Planet Fitness: Just walk in the gym door and start with 10-minute workouts

Who did you notice the last time you visited your local grocery store? If you took a look around, you’d see a range of people, all with different shapes and sizes, different ages, and most notably, different fitness levels.

Those are the same members you’ll see when you visit Planet Fitness, the place to work out if you’re more concerned about getting fit, enjoying yourself and having fun than you are about trying to be noticed.

“We have a judgment-free environment where everybody can feel comfortable,” says Brian Bobenage, who owns four Planet Fitness locations in the Columbia area. “We discourage the ‘look at me’ attitude. Ours is a gym for everybody that more closely resembles the realistic mix of people you might see at the supermarket.”

So what about the industry standard that says you must spend a minimum of an hour and a half a day, five days a week, at the gym to reach and maintain the maximum fitness level necessary for you to lead a happy and healthy life? It’s all “BULLFIT,” says Bobenage. BULLFIT is a term coined to debunk common misconceptions about what it takes to become more fit, often resulting from unrealistic fad fitness, social media “fitspiration,” and other myths that we believe to be true regarding health and wellness. His response is based on a national study released recently by Planet Fitness, Innovate MR and Kelton Global.

The report points out that, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, you require only 10 minutes of exercise “to raise your heart rate and maintain fitness levels” and that “every single episode of physical activity can provide temporary improvements in cognitive function and levels of anxiety.”

Most importantly, the report states that head-to-head fitness competition and common phrases such as “no pain, no gain” actually serve as demotivating factors for people interested in enhancing their health and well-being.

That’s the gist of a Planet Fitness effort that is being launched just in time for Columbia area residents to make good on those New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get in shape. The “You Did It” campaign encourages people to “just get in the door and do as little as 10 minutes a day and just try to be more active,” Bobenage says.

“The point is that we’re trying to get people to reward themselves rather than beat themselves up because of the unrealistic attitude of the fitness industry,” he says.

According to Bobenage, the majority of his members – in the neighborhood of 80% – had never been to a gym before they joined Planet Fitness.

“It’s not easy for people who haven’t been exercising to do five days a week. That’s not going to happen. If you come in once a week and move for a half hour, you’ll be much better off than you were, and you should reward yourself for every workout, he points out.

At Planet Fitness, members have the option of working with a trainer in small groups of five to 10 people or by themselves. If they choose to exercise on their own, they’ll still have the option of consulting with a personal trainer at no additional cost.

And, according to Bobenage, they’ll be starting the new year off on the right foot.

“Exercise helps your general well-being. You feel good about yourself, both physically and mentally. You’ll be able to say ‘You did it,”’ he concludes.

To learn more about why Planet Fitness is a great place to help you keep your New Year resolutions, stop by one of our locations, or visit https://www.planetfitness.com/gyms/.