Add this to the list of things you can’t do at the gym: grunt. The Associated Press reports that Planet Fitness, which has 120 facilities across the country, prohibits members from wearing bandanas, banging weights on the ground, or grunting, all of which, according to the company, can create "an intimidating atmosphere. When an offender is spotted, the AP reports, "lunk alarm" sounds to warn the member. How serious are they? Mike Grondahl, CEO of Planet Fitness, says they are serious enough that, nationwide, they are tossing out about one member a week.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
As a competative bodybuilder and a former competative powerlifter, someone with more than thirty year experience in working out in various gyms in many states throughout the country, I read the article about the Planet Fitness policy and did not know whether to laugh or to cry.
As an example, I do leg presses with 930 lbs. I do leg extensions with 240 lbs. All of my other exercises for all other body parts are comparable. I work each muscle or muscle group to the point of “positive momentary muscular failure”. That means that I would not be unable to complete another repition of that exercise in good form. It is all part of “progressive weight resistance exercise”.
Apparently, such productive and health promoting exercise is not being practiced at PLanet Fitness and they do not seem to want their clients to practice it. This makes sense as you make a lot more money by keeping members coming back day after day, month after month and year after year, even though they are accomplishing nothing and getting no where then if you have them actually train effectively and thereby be able to reach their personal goals faster.
Planet Fitness is a “social club” and not a gym. They just happen to have some paper weights there for people to play with. Obvoiusly, no serious bodybuilder, powerlifter or olympic lifter will be working out there. The people who do choose to work out there will not have the benefit of seeing what hard work and dediaction can acheive, nor experience the inspiration of the same. The people who work out there will, in a year or ten, look just like they did when the joined up despite of all the time they will have wasted. Good luck to them as they will not be the winners in life. They will be the “also rans” never reaching their goals, never accomplishing what they might have and whose dreams simpled faded away. They will be the ones who say, “I might have…”. instead of “I did…”.
I think they got it wrong. This is not a gym your talking about, maybe a spa. What next a no sweating policy.
I understand the idea, I get incredibly annoyed by people who smash dumbbells together, grunt like they’re passing kidneystones, and drop weights on the floor. But I myself am guilty of the occasional grunt, especially when I’m lifting something very heavy. It’s a matter of how they choose to inforce this policy, in my opinion.
They could probably accomplish their goal by insisting on making sure people do it right. Most grunts and growls and yowls and grimaces are accompanied with lousy form and too-heavy weights. You can’t lift weights with your face. An explosion of air can give a power boost — a la the kiai in martial arts. So if you’re in the big leagues moving very heavy weight…but most people training are not. Maybe that gym should have a proper form policy. That’s one I’d like to see. No more bouncing the bar off your chest while doing bench presses. No more leaning over the handle and using bodyweight to shove down on tricep pushdowns. No more swinging the bar on bicep curls….
I’m with William Harrell, started power lifting and moved to bodybuilding. Been at it for 25 years. Sometimes you gotta gunt, groan, or just plain “cheat” to get that last rep to failure. I presume that some of the bloggers here are not serious weight trainers, so they don’t know how hard it can be. I’m going to give up my membership at Golds for the same reasons that I wouldn’t join Planet. They are just plain yuppie clubs that are not interested in the true weight trainer, just the bucks. I understand that all people are not interested in hard core training, but sadly enough the members at these clubs start looking in poor shape, and for the most part never progress past a low level of physical fittness even with the help of the so called personal trainers.
I had the same thing happen to me at a Gold’s gym in Tamecula, Calif.
I was using a cable machine and at the end of a rep the weight would lift me off my seat and the weight woulde clang slightly at the top. It was fairly early in the morning the gym was beautifully and fully equipped with very few people in the gym and a trainer conducting an introductary tour quickly stepped over to my location and warned me about making to much noise and abusing the equipment. HuH!
I had the same thing happen to me at a Gold’s gym in Tamecula, Calif.
I was using a cable machine and at the end of a rep the weight would lift me off my seat and the weight woulde clang slightly at the top. It was fairly early in the morning the gym was beautifully and fully equipped with very few people in the gym and a trainer conducting an introductary tour quickly stepped over to my location and warned me about making to much noise and abusing the equipment. HuH!
I think making an excessive noise is an attention seeking stunt by poor formed pencil necks trying to get attention.
I have to weigh in on this grunting BS. I go to the local YMCA on a regular basis. I no longer weight train instead I ride a spin bike or rowing machine. I work to extreme aerobic fitness and have been doing so for 40+ years. When you work to extremes of your personal parameters it just plain hurts and occasionally a grunt or groan is inevitable and a welcome way to ease the pain. Recently the toilet seat watchers group whined that I was intimidating. All I can say to them is get a life. If mediocrity is your goal your welcome to it but leave me alone. Your attentions are not welcome. I am quite fed up with constant pandering to the lowest common denominator that is rampant in this society.
I work as a personal trainer in a gym, I practically live in that gym, so, yeah, I am there a lot. I cross train my people and prep for triathalons. One exercise I have my swimmers do is to hold their breath all the way across 25 yard pool, you better believe that when they come up for that breath, it aint quiet…AND it should not be. They are getting ready for competition!!! I encourage people to exert their energy by grunting on the contraction…You know, when the weight goes up thats when you breath OUT!…
Hey, get into it people! Go to the fail zone, I agree with the medeocrity commit, if you don’t like it, then stop comparing yourself with it. NO WHINING ALOWED. Get a life and live and let live. Please don’t try to “re create” that which is NOT BROKEN. Many of us have been pulling and pushing weight for 20 to 30 years now and I don’t like anyone telling me how not to do my work out, unless they are certified with several nationally approved agencies and have experience that speaks for itself when I look at them. Seriously people. As a trainer I would be imbarrassed to ask someone to workout quietly. Try kickboxing quietly, what do you think a Ke Aahh is in Karate? Why do you think they want you to expend that energy from your lungs? think about it.
Sincerely your gym rat, loving life and helping people.
This is nothing more than a marketing ploy and attempt to acquire membership from people who want to go to the gym, but not work out.
Whats even more silly is the no squatting, no dead lifting rules and the gummy bear jar on their counter they “can hardly keep full,” according to their website and the free “pizza night” once a month.
This place is ridiculous and really gives gyms a bad name.
No lie these people re not serious about fitness. Anyone above that agrees with this nonsense should do a little research before they spout off.
Behold, the Planet Fitness website:
http://www.planetfitness.com/fun.asp?s=1098
Where they say, and I quote:
“Have you seen PF’s famous candy jars filled with purple and traditional Tootsie Rolls®? We go through over 750,000 each month!”
and
“On Pizza Nights (the first Monday of every month) we go through 3000 pizzas. That’s 24000 slices per year!”
and
“The second Tuesday of every month we serve up free bagels to our club members! Come on by and get your own!”
How can anyone think this place is the least bit serious about fitness?
“I was using a cable machine and at the end of a rep the weight would lift me off my seat”.
Then you were using too much weight to be able to execute a movement with proper form. Large muscles do don equate to physical fitness.
Gyms are businesses and respond to market demands. The market is changing and gyms are no longer the territory of muscle heads. if you want to clang, grunt and sweat without thought to the next person using the bench go elsewhere.
I wear a bandana every time I workout. Pink, Green whatever. What the hell does that have to do with being a “good” gym member? I have been training in gyms for over 20 years. I am quiet, keep to myself and wear the proper attire every time but, even I, God help me, even I let out a grunt or two if I’m pushing myself to the limit because that is what some HUMANS do.
I also agree to this, I’ve found it also very annoying, coz, gym is a place for relaxing.
-Harold