Planet Fitness – Appleton

Planet Fitness rules! Use the water massager if u can. its amazing! I love having a machine for every part of the body!

I stopped by Planet Fitness this morning to finally see what all the fuss is about and find a reasonably-​priced gym before winter hits us in the face.
At first, I thought I was in for some purple-​hued foolishness, after seeing the «no lunks» and «free pizza» commercials.
And that is what I get for pre-​judging in the «no judgement zone.» This location was very clean, peaceful and had only a handful of people working out around 7:45 — 8:00 a.m. The blinds were closed so outsiders could not gaze in while people were trying to work out in peace.
Mason was the PF rep at the front desk when I came in. He was polite and receptive to my request to find out what this gym was all about. I was given a short tour on the spot and was impressed by what I saw. Mason showed me all of the features of the gym, told me about the specials PF was currently running and was patient and friendly with me and my questions.
The machines are new and there are plenty of them. The environment was clean, spacious and the music was at a nice level. I foresaw my workout feeling like a pleasant experience, rather than a thrash-​metal rage induced lift session as I have experienced in the past. Granted I could lift through all of that, but I am in the mood for peaceful lifting.
A trainer (Katie?) is available to help you plan your workouts. This is exactly what I want because I have not lifted for awhile and need (want) to be pointed in the right direction.
There are two membership options, one for $ 10 and the other for $ 20 per month. If I decide to join PF, I will go for the $ 20 option, since it includes the «hydro-​massage,» massage chairs, tanning and ability to work out at all locations. There are other perks to this one as well, but I do not remember them off hand.
In short, I was pleased with what I saw of PF and appreciated how I was welcomed to this gym.
When I join and learn more about the workout flow, I will update this review from there!

Good all around place for regular people who want to get in shape. It is laid out so you can do resistance training getting all major muscle groups in maybe 15 min if you just want to pop in for a fast thing when you are out and about, but there is a structured 30 min workout area and plenty of variety of cardio machines. The staff either help you or leave you alone depending on what you want. Plus it is really cheap at $ 10/​mo

I only went to Planet Fitness because I was in town for a short period of time and needed a place to work out. I usually spend my time being a pretend want-​to-​be muscle head and make fun of the place.
The Good: The staff were awesome and very friendly. They let me avoid paperwork and other hoops and just get 1 weeks access to the facilities. The actual gym was huge and had a lot of floor space. The hours I went varied each day, but there was always machines and room to workout. The locker room and showers private, and it even didn’t have the typical locker room odder.
The Bad: I get that they have a no meat head policy, but does that mean that they shouldn’t carry real weights? 4 Smith Machines isn’t going to cut it, and the dumbbells only went up to 75lbs. If you wanted to develop and maybe move on to another gym, or you wanted to try heavier weights your options are very limited. In their attempt to protect people trying to get/​remain in shape they’ve isolated the people who work hard in other areas. I don’t grunt, slam weights, nor am I a huge guy but I do like to push my workouts and try to add weights that will challenge me and I felt uncomfortable doing certain exercises or adding more weight to a set because all of the signs, alarms, and warnings.