Planet Fitness – Ithaca

The gym is great. Until you want to cancel your membership. Then it’s an absolute nightmare. You can only cancel in person or by certified mail. I went in before moving away (this is a serious concern for any students/​grad students/​visiting faculty who are not going to be in Ithaca forever), so anyway, I went in to cancel my membership, and the high school student working the desk gives me incorrect information/​apparently has no idea what’s going on/​but tells me my membership has been cancelled, then 6 months later I’m across the country and realize I’ve been being charged a monthly fee this whole time. There’s NO ONE you can call about this. There’s no 1 – 800 number, there’s no billing department (apparently) and the people I’ve emailed are super unhelpful and seem to have no interest in refunding my money or even cancelling my membership without making me send a certified letter to the teenagers in Ithaca. It smacks of a scam, and I’m considering contacting the BBB. This experience totally overshadows anything I liked about this gym. Will not be joining a Planet Fitness ever again, even if they’re the only gym in town.

Overall, this gym is great, especially for the price ($ 10.00 a month if you commit to a yearly membership).
Pros:
— Plenty of cardio machines, easy to get your workout in even in January when it’s pretty busy
— Clean. I come 5 – 6 times a week and I usually see them cleaning 3 – 4 times a week while I am there.
–Helpful staff who will show you things if you ask.
–More than enough lockers and a well designed locker room for efficiency.
–Good variety of weight machines for total beginners to free weight area for those who are a little more advanced.
— It is a positive environment where if I am trying a new machine or workout I never feel that others are laughing at me (even if they are).
What could be better:
— Bathroom is not super well maintained. Sometimes I have to go when I come after work and it’s not super pleasant.
— I’m not sure who is in charge of this but it would be awesome if there were at least a mix of dual arc trainers and arc trainers instead of just arc trainers– the dual arc trainers are such a better workout and very different. Maybe even replace some of the elliptical machines for these?
— the mat area is pretty small, especially during peak hours. If you took away the cage and instead made the pretty huge lobby area available for mat work, you could easily put those tables that are currently in the huge area in the current mat area and I wouldn’t have to stretch and do ab work within centimeters of other people.

I come here for the ultra convenient, never-​closed hours. I am also a member at Island Health and Fitness, which closes early (6pm/​7pm) on weekends and 9pm on weekdays, so PF is perfect for when I want a later workout. It is spacious, and there are always cardio machines open and rarely a wait for weights. Downsides are that the cardio machines are older, many are broken in some way (incline adjustment doesn’t work, audio system doesn’t work), and never fixed. 3 months after pointing out a machine to the staff in which the resistance adjustment was broken and having them write it down in their notebook: still broken. Unfortunately the treadmills are a bit rickety and not very sturdy, so even when super fit petite runners run on them at faster speeds, they are inexplicably loud, like a herd of elephants; it is hard not to feel self-​conscious running intervals on the treadmills. Overall, though, it is a pretty good value for the price.

I really love this gym. I have tried for years to use on-​campus gym, and I hate feeling like I’m scrambling for parking, or am in a rat race and pressured to get off the cardio machines. PF is not only so much less crowded, there’s tons of parking, but it is amazingly clean (and cheaper). For the price you can’t really beat it. For people who are looking for basic gym use (e.g. cardio machine and light weight training), or people who are looking to get started with going to the gym for the first time — this is perfect. That being said, I have seen people who are more the «gym rat» type and they seem at home, too.
The staff is not overall friendly or chummy — in fact, even though they smile at me when I come in I sort of feel like they don’t really care about customers. The major except is the physical trainer. I would highly recommend signing up for a private lesson with him so he can work out a routine that works well for you. It’s totally free (or at least, worked into your membership)! Even though I knew how the machines worked, I did this and don’t regret it one bit — it was nice to have someone else set a routine for me. Since then, if he sees me on the floor he always comes over to check on me, always makes sure to ask me how I’m doing, and is really keeping on top of my fitness goals. I think it really helps me remain motivated.
One of the downsides to PF is that there are no group classes. This is a major bummer for me, but if you think about it that’s what you get for the price.

Recently started using this gym and have been very happy with it. Previously, I’ve been a member of other various gyms around Ithaca… first at the City Health Club and then at Island Health and Fitness. (I stopped going to the former when my summer membership expired. The CHC gym was kinda dumpy. I canceled my membership to Island mainly because of the cost, at least by comparison to how often I ended up using it. There was never any parking when I went there and it just became a bigger pain than anything else to use the place.)
I joined Planet Fitness because of the price, for one, but also because I’m a pretty basic gym user and wanted something simple and accessible. I do cardio (30 – 60 minutes, depending on the day) and some weight training (mostly with machines like the leg extension, back extension, etc.). At Island, I had usually avoided a lot of the weight machines because they were always being used by big, grunty guys. I get that it’s a gym and that the weight lifter-​guys go with the territory… but I have to admit that I do enjoy that Planet Fitness is more for the basic gym-​goer, as opposed to the gym rat/​body builder-​type. I haven’t heard the Lunk Alarm go off yet at PF, but I’m sure it’s bound to at some point when I’m there.
Because PF is at the mall, parking is never really an issue… though I’m sure that if you try to go to PF on a weekend night then getting closer to the doors is probably not easy, if only because they’re right across from the movie theater. Consider a longer walk though… because, hey, you’re going to the gym anyway. :) The gym itself is well-​kept, the equipment is both clean and in great condition, and the vast majority of the staff has been very helpful (I say «vast majority» because the guy who helped me when I was initially signing up didn’t have the right paperwork for me to go through/​sign initially… gave me the wrong keycard, etc., but all was corrected during a follow-​up visit).
The only real downsides I can note? There’s no pool… and there’s no rowing machine. There’s a row-​style weight machine, which is fine, though I’d prefer the cardio machine if it was available.
Also, for anyone complaining that PF offers soda or food (like pizza or bagels, which they rationalize as a «thank you» to gym-​goers)? There’s a simple way to deal with that — don’t eat or drink any of it. Losing weight/​staying healthy, they say, is 80% diet and 20% working out… and it’s up to each individual to have enough motivation or self-​restraint to not partake in gobbling up the goodies. There are always going to be bad foods or drinks out there that will hinder your efforts to stay healthy. Maybe consider avoiding the consumption of pizza or bagels at the gym as another avenue of training your mind about what is healthy vs. what is not. That’s just my view though.

I really LOVE this gym!
After living in NYC I have truly come to appreciate places like PF. Most gyms in NYC are very gross (on many levels)– However, at PF the gym was always very clean, the equipment in great condition and the staff very friendly. Around holidays PF does fun give aways for the members. Some days they even have free food! Sure there are some times during the week (usually around 5:30 Mon-​Thurs) where it can be rather busy. However there is never a wait for equipment. For a nice venue, great equipment, and friendly staff– PF is the place to work out at!
As for haters of the infamous lunk alarm… its really not that bad. I think I heard it a total of three times (and I worked out there 3 days a week for 3 years) it was actually pretty funny when it did go off!

Mainly set up to get a lot of people to sign up for memberships. Lots of cardio equipment and machines, but nothing for people trying to get serious about fitness.

Nice, cheap option. The Ithaca location is staffed by friendly kids.

Come here! We have bagels and pizza and we sell Pepsi! Want to pedal slowly for 5 minutes then take a ten minute break with your soda? This place is for you.
Want to be irritated by that dumb lunk alarm that goes off when some moron at the front desk, doesn’t like the guy lifting weights? Great idea to ring that and make everyone jump.
Want to read the rules that say you can’t bring more than 20oz of water at a time? Water drinkers drink less Pepsi, you see. Plus, bring hydrated? Bah. Ring the alarm at pass me a bagel.
It’s cheap though. Very cheap. And I liked cheap.

Seriously? No one has reviewed this place yet?
I’m a fan of gyms that do not allow grunters, both silent and loud (Loud grunters are the meatheads who try to impress women with their vocal bench pressing. Silent grunters are the ones who use no weight and do 10,000 reps in no time, usually with the weights banging against each other in rapid succession.) Planet Fitness not only discourages grunting, but they have an awesome «lunk alarm» that goes off if anyone is caught disobeying the anti-​grunting rule.
This gym isn’t for everyone. Obviously not for grunters. Also not for anyone who wants a pool. And probably not the best if you come to the gym for social interaction. But if you want to use clean, newish cardio equipment and weight machines and be in an environment that encourages — no, celebrates! — people of all shapes and sizes, this is a great place to join.
The gym offers two memberships — one for $ 10/​month (includes use of all the equipment) and one for $ 20/​month (includes gym privileges and use of the massage chairs and tanning beds). And a warning to you weird Atkins people — they have free pizza nights and bagel mornings every now and then.