Man Escorted From Planet Fitness Gym For Grunting

This might be the funniest article ever posted. Maybe Carol Palazzolo might change her mind if she was able to squat 500lbs.

"Grunting is commonplace at most gyms, but not Planet Fitness, which discourages so-called "musclehead behavior."

Musclehead?...that implies male (pure discrimination). Im not certain if thats a term used by the gym or simply a term the writer used.

"There's even a flashing light and siren on the wall, labeled a "lunk alarm," which sounds if someone grunts or drops weights on the floor."

This is a blatant anti-male policy. Many more men than women use weights. "lunk alarm"?....again, that implies male. What about a "dumb blonde" alarm for women who breath excessively while doing aerobics?

lunk is not in the dictionary, but LUNK-HEAD is:

Noun (slang): A stupid person; a dolt.

This lunk alarm is pure slander and insulting.

I wonder how many of her male members will join a competing gym? I certainly would.

When reading the article I clicked "slideshow" which shows a caricature of a man lifting weights with a huge slash down the middle.

One postive: I viewed the poll in the article asking if grunting should be aloud..only 9% of those polled said "never".

This sounds like another attempt to squash any and all things male. No grunting while lifting weights! Grunting is a method used to psyche the mind and prepare the body during weightlifting; it goes with the territory. Why would a guy join a gym with such an absurd rule! It seems the management here feels compelled to protect the women from experiencing any natural male behaviors. Must be run by lesbians! What's next? I know, men grunting while making love will be considered abusive!

...if all the males joined competing gyms then this one would become all female (again discriminatory), and seriously don't we have enough all female gyms already? I mean, in my area for example, they are opening another all female gym in a month or two at a local mall, and there are already dozens around, yet there is not one single all male gym anywhere near by.

I do think this is about the most absurd gym policy I have ever heard of, but it's the policy that needs changing, not the gender of the clients. If this policy gets rid of all the men at the gym then the gym owners will jump for joy. Men need to sue the gym for discrimination, not boycott.

Where do "muscleheads" go to work out if not a gym? If I had a gym I'd ban people from taking up all the benches to lift 5 pound weights because that annoys the hell out of me. Gee, I wonder who does that.

Grunting in the presence of women is something that men seldom did in the days before feminism -- only, perhaps in the presence of other men.

But the problem is, women have demanded absolute equality. This is only just one result of giving them exactly what they asked for.

The article says the gym manager wants a "non-intimidating atmosphere". I bet all those other guys bench-pressing 400 lbs. were intimidated by the grunting..not to mention by bandanas (hmmm...bandanas..I guess that means a guy undergoing chemotherapy can't come in the gym either).
Were any women in the gym intimidated besides the manager? I wonder if she asked them. I have never seen a woman in any of the gyms I have been a member of, appear to be intimated by grunting. In fact a lot of times, a guy's girlfriend is helping him during a workout, keeping track of reps, etc. She stands right next to him while he is grunting.
There should put a "no fairies" sign in the gym, to keep out people who are easily intimidated.

-Axolotl

Trolling is something women hardly ever did in the presence of men, but now those who are weak can hide behind stupid aliases, grunting and groaning in excitement, over their futile attempts to wreak havoc with these boards.
-Axolotl

Lifting weights is pretty strenuous especially if it's heavy weight. I wonder if she tells her husband to shut up when he's doing stuff around the house. I can only imagine her reaction if someone said hey this is a hospital no grunting when having kids keep your mouth shut. Leave the guy work out it's not like you know if he's taking any illegal or legal steroids or being what you call a muscle head. He's working out, no different then when ladies grunt scream and moan in a tennis match.

I realize this thread is over two years old, but the other recent comment above got my attention so I'll go ahead and post anyway. (I'm bored).

I don't think this is really a men's rights issue, but is more of an idiot issue (the manager).

I really do not think women care if men grunt or not, so please, do not blame women for the manager's stupid behavior.

If the man is able to squat 500 lbs, he must be a serious lifter and the club should be glad that he chooses to patronize their facility. I hope the manager realized her stupidity and offered him an apology (and a free membership). The stupid sign about no grunting should be taken down as well.

PS- I agree with ax about the 'no faries' sign.

Due to it's hostile environment toward men in general, muscular men of all colors in particular, and a dress code that targets men of color, I dropped my Planet Fitness membership.
In my new co-ed gym, a gym that caters to people of all different fitness levels, sizes, shapes, ages, and colors, there is a non-gender specific sign that says, "Please Don't Drop the Weights". That's the way a gym that prides itself on being the Judgment Free Zone should be run. If someone drops a weight, regardless of gender, it should be handled on a case-by-case basis, not via an alarm that publicly humiliates a paying customer. Compare that with all the male-specific signs at Planet Fitness, combined with the gender-specific lunk alarm (male) (it's not a dumb blonde alarm (female)), the taking away of equipment men use, and that annoying man-bashing public service announcement that says, "Remember at Planet Fitness, there's no Lunks, no Bodybuilders, no Critics".

If you are a woman, imagine how you would feel if you were greeted at the front door with an offensive cartoon character of an overweight female, the taking away of exercise equipment mostly used by women, and a public service announcement that repeats the following slogan every 15 minutes: "Remember at Planet Fitness there's no Dumb Blondes, no Fat Chicks, no Critics".

What Planet Fitness has effectively done is say they are a judgment free zone, but then turns around and judges men of all colors in general, and minority men in particular. The closer you look like the imaginary male super-villain cartoon character they have plastered all over the gym, the more likely you are to be discriminated against even if you haven't grunted, dropped weights, or criticized any of the females in the gym. The more muscular a man looks in that gym, the more likely he is to be followed around by the Planet Fitness staff, who are just waiting for an excuse to turn on the Lunk Alarm, publicly criticize him, and usher him out the door.

Ashley Todd is the woman who claimed that she was attacked and disfigured by a huge angry black man because she had a vote for John McCain bumper sticker on her car. Her goal was to scare white America into voting against Barack Obama for fear of having a black man as the President of the United States. Luckily for black men all over America, this turned out to be a hoax.

Mike Grondahl, the owner of the Planet Fitness chain, uses the same scare tactics Ashley Todd uses in order to sell his product. Just like Ashley Todd, he’s created the ultimate imaginary muscular super-villain that he can pretend to protecting his target audience from.

Before Planet Fitness took over my gym, I was just another paying customer with 20 years of excellent citizenship under my belt. However, with Planet Fitness’ offensive signage of a super muscular cartoon character man firmly in place, along with their man-bashing lunk alarm, and their racist dress code policy, each time I walked into Planet Fitness I magically transformed into Ashley Todd’s imaginary terrorist. I magically transform into a 6 foot 2 (I’m 5 foot 10), 200 lbs (actually I weigh 175 lbs), scary ethnic doo-rag wearing (it was a generic winter ski hat worn on a cold November day), black thug who’s only goals in life are to grunt, purposely drop heavy weights, and attack innocent white women, hold them down, and carve a backward letter B on their faces. (Actually, when I was 19, I prevented the rape of a white woman by a white man but neither Mike Grondahl nor Ashley Todd care about that.)

I was walking on a treadmill at Planet Fitness, when I was publicly humiliated by the owner for wearing a 'do-rag' and looking too muscular. I pointed to the sign that says "JUDGMENT FREE ZONE". The owner of that gym, a man I've known for twenty years said, "That sign doesn't apply to you. It's only meant for my new target audience."

What self-respecting man wants to put up with all that drama? What man of any muscular size can observe the discrimination placed upon his fellow man and not be offended on some level? That's why I quit.

Gender as well as Race are Federally protected classifications. If you know of someone who was denied their basic civil rights within the walls of Planet Fitness, please tell them to contact a Lawyer or their local Civil Rights Commission. Please have them call upon me to testify on their behalf if their case goes to court. No man of any color should have to apologize for being a man.

Planet Fitness is breaking the law and they need to be held accountable.