Downtown

Behold: a $10-a-month gym (this week anyway)

Planet Fitness on Duffield St.
Planet Fitness on Duffield St.

We just got turned onto to this hot offer from a new gym near Fulton Mall: the recently opened Planet Fitness on Duffield Street is offering you the ACT NOW deal of $29 to signup and $10 a month after that. The deal is good through Feb. 26, so you’ve got less than a week to talk yourself into doing it (ladies, two words: swimsuit season. Dudes, three words: Board short thighs).

The gym looks brand new, with spiffy yellow-and-purple machines everywhere and a bank of flatscreen TVs against the treadmill wall, each labeled to what station they were turned to (The Fresh Prince was a popular eye-grabber this a.m.). Planet Fitness is open 24 hours Monday-Friday and 7 a.m.-7 p.m. on the weekends.

11 Comments

  1. Grant

    Yes, real deal. Signed up about a month ago. For someone like me, who hasn’t seen the inside of a gym since the Clinton administration, it’s pretty much perfect. Two of three floors have the usual rows of cardio equipment–treadmills, elliptical machines, etc.–with a wall of flatscreens carrying broadcast and cable nets and audio controls on each machine. The weight machines are emblazoned with (more or less) foolproof pictogram instructions. On the ground floor there’s a thirty-minute workout section–a traffic signal lets you know when to switch machines. If you upgrade to the “PF Black” membership ($20/month), you get free use of the massage chairs and tanning booths, and a discount on bottled bevs (that’s all they sell).

    So, what’s it lacking? Child care, towel service (bring your own), a steam room, sauna, pool, and whirlpool. And they don’t sell locks. (Also lacking, a copy editor–like its main competitor Crunch, PF’s slogan misspells “judgments”; only one “e” in that word, people.) Yes, there are shower stalls (no more than three, and with shower curtains) in each locker room. A wall-mounted hair dryer.

    My wife has belonged to a few gyms over the years. She says it’s the cleanest one she’s ever seen. We’ll see whether that opinion holds up as the membership swells. Wrong word?

  2. Caitlyn

    Update: Yesterday I signed a year long contract for unlimited use of the gym (and unlimited guest privileges!!) for $20/mo. with an annual membership fee of $40–the PF Black Card. I worked out once and I am so happy. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Brokelyn. This will really contribute to the overall quality of my life and I wouldn’t have discovered it if not for you.

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