Planet Fitness – Bronx – 225th St.

My buddy Steph is a fan of my reviews but wanted me to «expand my range» beyond restaurants and CVS branches. So this is my review of the local gym.
The other day, I almost had a heart attack hearing that somebody spent $ 200 (yes TWO HUNDRED) on a NYSC/​Equinox/​Crunch Fitness type gym. Are you serious?! Are the treadmills diamond plated? What?!
This is the opposite. No frills, $ 20 a month, and you come not to be seen but to actually exercise intensely. Having been to some of those other places a couple times — usually through coupons and «freebies» — I can say that an inordinate amount of people seem to be watching movies/​TV on their phones or reading (stuff you can’t do if you’re really working things) and doing the 4 speed, 0 incline thing, aka a FAST WALK. At these places, you are also paying for things like a fancy shower and a smoothie station. Why on earth would you have the latter at a gym?! Way to cancel out all your work at the end. Read Tim Grover’s article on the «smoothie error» here:
Everybody smells, looks miserable, and is focused at PF. Only complaint: they show Univision alongside FOX NEWS all the time!!!

Planet fitness is a great gym to go to if you’re looking solely for cardio. Though, be aware this is a grease ball company when it comes to paperwork. I’ve faithfully paid my bill every month for 2 years, yet when I attempt to bring down my membership from the $ 20 one to the $ 10 I have to get charged $ 30? That makes almost as much sense as having all bench presses be on smith machines. If you’re looking for a gym with weights to lift, you’d be better off at any other gym the neighborhood has to offer. Goodbye crappy sound track, and smith machines forever. Upon realizing how bad at customer service this company is, I cancelled my contract with the quickness.

I’ve tried other gyms. I’ve been to the City Recreational Center gyms and I’ve done the $ 80 a month places. Planet Fitness is the «bang» for the buck.
To be honest, I go strictly to use the treadmill. So keep that in mind when weighing the value of this review. I work out there, but that’s just pushups and pull ups. Even with that, the stations that I use are crowded. I put my feet up to mimic the incline press during pushups, so there’s only one place in the corner to do that without blocking traffic. And there are only two stations for pull ups. And it’s the machine, which you can dismantle the seat, but your knees keep hitting it.
That being said, I haven’t had to wait for a treadmill yet. That was an issue with the City gyms. Lack of treadmills. And I love the clientele at Planet Fitness a whole lot better. I don’t know what it is about expensive places, but I want to exercise and sweat in anonymity. There’s too much «showboating» at the expensive places: chicks in, I kid you not, bikini tops prancing around; and dudes having hour long conversations in front of a much needed machine.
I had my doubts about getting my workout on here, but now it’s Planet Fitness all the way.

I’ve been a member of planet fitness for 3 yrs. and I must say the membership price is affordable. My only complaint about this location is the staff. They are RUDE and need to have customer service training. The manager (female I don’t remember her name) never greets you and is never pleasant. It never fails, every time I go to that location she’s has the same demeanor. Serious face doesn’t reply when you greet her. She don’t even say hello. Another male staff did the same thing. I said good morning and he did not reply. Great gym but they seriously need to work on their home training a.k.a. manners. The only reason I give this gym three stars is because of the location and the view but if it were based on customer service I wouldn’t give them any stars.

According to the ridiculous policy of Planet Fitness or Tiara Acevedos (the person who was there) children are not allowed to exercise. My son is 14. So planet fitness is telling that I need to pay for a baby sitter whenever I have to go to the gym? Planet fitness is telling that my overweight son can’t exercise? Good call Planet fitness. Canceling my membership.

The staff are unhelpful and rude, only 3 yoga mats which are generally just used by people to lounge around and the showers are grimey as heck, Don’t waste your money here when there are definitely better alternatives.

I hate people.
Therefore I needed to find a gym that was open 24 hours so I can avoid them. This gym has a great schedule except on weekends when it’s not 24 hours.
Reviewing it from someone who goes between 3am-​5am, I love this gym because: Never packed (never seen more than about 7 people at once), I can embarrass myself with my weakness and noone is watching or caring.
I would never join this gym if it didn’t have late hours because I can see the problem the crowding can create: this gym doesn’t have enough variety, so God forbid it’s ab and leg day you’ll be stuck waiting awhile.
I joined for $ 10/​month (that promotion for those like me with a new years resolution in January), and it’s more than worth it (AGAIN because I work out at 3am-​5am)

My husband and I recently joined the gym back in February 2014. It is convenient since we live close by. However, I must say the front desk staff need extensive training on how to properly provide exceptional customer service. The staff does not greet the customer .they walk around the gym seeming so unhappy. Since joining this gym I have never seen the staff including the manager smile. Also, there is a manager in particular, a young hispanic female who is usually there during weekdays mornings and afternoons at the gym located on 225^th St Bronx NYC 10 463 who needs managerial and customer service training. Upper management must hire staff with the exception of one or two. Recruiters must hire individuals who really want to work and exude positivity. New staff is imperative to prevent people like my husband and myself to cancel our membership.
NOTE: The only reason i am giving a two star rating is because of your staffing. The equipment is also not enough for people who attend the gym after working hours. At times the wait for an equipment could be as long as 45 minutes. I also must add at times I attend the gym during overnight and I’ve witnessed young men fraternizing with front desk staff. They play round like loud children with no regards to those who go to workout.

I was a member at this gym for about two years and although it had some negatives such as being packed during weekday evening hours (6pm-​9pm) and during the weekends (not a problem for me because I usually went from 4:30am-5:30am when it was usually empty), it was a decent gym for a basic work out. For the price ($ 20 for a black membership) which allows you to visit any other PF gyms in the tristate area including NJ/​CT, its not a bad deal. Unfortunately, I had to cancel my membership after some health problems but cancelling my membership was not a problem. I just went to the gym in person and signed the membership cancellation form and it was done. They did not charge me for the next month either which I’ve heard seems to happen often when people cancel their gym memberships. Overall, I would say it is a pretty basic gym with all the equipment necessary to get in shape but you have to try and visit the gym during the off peak hours when its empty. Oh yeah, there is parking in the back of the building and in the parking lots at Marshall’s and Target which is very convenient if you’re driving.

This place is terrible! Customer service is so bad they shot up the place! The women at the desk are horrendous. Like for real!!! If the owner was smart he would fire them all and start over.

You get what you pay for.
I appreciate the fact that for $ 20 a month you have access to all their Planet Fitness locations and you can bring a friend. That’s perhaps the only plus I find in regards to the membership. As for the gym, echoing what some other reviewers have said, it leaves much to be desired. It can get pretty crowded especially during rush hours. However I’ve heard that if you go in the morning is not as bad. Though there a lot of machines, there’s not a lot of variety. They don’t have stair masters at ANY of their locations :-(They don’t really offer fitness classes either. The second floor smells really bad, I don’t know why. The first floor is ok I guess because there’s a lot of open space. For a gym that’s so big and has so many people, there are only 4 yoga mats which are taken most of the time. No swiss balls either. It’s basically just machines.
I particularly cancelled my membership. I rather pay a little more and get a better gym experience.

It is a decent gym. Lots of cardio machines on both floors. Enough weight machines for every part of your body lol… The front desk could have been a bit more friendlier and was not given a tour or any sense of direction to where the lockers are etc. Fine, moving to the women locker room, meh could be cleaner and a lot of the lockers are broken, make sure you double check the lockers are working… Overall it is a gym where you either go to in the mornings or early afternoon about 3 pm. After 5 it can get a bit overwhelming… It’s okay overall.

Not even close to the top of my list of good gyms, but it gets the job done. I have been going here for over a year and wanted to make sure I was seeing everything in this place. As far as my workouts, I like a balance between body-​building, and cardio.
Now more on the gym…
Always crowded with small packs of teenagers milling around aimlessly, ridiculous weight-​slamming amateurs, and the occasional air-​fighting ninja. A lot of times I find myself trying figure out if some of the guys are here to work out, or just here hanging out.
Very limited as far as weight machines are concerned, and none of the free-​weights are heavier then 60 lbs., so it’s hard to get creative with your workouts because of the lack of equipment.
And sanitation is a serious problem here. The locker rooms are always dirty, they seem to use dirty water when they mop the floors once a week, and the second floor always smells funky. Like, B.O. and morning-​breath. Disgusting.
If you must use this gym, I recommend going during the hours of 11am to 3pm, or 9:30 pm to about 4am. Any other time, it’s amateur-​hour, so you can forget it. It is way too crowded to get a decent workout. Some times I end up leaving because it is too crowed to finish my work.

First visit on a Saturday afternoon to this location.
Pros:
1) Great location if you are looking for parking.
2) Decent view of the river. (From the arc machines on the 2^nd floor)
3) Benches in the locker room (random I know, but the one I go too doesn’t have a bench situated close to every locker
4) Lots of machines (this place is packed with machines)
Neutral:
1) more men than women
Cons:
1) Crowded — I’d say the gym was at 85% capacity
2) The number of cleaning stations with that spray liquid for the machines seemed disproportionate and sparse compared to the number of machines… I saw no one use any cleaning solution
3) STINKY — from the moment I walked in to the 2^nd floor to the moment I left.
Will I return? Maybe on a less stinky, crowded day, but not likely.

I came to Planet Fitness after taking a long break from going to any gym. I had been at a different gym, but coming back, I decided to give Planet a try. (Its cheap, so hey! :p)
I guess it can work for some people, but it just didn’t work for me.
Why? Cause it’s a little more crowded than the gyms I’m used to.
And 2, most importantly, weights I most wanted to use, like the bench press, always had someone using them!
They only had one or two bench press sections, and the big guys there were always hogging them. Yet, there’s like 20 (I didn’t really count, just there are a lot!) cardio machines.
So, with this problem, along with the fact that there are a lot of people, my workouts would take longer, but I feel like they weren’t as good! I also think Planet Fitness doesn’t have as many weights/​machines good for building size as other gyms I’ve been to.
Thank goodness I went back to my regular gym! :D

I imagine that the worst gym in the world has wild dogs chasing you on the treadmill.
…men filled with roid rage throwing barbells at one another.
…mold filled bathrooms attended by crackheads, who immediately steal your things the moment you leave.
…trained monkey that slaps you after every sit up.
…no TV’s. The world’s worst gym will NOT have TV’s.
According to my imagination, this is not the world’s worst gym and besides the youths milling about in jeans, this gym isn’t so bad. It’s clean, the equipment is new. Men, there seems to be some security issues in the men’s locker room, so I would suggest you stuff an angry troll with a pick-​ax in your locker for added protection. Well, that or you can spend a few more bucks on a better lock.

This gym isn’t as bad as the other reviewers make it out to me. They’ve added a massive amount of machines that are now iPod equipped which to me is 100% awesome.
I usually go before the after work rush so maybe I’m lucky but the place is relatively empty and not noisy. The staff is friendly and I usually only see one or two broken machines.

Meh. I’ve experienced better.
There’s some decent equipment, and the air quality in this gym is probably the best I’ve experienced. But the inability to have even air conditioning-​or working air conditioning for that matter-​detracts. Its only OK.
But its the only non-​two star PF I’ve been to in the Westchester/​Bronx area. So consider that.

This gym has gone downhill incredibly fast. Machines are always broken, there are rampant thefts within the locker rooms, and the staff does little to notify patrons of broken devices.
I went in a few months ago and was electrocuted by a malfunctioning water fountain – there was no sign indicating it was broken, and no one from the Planet Fitness staff even bothered to unplug it! When I told them I had been electrocuted due to their negligence, they said that «someone» would be by to fix it at some point, and that they’d eventually put a sign up.
Do yourself a tremendous favor and join another gym. Don’t be persuaded by the price – you won’t want to go to this gym if they paid you.

On Saturday February 13^th 2010 between the time of 11:13 and 1:30pm my laptop was burglarized from a Planet Fitness Locker. I have informed the police and have notified AL who is responsible for this location. (225^th and Broadway, Bronx, NY)
I had been instructed by Planet Fitness staff to secure my items into a locker, for the safety of your members, and these instructions have proven to be the cause of my direct theft. Since my direct violation I no longer feel secure in this environment and unintimidated as I was promised when I signed up in the 4^th quarter of 2009. Manager Al said insurance would cover it, then swiftly changed his tone as weeks progressed.
I sued Planet Fitness for the cost of my laptop $ 2000+ and they didn’t go to court the first scheduling. The second time the Director came and was very well spoken, and from what I saw a respectable human being. He even agreed to help me with getting another one even if the arbitrator didn’t rule in my favor. A week later the judge didn’t, and I never heard from him again.
Me and 4 witnesses that were with me that day were put out because they were caught mentioning my theft with other club members, some of who were burglarized themselves. The manager even called the cops from the 44^th precinct. When the cops arrived I didn’t have to say a word, he already knew. He said «I’m here about 6 times a month» By the way the members asked to leave the club were one woman in her 30’s another in her 60’s and another 68 year old man. The Manager Al’s then lied and said that the 60 year old woman cursed him out. The cop just doing his job took the report. This was the first time that I’ve seen the victim of a crime (myself) punished twice in one day. My suggestion to Al was that they enforce security, to this he took offense and told the cop «I told him how to run his club.
By the way the same day I was burglarized 2 other men were burglarized too but did not show up to my trial. One was a guest to the club that day and had his clothes taken, and the other was a member and had his running shoes taken. When I asked to place a sign up to notify other members and guest. They said they could not do it. So It is my duty to warn you of the constant thefts that occur in this establishment.
II kept in contact with the 60 year old woman that was witness to this. Since being rudely ejected from the Bronx location at 225^th she signed up at the 125^th Harlem location. She said that they had made changes in security and had a police in the locker room now. She was enjoying this location until Manager Al was transferred to this location one day and he called the police and asked them to put out this 60 year old woman. When she told me this I thought it was beyond low and for Planet Fitness to continue to punish it’s victimized members is wrong, shameful, classless and arrogant. I have written almost all levels of their chain of command with no response, not even word of remorse. Then again like it’s said, I’m not the only one. Don’t be afraid to speak up, $ 10 a month is no excuse for treating members as CRIMINALS.
I had enjoyed my weekends here before I was kicked out for being burglarized.
The sad part is that I would have continued to go back if they showed any respect for it’s members and came through on their PROMISES to
1:Let their insurance handle it
2:Do as their Director told me in court and help me
Instead each time someone asks me about PLANET FITNESS I must tell them about what low values they demonstrate.