Kicked Out of the Gym For Grunting

[Mehdi]

[Eric]

Wow, that makes me sick. The sign also said no deadlifting. It's hard to believe how much of a joke some of these gyms are...I've made deliveries to a bunch of them it's just sad.

[Love_Deadlifts]

That's just pathetic. Home gym all the way.

[Love_Deadlifts]

I sent this message to the Planet Fitness customer service website. I'd recommend anyone who disagrees with this policy to do the same, even if you have no intention of ever being a member with them or don't live in an area near one of their gyms.

I am an avid gym goer and i recently saw a video in which you banned a member of your gym for "grunting" during heavy squats. This has convinced me to never consider a membership with your establishment. I know that many of my weight lifting friends are appalled by your policy as well and are discussing a boycott. What is most disturbing about this policy is that you claim to provide an environment where "anyone can be comfortable" and this is blatantly discriminatory against people who are power lifters. Sometimes people grunt while picking up something EXTREMELY HEAVY, therefore you are actively discouraging people from doing what is natural. I'll end this now before i begin to ramble.

Note: no one i know is actually discussing a boycott yet, but i truly meant that i will never go to their gym. Every message they get of this kind will reinforce the others even more. Maybe it will have no effect, but you never know. I'll post any response i receive.

[mjh]

This actually happened in November 2006.

and to be fair, he wasn't (neccesarily) thrown out of the gym for grunting, he was thrown out of the gym for acting beligerantly (claims to gym manager) when asked to stop grunting. The policy is stupid, but I don't think this guy is totally innocent either.

[Rugger]

Anyone else feel like throwing a barbell at that manager?

[Brennan]

alright when its in the final few reps due to the strain and you cant actually control it but loud consistant 'wooshing' is plain annoying.

[Love_Deadlifts]

It may be annoying, but SO WHAT? It doesn't stop me from lifting or really affect me in any way minus the mild annoyance factor. I guess it is kind of late to be sending angry e-mails though. oh well

[hypertrophy]

Only in America!

Yeah, some people grunt too much just to get attention, but when lifting heavy you can't help it. If all he did was to grunt too much, they should have given him a warning, and not kicked him out just like that. I'm glad that my gym is tolerant. Several of the employees do olympic style lifting, but they will give you a warning if you slam the weights and shout unnescesarrily (which is a ploicy I agree with).

[bigwhat62]

my powerhouse gym in el paso, tx got bought out by planet fitness. over night it went from a hardcore gym to a sissy gym. their prices went from $45 to $10 a month, so the once exclusive gym was made available to everyone. they got rid of over half the free weights and put more machines. then they put up signs like no grunting or "judgement free zone"

it was one of the worst days of my life. i remember going to hit the weights and i see them changing the signs. major bummer

[Young Athlete]

Anyone else feel like throwing a barbell at that manager?

I heard over head press is great exercise to improve the distance you can throw a spear/javelin lets roll

[Kyle]

Just for the record...that gym is 8 miles from my house My friend actually went there for a short while, once we found out about that, on his last day we went in and did max out squats/deadlifts and grunted like crazy...when asked to leave, we did and that was it.

[Young Athlete]

Haha Nice man you shoulda gone crazy though until you were escorted out

[mjh]

more from Planet Fitness:
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f13/planet-fitness-screwed-me-795250/

[bigwhat62]

more from Planet Fitness:
http://www.sherdog.net/forums/f13/planet-fitness-screwed-me-795250/

i can totally relate to this dude. my powerhouse gym was my second home. i spent so much time there, i knew all the heavy lifters there and just nice comoradity. when planet fitness rolled in it was all over. even though that was about 4 years ago it still bums me out.