Maintaining your physical well-being is essential for your overall health. Fortunately, around 66 million Americans have gym memberships, and affordable health clubs include Planet Fitness. There are 2,200+ Planet Fitness locations in the United States right now where people go to work out casually.
But an interesting question remains much-asked among gym-goers: “Can you deadlift at Planet Fitness?” It has emerged because some exercise devotees are worried about the alleged prohibition of deadlifting and other similar routines at these locations. So, this article will discuss the possibility of deadlifting at Planet Fitness and mentions some beneficial alternatives. Please read it carefully to learn more about deadlifting.
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Can you deadlift at Planet Fitness? Machines and exercises
Exercise devotees often focus on weight-training workout routines such as powerlifting. Powerlifting includes squatting, deadlifting, and bench-pressing. Deadlifting involves lifting a loaded barbell to your hip level and in one of the core lifts. But this exercise isn’t favored by Planet Fitness clubs.
These gyms mainly support lunges, hinges, squats, loaded carries, and upper-body pulling/pushing. In addition, planet Fitness offers machines such as bikes, treadmills, and Smith Machines. Now, you can learn what sorts of exercises are the best for Planet Fitness gym-goers and what aren’t favorable.
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Why don’t they let you?
You can read the tweet mentioned at the beginning when a Planet Fitness representative claims that the franchise allows heavy-duty exercises such as deadlifting and overhead pressing. Moreover, the representative argues that no exercise is banned. However, the representative admits that they don’t allow stuff like grunting and dropping weights. After asking many people about it, we’ve concluded: “Can you deadlift at Planet Fitness?” Officially, deadlifting isn’t banned. However, it’s technically not allowed because of Planet Fitness’ no-noise-judgment-or-intimidation policy. So, you can do it if the staff doesn’t mind and other members are okay with it. On the other hand, it’s forbidden due to the following:
- It’s mainly about noise pollution.
- They don’t want you to damage the floor.
- If you hurt yourself, then it doesn’t look good for the franchise
- The franchise may not wish to purchase expensive deadlifting equipment
- Most gym-goers at Planet Fitness are casual members, and heavy-duty exercises intimidate them
- Some trainers there may not have enough experience in deadlifting and some other heavy-duty weightlifting techniques
- Even though the franchise has a no-judgment policy, they judge people for doing heavy-duty powerlifting. You can read the tweet linked below about the lunk alarm. This alarm is for anyone who is found making noise, lifting heavy stuff, or even drinking water crazily.
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Some Excellent alternatives
There are many excellent alternatives to traditional deadlifting in which you don’t violate any Planet Fitness rules. But unfortunately, some gym-goers believe these alternatives are isolation exercises and won’t benefit them as much as a compound exercise. Well, you should combine the following friendly alternatives to strengthen your muscles. In the next section, we shall discuss just one of these great substitutes to help you stay fit at Planet Fitness. But first, here’s what you must do instead of deadlifting:
- Dumbbell deadlifting
- Romanian deadlifting
- Stiff-legged deadlifting
- One-armed dumbbell deadlifting
- Smith Machine deadlifting (explained below)
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Can You Deadlift at Planet Fitness? Try Smith Machine deadlift.
The million-dollar question is: “How can you deadlift at Planet Fitness with so many restrictions?” A solution involves the Smith Machine. You can do the core lift by taking a deep breath, driving your hips forward, locking out, straightening your body, and bringing both hips back to the actual position while lowering the bar. That’s how you can strengthen your muscles at Planet Fitness without doing any harm. Remember to get the staff’s approval and be friendly with other members.
Some commonly-asked questions
Q1: Is the deadlift bar heavy at Planet Fitness?
It can weigh anywhere from 15 pounds to 20 pounds. The weight is often written on the Smith Machine.
Q2: Why should I even deadlift at Planet Fitness?
This exercise boosts metabolism, releases anabolic hormones, and strengthens your back. You can improve your posture and get more muscular legs as well.
Q3: Can you deadlift at Planet Fitness and get injured?
Some common injuries coming from deadlifting involve strains and sprains.
Q4: Which muscles are you targeting when you deadlift?
When deadlifting, you target your core, hips, back, glutes, trapezius, and hamstrings.
Q5: What other exercises have been banned at Planet Fitness?
They include T-rows, clean and jerks, overhead presses, and others alongside deadlifts.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you’ve learned that deadlifting isn’t officially banned because “there aren’t any exercises that aren’t allowed.” However, it’s forbidden technically since dropping weights is forbidden. Moreover, you must be careful about the lunk alarm that prevents people from engaging in intimidating exercises at Planet Fitness. So, to answer the question “Can you deadlift at Planet Fitness?” you can if the staff at these locations is friendly with you and other members don’t get offended. You may try Smith Machine deadlifting to avoid raising the alarm. Some gyms prevent traditional barbell deadlifting because it may damage the floor, injure the person, or produce too much noise. So, please don’t deadlift there.