Planet Fitness (The Idea)

As I'm sure you ascertained from the title, tonight's review is about the idea of Planet Fitness.  Opening in Mid-May, Planet Fitness is a chain of gyms that is coming to Myrtle Beach.  Located in the old Barnes & Nobles building, the facility will be open 24/7 and have state of the art machines.

Before delving too far into the promises Planet Fitness has made, we need to talk about my other gym experience.  I'm not in the best of shape, so you may be wondering why I get to talk about gyms at all.  I've only belonged to one other gym, American Athletic, here in Myrtle Beach.  When Mark and I joined, it was located on Grissom Parkway in a beautiful building.  It offered 24/7 access via key card/swipe card.  Mark had toured multiple gyms trying to find one that worked for us, and American Athletic was the one we chose.  For the two of us, it was approximately $60 each month.  We primarily used the treadmills, half of which had their own individual televisions.  I thought that was pretty sweet.

One day, it all went sour.  We found out our beautiful gym, that felt so safe and secure, was moving.  Where?  Well, it actually moved closer to where we lived, but that was the only positive.  Where the original location we chose was in the second floor of a pretty new building, this new location was in a mostly abandoned strip mall, behind a Hooters.

Being on the second floor in the previous location assured me that no one who wasn't a gym member would be laughing at me.  I was always very self conscious about working out.  Eventually, I came to realize that the people at the gym weren't laughing at me, as they were more concerned with being physically perfect.  When the gym moved to its new location, that feeling of being removed from criticism was abolished.  Suddenly, anyone who drove through the lot could see me struggling to get in better shape.  In my mind, I know they wouldn't laugh at me, as they don't care what I'm doing.  Unfortunately, my girl brain refuses to accept that logic.

The new location for American Fitness was also much smaller.  This resulted in less machines, some of which weren't even working.  The bathrooms/locker rooms were small and dingy, as opposed to the lush ones at the Grissom Parkway location.  All in all, it was just terrible.

American Athletic had other locations, and we considered just choosing a different one to frequent.  Unfortunately, the closest one was still almost fifteen minutes away.  It, like the new location, had a small number of machines.  It just didn't live up to the location we had been using.

Because we had to drop around $50* as an activation fee, we were hesitant to leave American Athletic, but we couldn't justify staying with them due to the terrible changes.  When we decided to cancel, we were told we could not cancel on the spot.  We couldn't even fill out paperwork there.  We had to send a certified letter to the gym.  On top of that, they required four weeks notice.  Now, I'm sure all of that was in the fine print we agreed to, which is why we did as they requested.  The only problem is that is poor business practice.  It does not take four weeks to cancel an automatic draft.  I work in a bank, and that is just ridiculous.  Additionally, even though we were standing in the gym, saying we needed to cancel, they made us go home, write a letter, visit the post office, and send it via certified mail.  There is a limit to the number of hoops it is reasonable to ask a person to jump through, especially when it was their decision to move to a smaller and dirtier location that prompted our decision.

Now, that you have the background, let me tell you what Planet Fitness offered us today.  First of all, we do not have a contract.  We are month to month, with our annual fee of $39 drafter on June 1st.  I'm not a big fan of the annual fee, but it is still less than the activation fee we had to pay at our last gym.  For both of us, the monthly membership cost is $19.99, much less than the $60 we were paying.

Since the gym is not completed at this point in time, I cannot speak as to the machine quality or the actual gym appearance.  The young man told me today that they will have over sixty cardio machines.  Each treadmill will have its own little TV, which is just great.  I have seen pictures on their site of other locations, and those looked pretty nice.  The space they are preparing for this one looked pretty big.  We were told it was going to be one of the ten largest ones.

There were other perks included with our membership.  One of us is primary, while the other is considered the guest.  The guest can only visit the gym with the primary, but since we always went to the gym together before, we don't see that trend changing.  We figured if either of us would go solo, it would be me, so I get to be primary.  I can take anyone as a guest whenever I want, by the way.  It doesn't have to be Mark, which is nice.

Adding to the value are some other features that don't really appeal to Mark or I, but others may find interesting.  I can tan as much as I want.  They also have those weird hydro beds that you see in the mall.  You can use those too!  You can have someone consult with you to discuss your health and goals, as well.  Mark and I have only tanned once, and it was before we were married.  We didn't want to get burnt when we went to Disney to get married, so we took precautions.  If I remember correctly, it was more than twenty dollars for the two of us for the month.  It seems like Planet Fitness is a good choice for a person who tans and wants to visit the gym.

The final plus when we were chatting with the gentleman at the location today was their cancellation policy.  If we decide to cancel, we can stop by the gym's location or send a certified letter.  Also, they only need short notice to cancel your membership.  I want to say it was seven days notice to keep the payment from drafting again.  That, my friends, is reasonable.

Now, I've only had good things to say about the idea of Planet Fitness so far.  That doesn't mean I'm looking at the gym through rose colored glasses.  I am worried about the constant line about not being a gym for really muscled guys.  They talk about being a judgement free zone, but they're judging those people who want to get incredibly muscled.  The lunk alarm further worries me, as I don't like that kind of attitude.  Frankly, I'm more nervous about the attitudes at this gym than my last one.  The people at the gym I used to frequent were never snooty.  I didn't feel like they judging me for doing what I could.  I always thought they were more focused on themselves.  I hope Planet Fitness doesn't attract the wrong kind of member, but I'm sure it will be fine.  People don't go to the gym to belittle others; they go to improve themselves.

The way Planet Fitness has been sold to me has made it very attractive, so much so that I signed up without them being open yet.  In mid-May, you can expect another review that talks about what they gym is actually like.  Let's hope it's nice.  It's going to be open 24/7 and is only about five minutes away from where I live.  That's a pretty sweet deal.

*It might have been more, but we have blocked it from our minds.  If it was more than $50, I don't want to remember.