My Bluetooth speaker beeped. During an enjoyable bike ride in the small rural Upstate NY town where I was doing my third year rotations, the familiar beep denoting a low battery level symbolized something else besides a significantly less fun bike ride ahead. It was late September, and the Upstate sun and warmth were fleeting. Nature was going to close me out of something that took my mind off of exams and the pandemic, and I set my sights on the precarious prospect of joining a gym in the year of 2020.
In Oneida, NY, there were essentially only two gym options: the YMCA and Planet Fitness. My medical school had provided students memberships to the YMCA in Middletown, NY (where we spent our first two years), but my school would not bite on providing memberships to the Oneida YMCA. Facing a monthly charge of $30 and my negative-leaning feelings towards the YMCA organization after my employment there in my college years, the $10 per month membership at Planet Fitness seemed like a good fit.
Let's kick it to present tense, eh? It continues to be a good fit. For $10 a month, Planet Fitness offers everything I need. From stationary bikes to ellipticals, my cardio exercise needs are covered. The dumbbells trend upwards to 90 lbs. Benches are abundant. There's space for abdominal workouts and stretching, and the foot traffic at Planet Fitness is on par with all of the more expensive gyms I've been to.
The best part about Planet Fitness is the Black Card membership, where at the price of $22.99 a month, you get access to EVERY SINGLE PLANET FITNESS, get to bring a guest with you every time you go, have access to the massage chairs, the "hydro-massage," the tanning beds, drink discounts, travel perks and Reebok.com discounts. The unlimited location access has provided such wonderful continuity for my physical health during a time where I travel regularly from one place to another for medical school rotations. I also appreciate knowing exactly what I'm getting when I walk into a new location because of the corporate uniformity of the equipment.
Gym bros hate Planet Fitness. Listen, I suppose it's easy to hate on a gym where the heaviest barbell is 60 lbs and where there are no true squat racks. But the Smith machines (squat-like machines that utilize a pulley system) sober the average lifter to a "back-to-the-basics" approach that emphasizes correct form. I, for one, am grateful for these machines because they help me feel safe while deadlifting, which is a key exercise that has eliminated my chronic back pain that has bothered me for much of medical school. In all honesty, gym bros are the ones who are more likely to be vocal about not liking a gym, and on the flip side, it's not the worst thing that they aren't there in huge numbers. It's tiring to run into a sea of hooded-men who get chalk everywhere and monopolize the bench press. There's much less of that at Planet Fitness.
Besides my obvious affinity towards the accessibility of Planet Fitness, I also appreciate various other aspects about my membership. I don't do gym swimming pools, group exercise classes, saunas, or whirlpools, and I think the price-point of my membership reflects that I don't pay to subsidize such amenities for other customers. Planet Fitness also comes off as very human and relatable by doing a monthly free pizza day and bagel day---endorsing the notion that caring for your health is a balance of working hard and treating yourself. The company also acknowledges the childhood obesity problem we have in our country by allowing younger teenagers to work out under the supervision of a guardian (although I have thought on more than one occasion that some of these kids were a bit too young to be lifting weights). Planet Fitness also seems to have a growth mindset consistent with what I'd expect a successful corporation to exhibit: two of the locations I've been to on Long Island have moved or are in the process of moving into bigger facilities nearby. Finally, Planet Fitness seems to actually give a crud about gym appearance; they don't have carpets and they maintain their locker rooms quite well.
No gym is perfect, but Planet Fitness gets the job done. If the company were to throw in some heavier dumbbells and get rid of its dangerous tanning beds, it couldn't hurt, you know? Overall, I'm a fan.
Written by Ezra Guttmann.
I am currently a medical student in New York. I do not work for Planet Fitness, nor am I sponsored by the company. This website does not contain medical advice. If you enjoy the blog, I graciously accept donations to help support website hosting costs; my Venmo is @Ezra-Guttmann.
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