips on the various exercise machines are ripped up, there are spider webs and dirt in every corner, the water fountain looks like someone threw up on it and the bathrooms are disgusting. Oh and the owner does whatever he can to keep cooling charges down. He keeps the thermostat at 80 degrees (very hot for a gym) and loves to open the doors instead of using the AC to save more money. The gym crowd at Pure Fitness is 95% men and any women that do show up there are typically 65 years old or older.
Planet Fitness on the other hand is very clean and has much newer and much better 
equipment. I checked in at lunch to see if the Lunk Alarm was indeed gone. It was gone from it’s original home. However it was simply moved to a wall in the back where the free weights are now located. I was assigned to tour with a guy named Jeremy. I told him I was an original member there. He looked me up and my name was still in the computer. I told him the reason I left was because of all the bullshit rules that were put in place. I mentioned how a friend of mine told me the lunk alarm was gone and the long list of rules was no longer being enforced. He told me about the lunk alarm simply being moved although he said it currently wasn’t working. He also said they still enforce the bullshit rules.
Surprisingly Jeremy was right on board with my opinion that all of the rules in place there were bullshit. They annoyed him as well and he said the lunk alarm was the stupidest thing he ever saw in a gym. He said that they did bring some heavier weights back in, now they cap at 75 pounds instead of 50 pounds. They did not bring back any squat racks since those are only needed by “power lifters” which is ludicrous. As I talked to Jeremy out on the gym floor you would have never guessed he was an employee, he hated the childish rules as much if not more than I did. He told me how the corporate office will send plants into the gym to make sure that the staff is following the “rules” If they are found to not be they are at risk for losing the franchise. It is crazy.
I told Jeremy I had been at Powerhouse since leaving Planet Fitness. He winced as he already knew that place was a dump. He actually recommended the old Gold’s Gym that is under new ownership. Unfortunately it is too far away to be useful for lunch time workouts. I looked around some more before leaving. The equipment except for the missing squat rack looked great. There was a much more balanced crowd there gender-wise as well. I told Jeremy I would think about my options.
It’s a tough decision. Do I break my vow to never go back to a gym that has the lunk alarm, even a broken one? Planet Fitness has no room to do a 300 workout. In fact I am sure it would be frowned upon and discouraged since it can get noisy. I could get by with the 75 pound weight ceiling. I don’t need to push anything much heavier than that nowadays. The equipment is nice, the place is clean, and well maintained. The crowd in there has a much younger median age.
Pure Fitness is the cesspool of gyms. The owner has no interest in maintaining the place and cuts corners at every opportunity. The equipment is ancient and falling apart in some cases. It’s incredibly dirty. It’s hot. It smells. On the plus side they have no problems with me doing a 300 workout there and have the space needed to do it. Of course they probably wouldn’t notice or care if someone took a shit in the middle of the floor either. Really the biggest drawback I have to leaving Pure Fitness is the core of 7 or 8 guys that I talk to on a regular basis. I have some good relationships going there and I’d be reluctant to toss them aside. Some of the guys came with me from Plant Fitness, perhaps they would follow me back.
Look at this article and video clip about Planet Fitness and their incredibly stupid “Lunk Alarm”.
Ali talked to the vet. She said that a couple days is not anything to get alarmed about. If a couple more should pass without anything “passing” then we need to take Sadie back. So that’s what we will do.