What is the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness?
It seems to be an alarm that sounds off when a person makes too much noise lifting. Things like grunting and having the weights bang around. The thing is, if you’ve ever deadlifted heavyweight, it’s inevitable that there’s gonna be quite a bit of noise. Squatting a lot tends to elicit grunts as well.
People seem to have correlated this alarm with the culture at planet fitness which is summed up like this: You’re fine the way you are, but if you want to be fitter without the intimidating presence of bodybuilders, then our place is for you.
You don’t need to feel inadequate around people who have a fierce drive in physical self-improvement. The thing is though, any gym you go to doesn’t even promote the idea of judging newcomers or whatever. Most people just go about their lifting.
Planet fitness in a sense feeds off of your insecurities. They create an environment that is more comforting to people who don’t want to face the reality that they aren’t as fit as other gym-goers. This all sounds pretty harsh but is there any other reason why there would be alarms against anyone pushing their limits?
Setting Off The Lunk Alarm At Planet Fitness —
This day has been a bit different, and a bit crazier. Today instead of getting just a normal workout, we have decided to go to planet fitness. Now I don’t have anything against planet fitness as it’s a gym for people who just started working out, but thought it would be a bit funny if I went and worked out the way I normally do… with a lot more grunting.
The lunk alarm went off around 4 times, but unfortunately, only two times have been caught on video. Subscribe for more content like this and better. Share my channel to help me grow and drop a like as that helps me tremendously as well!
I’m working at Planet Fitness! I ring the LUNK ALARM. AMA!
I’ve worked there for a little over a year. I sign people up, handle billing, enforce the policies. LUNK ALARM ! and occasionally kick people out. I enjoy working at the Internet’s most hated gym. AMA
Does planet fitness have showers And Lockers
What is the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness?
The “Lunk Alarm” is an alarm that goes off when somebody drops a weight, slams weight, lifts loudly, or anything along those lines. They use it to try and deter serious or heavy lifters from using Planet Fitness, as Planet Fitness‘ image is built around the casual gym-goer (who may or may not even use their facility).
The lunk alarm, a loud siren, is used by a national fitness chain to discourage unwanted behavior. Do you grunt when you lift or drop the weights? You could set off the alarm. The chain says it wants to discourage behaviors that would make average gym-goers feel unwelcome. There are fans on both sides. Some people hate grunting and showing off by muscle guys who can bench hundreds of pounds.
Others say grunting can improve performance and should be tolerated. When someone drops weights, Miss uses equipment and lets it slam or lunk to the floor.
They also judge the clothes people wear to the gym. Lunk alarm sounds and they embarrass the heck out of the person who they deem as not fit
PF is good for walkers who can’t deal with outside walking on hot or cold weather, their leg machines and rowing or step machines are good starter machines but if one needs to step up in workouts go elsewhere.
I have been a member for 5 yrs. But I only use PF to walk on the treadmills to stay out of the cold or the heat.
Their sanitation of the machines sucks. Our PF uses hand sanitizer instead of a good germ killing anti-bacterial disinfectant.
Flu season – they still use the diluted hand sanitizer I take my own wipes. I care about my health they don’t care! But a great place to stay out of the weather.
What is the lunk alarm for?
Planet Fitness is a gym for people who wants to try working out in a gym environment, without discomfort and judgement. While most gyms target bodybuilders or those who want to become stronger, Planet Fitness began with a quest to target the rest of the population.
The founders of the gym wanted to encourage more people to be active, by creating a gym that is a low cost, commitment-free, and aims to be judgement free. Since then, Planet Fitness has become synonymous with affordable fitness centres in a friendly environment. So the Lunk Alarm was set by them.
The lunk alarm, a loud siren, is used by a national fitness chain to discourage unwanted behavior. Do you grunt when you lift or drop the weights? You could set off the alarm. The chain says it wants to discourage behaviors that would make average gym-goers feel unwelcome.
When your target demographic are normal people, you would want them to feel welcome. In an attempt to make most of their clients feel less intimidated, Planet Fitness introduced the Lunk Alarm.
While grunting or crashing weights will elicit some dirty looks, the Lunk Alarm will sound in their gym. To make the gym friendly to the new gym-goers or novices, hence they try to discourage behaviours that make their clients uncomfortable.
What is accepted as a normal practice in regular gyms is being banned at Planet Fitness. The lunk alarm is the gym’s answer to drawing attention to other people’s discomfort. Those who draw attention upon themselves, risk getting thrown out.
Is the lunk alarm real?
Planet Fitness caters for those who are average in terms of fitness level, or the occasional gym-goer who justs wants to be healthy. Hence, the lunk alarm serves to promote a more neutral environment, where people do not feel intimidated by stronger weight lifters.
With a target demographic of 80% of the population, which are light to normal weight lifters, Planet Fitness’s lunk alarm works well to create a “Judgement Free Zone”. But for the heavy weight lifters, working out at the gym can mean eviction at any moment, just by breathing heavily.
When you walk into any Planet Fitness you will see a big bluish alarm light over the free weight area. That’s the Lunk Alarm. The moment one of these judging, weight dropping, and grunting fools starts “training seriously” an employee will set off the alarm. … Planet Fitness is a judgment-free zone.
The Lunk Alarm creates a lot of contention, but it stays. Planet Fitness may be one of the cheapest fitness centres around, but it aims to please the average Joe or Jane.
Body Builders or those who are more serious about their health might be more open to normal gyms, as they are more tolerant towards loud noises and grunting. As Planet Fitness says: you can do your own thing without being judged unless it is making loud noises.
Why is Planet Fitness so bad?
Planet Fitness creates a bad environment for those who are very serious about their training. They often don’t have proper equipment for strength training, such as squat racks, and they discourage deadlifting with any appreciable weight.
Planet Fitness is worth it if you’re looking for a cheap and convenient place to get in some cardio workouts and use basic resistance machines. They are (usually) open 24 hours and completely stocked with an abundance of cardio machines.
The price is low so those people keep their memberships rather than quit and face the truth about their shortage of drive. The PF service is great so membership is a bargain for people who keep going. I think the more important question to ask is why gym membership is so expensive at most other places.
Planet Fitness’ target market is the segment of the population that will buy a cheap gym membership and then never use it because they use clever marketing tactics that insult people that have high fitness standards and appeal to insecure unfit, overweight, and obese people by encouraging low fitness standards and celebrating mediocrity. Planet Fitness (like most gyms) makes their money from the members that do not actually ever go to the gym.
Basically. they exploit people’s insecurities by bashing fit people and personal trainers.
The concept of a judgment-free zone is also complete horsecrap because anyone who is actually fit or trains with intensity and focus is judged as an enemy and not welcome in their facilities. I feel judged by Planet Fitness without even entering their facilities.
Now, that being said I am sure plenty of people will want to respond with how they love Planet Fitness and have gotten great fitness results or lost weight blah blah blah. I am not saying that SOME people have not succeeded in fitness using their gyms and I am happy for you if you have had success with any gym.
The truth is that any gym or no gym will work if you raise your fitness standards and any diet will work if you eat less. The real reason why people fail over and over again in fitness is not the gym, exercise, diet, or trainer. The problem is in their head.
It’s about changing your Mindset, Mental State, Fitness Standard, or whatever you want to call it. If you change the story that you tell yourself about health and fitness (and about fit people) then the gym or diet won’t matter anymore you will succeed effortlessly without debating or hating anyone or anything.
Does the lunk alarm go off by itself?
The lunk alarm probably goes off maybe once or twice a month, because of some bodybuilder who accidentally wanders in there. You would have to ask someone who works at planet fitness to get a better idea.
Does Planet Fitness kick you out for grunting?
The gym strictly prohibits grunting and the slamming of weights during lifts. If either rule is broken, front desk personnel sound a shrilling siren referred to as the “lunk alarm” to make the transgressor well aware of what he or she has done. “You need to breathe when you‘re lifting weights anyway.
Planet Fitness aims to offer its members a stress-free, unintimidating environment. “There’s a lot of people out there that don’t go to gyms because they are uncomfortable or they feel intimidated,” general manager Stephanie Welch said. … The gym strictly prohibits grunting and the slamming of weights during lifts.
If the behavior continues after a couple of warnings, the guilty party is liable to suffer the ultimate penalty. “If it is a problem where they will not stop, we do not allow them to come to the gym anymore,” Welch said Many regular gym users elsewhere scoff at the idea that forcing out some extra oxygen to push up a few reps is grounds to have your membership revoked.
“If someone’s going overboard that’s different, but if you’re lifting a lot of weights, that grunt is kind of like psychological to help you move that weight,” said Jay Perkins, a longtime Owings Mills member and personal trainer. “You need to breathe when you’re lifting weights anyway. It’s not good to hold it in.
“If you’ve got a co-ed gym and someone is offended by that grunting noise, if they are in the gym, they know what the grunting noise is for. That’s why they’re there.”
Welch says that Planet Fitness hardly hides the fact that the gym is not designed for the boisterous weight lifter intent on letting everyone know he’s reached a new max on the bench press. Take one look around at the different signs and messages on the wall and you’ll know who the intended target is.
“The people that come in here, from the minute they come in and have a tour, they know who we are because we tell them who we are,” Welch said. “For the most part, if it’s somebody who is a bodybuilder or a powerlifter or somebody who lifts really heavy, they know from the minute they come in here that it’s not for them.”
And, perhaps, folks have gotten that message. The two employees at the front desk report that the lunk alarm button has only been pressed a couple of times since the gym opened a little over two weeks ago.
Why does Planet Fitness want my bank account?
They require an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) through checking accounts for your convenience: This allows us to be able to continue your membership without interruption or the hassle of updating your payment information if your credit cards are lost/stolen, invalid or expired.
You don’t have a choice. Planet Fitness does not accept debit & prepaid cards. If you want a membership with Planet Fitness, you must allow them to deduct the monthly and annual fees directly from your checking account. Trust me. I was on the phone with them for hours over it. Even went to the club in person to discuss the issue. No dice. You don’t have a choice at all.
I’ve been with them for about a year. No problems with the automatic deduction. I still don’t like the idea of it, though. I wasn’t a fan of giving any company direct access to a checking account and, since my family’s checking account got hijacked in March, I’m that much leerier of it.
Are you allowed to wear a sports bra at Planet Fitness?
Maybe I shouldn’t feel surprised. After all, this is the same gym where, according to the dress code, “women can’t wear sports bras as their only top, and their tank tops should not be overly revealing.” There’s no language about restrictions on men.
The “Lunk alarm” is funny and irritating, but it is part of planet fitness marketing tactics, although it is silly and annoying to a weightlifter. Unbeknownst to me, If there was a “Lunk Alarm” in my backyard weightlifting area, or one installed inside my garage gym, it would activate every minute or would continue “alarming.”
I engage in high-impact, loud, noisy, weightlifting drills, which not only would trigger the lunk alarm but would bar me from public gyms. I routinely drop massive deadlifts, drop the loaded bar after some back squats, drop weights after a barbell snatch/clean/jerk (you are supposed to drop the weights).
Friends, I also use plenty of chalk, I may even curse occasionally. I train alone at home. For this reason and many other reasons, I don’t frequent a public gym.
If you intend to grunt, make noises, drop weights, use plenty of weightlifting chalk, and make them fly in the air, or, pose a danger to the little old man doing cardio, then a weightlifting club is the only way to go for you. There are no silly Lunk Alarms there. Everyone grunts, drop weights.
It’s an alarm the staff will pull that alerts the entire gym that someone is acting like a ‘lunk’ (see pic above for details).
Although a real alarm, it’s mostly just a gimmick they have to solidify their stance on not letting anyone get intimidated by some guy (yes, this is clearly directed at men only) “slamming his weights” or god forbid drinking water out of a gallon jug.
Honestly, I find it to be stupid, and quite ironic to boot.
What I mean by the latter point is that Planet Fitness is casting judgment on a guy wearing a tank top drinking water out of a gallon jug – yet designating their weight room as a ‘no-judgment zone’…how does that make sense?
If you pick and choose who is going to be kicked out, that’s almost literally the definition of justice. Back in the day, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart did a satire on Planet Fitness where they outline the link alarm specifically.
Here you get to see it go off, and see their hypocrisy in a hilarious way:
What is the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness?
The Lunk Alarm is part warning system and part safety system. The alarm is turned on at the discretion of employees at the desk at each gym. Most gyms frown upon dropping/tossing equipment. At PF it can actually be a safety hazard. The dumbells at several locations I have visited have ends that are screwed/twisted on.
If these are continually dropped they will come apart and could cause potential injury. Each gym can be different about how crazy they get with the alarm. I have heard it more at gyms where I worked rather than the gym where I worked full time.
It is the Judgement Gym even though they say it is a Judgement FREE Zone. They have created a safe space for soft-minded customers. Planet Fitness is accommodating your feelings to get your money.
If the sound of working out hard is affecting your workout, they sound an alarm to quiet people down. If you want to work out of your mind, find a place real fit people workout. Don’t hide in a safe space.
Imagine a lunk alarm in a public bathroom?
No matter what it looks like, everyone wants to be successful, happy and free from suffering. We may all define those things differently, but we share the heart of the goal. Knowing we have this in common connects us.
We can use this connection to have compassion and patience for one another – even when we approve or disapprove of grunting or weight dropping at the gym.
Does Planet Fitness still have a lunk alarm?
While the “Lunk Alarm” rules themselves are occasionally mocked by fitness enthusiasts, most neither fundamentally oppose them nor feel incapable of following them.
Planet Fitness, therefore, can (and previously has) maintain its low-key, inviting environment without viciously excluding certain people.
At Planet Fitness gyms, grunters and other rule-breakers are treated to an ear-rattling siren with flashing blue lights and a public scolding. The “lunk alarm,” as the club calls it, is so jarring it can bring the entire floor to a standstill.
Conclusion:
Planet Fitness’s 110dB deafening tornado siren. An employee sets it off when they hear weights drop or someone tattles on another member for using a cell phone in the gym area. The offender is not singled out (and may not even know it’s sounding for them.
Other innocent members get blasted with the ear-piercing siren, which is above the OSHA sound level limits. The only effect of the Lunk Alarm is to damage members’ ears (the employees at the trigger switch are far away from the sound).
Something made up by the insecure people who run Planet Fitness (Planet Fatness) gyms. They set it off when anyone remotely dedicated to training is in the area.
They claim to be a “judgment-free” gym, yet ironically they won’t even let those who they deem “lunks” into their facility. The people don’t want to “be intimidated” by fit gym goers, yet the only thing intimidating them is their own insecurities.
Planet Fatness Worker: He looks like he might actually be strong and dedicated to his training…what a lunk! Set off the lunk alarm!
The lunk who wrote this “definition” is so insecure that he needs to complain about a place that’s safe for people who may just be getting the nerve up to begin. It looks like he’s more interested in that $10 than the well-being of others. Nice.
The lunk alarm sounded when that guy clicked the SUBMIT button.
Planet Fitness, the home of the self-conscious exerciser, decided to get rid of the meatheads and attention-seeking Guidos by hooking up an alarm system for vain bitches who find it impossible to work out without the attention of everyone else in the room.
“How am I s’posed ta get my swell on at da gym with fuhckin Lunk Alarm going off e’ry time I grunt”
At Planet Fitness gyms, grunters and other rule-breakers are treated to an ear-rattling siren with flashing blue lights and a public scolding.
The “lunk alarm,” as the club calls it, is so jarring it can bring the entire floor to a standstill. (A lunk is defined, on a poster, as “one who grunts, drops weights, or judges.”)
What is the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness?
