NYT:  More People Are Lifting Weights. It’s Changing Gym Culture.

It’s the first week of the year, so corporate media assumes that the holiday season has left everyone fat and ashamed.  The New York Times and Planet Fitness both think they are doing something important.

Planet Fitness has a ‘no judgement’ theme, like they are Frankie Avalon pushing back against the muscle-bound bully who kicks sand in the face of a wimp in Beach Blanket Bingo. They have a chip on their shoulder, like somebody at work who is gay or a Christian.  Nobody cares.

Planet Fitness is fine.  It’s cheap, has a wide selection of equipment and convenient hours.  The phony ‘standing up for the rest of us’ message is patronizing.  Nobody cares what you do at the gym, just wipe your sweat off the equipment when you’re done. 

In the company’s most recent quarter, total revenue increased 13 percent. Its share price is also up, by more than 30 percent in the past five years.

“It’s really important that we convey that ‘Yes, you can get strong at Planet Fitness,’” Ms. Keating, 57, said.

No, that’s not important to convey.  Keep the place clean, and maintain the equipment.  That’s all you’ve got to do.

This is a puff piece, so the journalist isn’t asking questions.  A 30% rise in share price isn’t good.  The Dow Jones has risen 80% in that time.

We’re in the golden age of fitness. When I was growing up, I don’t remember seeing my parents go to the gym or my friends’ parents go to the gym. I had one friend whose dad jogged.

The CEO is 57 years old.  When she was growing up, jogging, aerobics and racquetball were big fads.  That may have been the golden age.  The Village People released YMCA and Olivia Newton John released her song about getting physical.

I feel like our biggest competition is the fear of walking in the front door.

I really don’t know why they think this or say this.  Maybe sounding righteous is a better than just saying ‘We’re cheap, have a wide selection of equipment and convenient hours.  We don’t lock you in or screw you over, and there aren’t any children here like you get at the community rec center.’

The journalist had to be fed this line.

At Planet Fitness’s recent investor day, you shared that some teenagers are referring to the company as PFit. Is Planet Fitness trying to become a third space for that generation?

That didn’t happen.  It reminds me of that Seinfeld episode where George tries to give himself a nickname.

Stop trying to make ‘PFit’ a thing.

The rest of the interview is just as superficial. 

The NYT journalist could have asked about the Planet Fitness policy of allowing men in the women’s locker room.  That has depressed the stock price, and as a woman, the CEO might have some insight.

Just today, there is another story of a woman who felt unsafe and disrespected because a man was having marital relations with himself in the women’s locker at Planet Fitness.

Perhaps the guy is sitting in a stall, cleaning his glasses.  It’s tough to tell from the video.

Planet Fitness gyms only have one locker room per sex.  If the man occupied that stall for 15 or 20 minutes, that would really reduce the options for other patrons.  Would a woman even want to use an adjacent stall?

The Planet Fitness member who took and posted the video on social media will probably lose her membership for violating corporate policy.