Planet Fitness Banned Deadlifts and Overhead Presses for Years. Their New Direction Changes Everything (1,700+ Gyms Affected)

Fitness personality and exercise science professor Dr. Mike Israetel recently turned his analytical eye toward one of America’s most polarizing gym chains.

Planet Fitness has long been the subject of heated debate in fitness circles, criticized for policies many see as anti-serious lifter.

But Israetel’s breakdown reveals something unexpected: the gym might actually be evolving past its meme-worthy reputation.

His commentary blends humor with legitimate insight into what Planet Fitness gets right, what it gets hilariously wrong, and whether casual exercisers should care about any of it.

The “Judgment Free Zone” That Judges Heavily

Planet Fitness markets itself as a haven for beginners, a place where “everybody can work out in their own way.”

Israetel immediately caught the irony.

Isn’t it true that they’ll kick you out if you work out in a specific way that’s your own way? This is actually the least true statement Planet Fitness could have made about themselves.

The chain’s infamous policies have included bans on deadlifts, T-bar rows, overhead presses, clean and jerks, and even supersetting.

Members are restricted to loading only four plates per side on equipment, a limitation that effectively caps serious strength progression.

The Lunk Alarm: Marketing Gimmick or Genuine Policy?

Perhaps nothing symbolizes Planet Fitness culture more than the “lunk alarm”—a literal siren staff can trigger when members grunt, drop weights, or display what management deems excessive intensity.

Israetel’s co-host Scott admitted he’d never actually heard one go off in person, suggesting the alarm functions more as psychological deterrent than enforcement tool.

Dress codes reinforce the anti-bodybuilder atmosphere: no jeans, boots, sandals, or string tank tops allowed.

Are Intimidating Gyms Actually Dangerous?

Israetel tackled Planet Fitness’s core premise head-on: that traditional gyms create intimidating, even threatening environments for beginners.

His response combined empathy with a challenge.

Those big scary people can’t hurt you. In the sense that statistically, how many people get accosted or assaulted or outright verbally intimidated on purpose by big jacked people in the gym, it is so unbelievably rare.

He pointed out that heavily muscled lifters and massive weights feel scary but pose essentially zero threat to nearby gym-goers.

The equipment itself is safely contained. The lifters themselves are focused entirely on their own performance, not judging beginners.

The vast, vast, vastest majority of jacked lifters, guys and girls respectively, are not interested in you at all when you’re training next to them in the gym. They’re interested in themselves.

When asked how many gym fights he’d witnessed in decades of training, Scott’s answer was revealing: “basically zero.”

Nightclub altercations? “Way more than zero.”

Yet nobody markets “judgment-free nightclubs” or worries about intimidation at bars.

Pizza Mondays and Bagel Tuesdays: Genius or Sabotage?

Planet Fitness became internet-famous for serving free pizza on the first Monday of each month and free bagels on the second Tuesday.

Critics called it cynical—keeping members unfit ensures continued membership fees.

Israetel took a more nuanced view, acknowledging that occasional treats won’t derail progress but questioning the gym as venue.

One slice of pizza isn’t going to destroy a month’s worth of work in the gym. That’s true. But the problem is that you’re already doing the pizza at work and at school and at home. And having the pizza at the gym is kind of weird because the gym is the not pizza time.

He noted that Planet Fitness has since discontinued Pizza Mondays and Bagel Tuesdays, suggesting the company recognized the optics problem.

The treats weren’t physiologically harmful in isolation, but they sent mixed messages about what the gym experience should represent.

The Total Body Enhancement Chamber

Among Planet Fitness’s more unusual offerings is the “Total Body Enhancement” booth—a 12-minute stand-up chamber combining red light therapy with whole-body vibration.

Marketing materials claim it helps firm and tone the body while reducing stress.

Israetel’s reaction was immediate skepticism.

Two things that don’t do hardly shit? Might as well call it a Gary Busey vacuum machine and get it over with.

The research on red light therapy for body composition shows minimal to no effect on muscle toning or fat loss, though some evidence supports benefits for skin health and minor inflammation reduction.

Whole-body vibration has been studied extensively, with reviews in journals like Sports Medicine finding it produces small strength gains in untrained individuals but offers no advantage over conventional resistance training.

Combining two modalities with weak evidence doesn’t create synergistic magic—it just makes for compelling marketing to people unfamiliar with exercise science.

Planet Fitness Is Actually Improving

The most surprising element of Israetel’s analysis wasn’t the criticism—it was the recognition that Planet Fitness has made genuine improvements.

More than 1,700 locations nationwide have introduced legitimate strength equipment including squat racks, barbell stations, deadlift platforms, battle ropes, and hip thrust benches.

This is like performance fitness adjacent stuff. Very different branding than old historical Planet Fitness.

Equipment that would have previously violated gym policy—like landmine attachments perfect for T-bar rows—now appears in promotional materials.

The apparent shift suggests Planet Fitness leadership recognized that their target market does want to achieve genuine fitness results, not merely perform the social ritual of gym attendance.

Still Some Questionable Exercise Choices

Israetel’s tour of actual Planet Fitness workout footage revealed members using equipment in ways that range from ineffective to potentially counterproductive.

One clip showed low-bar squats performed in a Smith machine—a combination Israetel called “tier one ego nonsense” since the low-bar position is designed to maximize load with free weights, making it unnecessary and awkward on a fixed track.

Another featured someone on a vibrating platform machine contracting muscles at intensity “probably lower than the intensity at which she contracts them when walking.”

Poor exercise selection wastes time and progress regardless of equipment quality.

But Israetel acknowledged these aren’t Planet Fitness problems specifically—they’re universal gym problems affecting beginners everywhere who lack proper instruction.

Who Planet Fitness Actually Serves

The deeper question isn’t whether Planet Fitness policies are silly—they often are—but whether they successfully serve a genuine market need.

Millions of Americans want to exercise but feel genuinely uncomfortable in traditional gym environments.

Whether that discomfort is rational doesn’t matter if it prevents people from starting.

Planet Fitness’s $10-15 monthly membership removes the financial barrier that keeps many people sedentary. The proliferation of locations—over 2,400 in North America—removes geographic barriers.

And the explicit marketing toward beginners removes the psychological barrier of feeling out of place.

For someone transitioning from complete inactivity to basic movement, Planet Fitness objectively succeeds.

The equipment limitations that frustrate intermediate and advanced lifters are irrelevant to someone learning to exercise consistently for the first time.

The Intermediate Lifter Problem

Where Planet Fitness falters is in supporting members who progress beyond beginner stage.

Someone who starts making strength gains will eventually hit the four-plate loading limit. Someone interested in Olympic lifting movements can’t practice them. Someone who naturally vocalizes effort during heavy sets risks alarm activation.

The gym’s model assumes members will either remain perpetual beginners or eventually migrate to more performance-oriented facilities.

That’s not necessarily wrong, just limiting.

The Verdict: Context Determines Value

Israetel’s final assessment captured the complexity.

Planet Fitness used to be a laughing stock, but is increasingly becoming a more normal gym. I’m really, really happy to see that they’re putting more real weights into their gyms cuz I think they realize people actually want to train.

His rating: “Planet Fitness better all the time out of 10.”

For complete beginners, especially those intimidated by fitness culture, Planet Fitness offers a legitimate entry point at unbeatable cost.

For intermediate and advanced lifters, the restrictions remain frustrating and unnecessary.

The mistake is treating Planet Fitness as either savior or villain.

It’s simply a business serving a specific market segment with particular needs and preferences.

As that market’s needs evolve—as beginners progress and demand better equipment—the company appears willing to adapt.

The lunk alarm may remain as marketing theater, but the squat racks and barbells represent something more substantive: recognition that even casual exercisers benefit from serious training tools.

Whether Planet Fitness can fully shed its beginner-only reputation while maintaining the non-intimidating atmosphere that built its brand remains to be seen.

But the trajectory suggests leadership understands that helping members achieve genuine results—not just collecting monthly fees—creates better long-term business outcomes.

For now, the gym occupies an odd middle space: too restrictive for committed lifters, increasingly equipped for everyone else, and perpetually mocked by people who’ve never actually needed what it offers.

Sources

• Sports Medicine – whole-body vibration research reviews