Planet Fitness - my review

I don't know why this place gets such a bad rap online.  My experience has been nothing but positive.  I have really enjoyed myself.  I'm happy to have one close by that I can use.

The red light therapy is working wonders on my loose skin.  It also feels nice to get warm and toasty after a good workout.  I come out feeling energized.

I went from 5 minutes killing me to 30 min being ok Plus I can now do that AND 25 on the bike.  That's a huge improvement for me!  I've lost 5lbs and I've gained quite a bit of strength and muscle.

Our PF is clean and well maintained with a super friendly staff that I enjoy being around.  I don't know if others are the same, but I'm nothing but satisfied with my experience.  

mandatory rest and red light therapy

I didn't want to miss days at the gym, but then I got sick so I had to.  I think I could have gone today, but decided that rest was still a good idea.  I work weekends and can't afford to be worn down - because ...rent.

I did the red light therapy booth again the last time I was there.  I think that makes 4 times or so.  I was expecting results from the vibrations but have been very surprised by how much I have seen from the red light part of things.

My skin is markedly softer but the biggest effect has been on the excess skin.  I've lost a lot of weight and I have an apron.  I make sure to hold it up and let the light get the skin under it.  It helps a lot with keeping that area from getting irritated.  maybe doing that with regular light and air would help too, but the warm red light is soothing.

I have not noticed a reduction in wrinkles, but then I don't care that much about them.  If they fade they fade.  If they don't, they don't.  I'm not worried about my age or age lines.  I've lived an interesting life, my body is going to reflect that.  :-)

I will keep doing the total body enhancement booth for awhile and report again on my results.

Planet Fitness - Day 9

The 17th was a work day for me so I'm on day 9 instead of 10.  :-)

Yesterday I gook a gym friend's advice and tried the Total Body Enhancement.  It's part of the black card membership, so why not.  I'm a bit skeptical about red light therapy, but I do love a massage and the vibration sounded like a good massage.

Basically it looks like a big, pink tanning booth.  This is about as close as I am going to get to entering a tanning booth.  this one says there is no UV light, so I was willing to give it a go.

I did have to ask someone how to use it.  Not 100% intuitive.

The lights were warm and kind of nice.  I made sure to get under extra skin since it seemed like that would be good for those areas.  The vibration was cool and I realized pretty quickly that it was forcing me to engage my core more.  The program lasted 12 min and I did get bored about 9 min in, but stuck it out.  

Leaving the booth I could tell that my abs and glutes were feeling it.  I have weak abs.  4 c-sections and a life time of avoiding sit ups will do that to a gal.  While I doubt the vibrations would be much of a workout for people with actual muscle in their core, for me they were.  Still feeling it today.

Today I did the hydro massage bed.  I don't think my abs were really ready for another go and after leg day my lower back likes a good massage.

I don't know what the red light did for me.  I think it will take a few uses before I can comment on that.

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Today's workout was focused on the legs.  I got my husband to give the arc trainer a go.  I did notice that I won't be on the machines forever, not for legs anyway.  Not enough weight for what I want to do.  I had it on 180 for the leg press and it only goes a couple of bars higher.  While that will last for a couple of months I think, eventually I'll have to move to the free weight section.  I'm not trying to be a "lunkhead" but I do want to lift heavy.  My legs are already very strong, so I'm at the upper end of what their machines have.  My arms are another story.  It's going to be a very long while before I max out the machines.  I have weak baby arms - but I'm working on that!

Tomorrow is an abs/back day.  I'll give the total body enhancement another go then too.

Planet Fitness - Day 5

5th visit to the Purplasaurus known as planet fitness.  Seriously, I am not going to get used to that decor.  I like purple.  My hair is purple.  I just don't put it EVERYWHERE.  And somehow that is one of my biggest complaints about the place so far.  Not too bad.  I'm a difficult person who can be hard to please, but planet fitness is managing.

The staff has been super friendly.  Checking in is quick and they never miss saying goodbye when I leave.  The place is clean. I see the staff cleaning a lot.  Paper towels and cleaner are well stocked.  Most other gym goers use them faithfully.

I don't partake of the whole tootsie roll/pizza thing, but I did see a Sheriff's deputy snacking on them when he was there checking in on the place this morning.

My other complaint would be - less fox on the tv.  There are lots and lots of news stations.  Put fox on some of the tvs, don't put fox news then fox and friends then some other fox thing.  I think there were 3 tvs from each set dedicated to fox stations.  Of course in Belton that might be what the majority wants.   I have my music so it's not  huge thing either way.

Today was arms day.  I just finally got less sore.  Time to fix that!

Tomorrow I am going to feel all sorts of T-Rex!  It's a good thing.  I didn't push myself enough on legs day.  No soreness at all.  

Maybe that's a little extreme.  I do still have a life to live outside of the gym, but I want to feel my workout  and I want to have to push myself a bit further to feel it next time.  

I see people, mostly women, at the gym who do 10 reps on the lowest setting then move onto the next machine.  I don't think that method would work for me.  Partially because I have a lot of weight to lose and they are already thin, so they don't need to push as hard - but also because I get such a sense of satisfaction from lifting.  That's one thing I missed about a gym membership.  

Cardio is a different story.  I prefer my cardio to take place outside in the fresh air.  The machines bore the heck out of me.  I think today I shared about a couple of dozen songs from my playlist as they came up - via email to a very patient friend.  When he checks his email this morning he's going to have a ton of letters from me since each share went out separately.   A slight distraction for working hard and going nowhere.  I will head out later and get some road time in.  I like time on the road.  I'm working hard AND the scenery is changing.

Planet Fitness Day 3

Yesterday I ended up going by myself.  I just listened to music and did the Arc Trainer for 15 min before moving on to weight machines and an arm day.

Did some stretching and then inquired about the massage beds/chairs.  Found out how to use them and I am so glad I have a black card membership.  I would pay the $20 a month just to have access to the massage beds without gym equipment.  It was heavenly.

Today my arms are really feeling the arms workout yesterday.  Almost too sore to lift my coffee.  ALMOST.  I somehow managed.  :-)

The kid & I were back today.  We did the stair climber for a minute, but I had a hard time getting into the rhythm so we moved to the Arc trainer.  Did that for 10 min and then moved to bike for another 10.  I moved to weight machines for another 20 min, but she stayed on the bike and then did the elliptical.  Can't say I blame her.  She has a silks class tonight and that's going to give her quite a workout.  She isn't planning on going with me tomorrow.

I focused on legs and then tried the massage chair since I did the bed yesterday.  I think from now on I will do arms/chair legs/bed - based on how they felt.  

I seem to do the machines a bit differently than other people.  I do 3 sets on each machine instead of doing one set and moving on to the next one.  If there  is someone waiting for the machine I will get up and let them do their set in between mine.  I don't want to be that person who hogs the machine.  So far that has not been a problem.  The crowd isn't very thick at 4:30am and there are plenty of machines.  I've also noticed that the 30 min workout seem has a Biggest Loser theme.  I hate that show and that's enough to keep me from trying that section.  I've only seem women go in there and I've noticed very few women on the free weights or weight machines.  Not sure why since that section has machines equivalent to the ones in the main room.  I have not done free weights yet, but I will by the end of the week.  

I did go into a different section for the hip abductor machines.  My hips are a weak area and I found that I had to go down 20lbs from the last time I used a machine like that.  Most of the other machines I had to go up 10-20lbs,b ut like I said, my hips are a weak area.

So far the gym has been friendly, clean and well maintained.  I'm seeing the same people so I'm guessing there is a regular crowd of early morning gym goers.  I like that.  Gives a sense of community that can be harder to find in the busy times of the day.  I'm looking forward to getting to know everyone.

Going to the Gym

I decided to join a gym and I had two real choices.  The community center in my town which is a good deal and has a pool.  I like to swim.   I have worked out there before and they have free weights as well as machines and an indoor track.  They also don't have hours that work well with my schedule.  Not that finding time isn't possible, it's just not always easy.

The other choice was Planet Fitness.  They have great hours and lots of machines, less waiting for one to be open.  They don't have a pool but they do have massage chairs and some other kind of massage.  Another thing they have is a lot of bad reviews.  I don't know how much of that is location specific. I found mostly good reviews about the one close to me, but lots and lots of bad reviews over all.

I talked to some people who use Planet Fitness and got opinions from people I know who actually use it.  I also asked a few people who use the community center if they still have good standards and are maintaining the equipment.  Budget cuts can really hurt a publicly funded place.  Good reports on that front, so either place is going to work for us.

In the end I went with Planet Fitness because of the hours.  During the week I need to be in the place before 5 - 4:30 is ideal.  I have to be headed back home by 5:30 so everyone can get ready for their day.  My job keeps me from working out much on the weekends so their shorter hours don't affect me.

Sign up wasn't a problem.  I didn't have any of the difficulties I had seen online.  I took two precautions.  I used a prepaid card to pay an I set the reoccurring payment from a checking account that is not our main one.  I've heard that when cancelling it can be hard to get them to quit charging you and I wanted to head that off before it was a problem.  The whole "in writing" thing is a pain in this day and age, but not so much that I do it.  I actually READ the agreement.  More people should do that.

We did the online sign up and I got a black card membership so that the kid can come with me on days she's interested.  My husband got a regular membership.

I have zero interest in using the tanning bed.  I don't tan for a number of reasons, from its stupid to risk skin cancer to I like the way my tattoos are still bright.  However, to each his or her own.  I don't plan to do it and that leaves more bed time for other people.

After signing up online we went in to finish and get our cards + free t-shirts.

The lady helping us was super nice and it was a good experience.

This morning we got up and went in to work out for the first time.  Dan used the treadmill despite the fact that he needs something besides cardio and he hates the treadmill.  I have no idea why he won't lift or at least use the elliptical once in awhile.  He likes to run on the treadmill and then complain about it.  It's a hobby I guess.

The kid an I used arc trainers for some quick cardio.  Only 10 min.  Just enough to get us going and then we moved to weight machines.  Even with just 10 min my legs were feeling it.  I'm going to give that machine another whirl on Monday.  I liked the workout.  Later today I'll dance for awhile to get the rest of my cardio in.

Today was an arm day and that's what we did.  I love that the cleaning supplies are everywhere and people seem to be using them.  Also the number of machines meant no waiting.    It was nice to be able to switch out with the kid.  I did a set, she did a set.  It was also nice to find that we are stronger than we thought.  I moved the weight up 10lbs over where I was the last time I used these kinds of machines.

Day 1 was a success.  I will report back again after month 1 is over to see if I still like Planet Fitness.

For the moment I am feeling good.  I had almost forgotten how much I enjoy going to the gym.