If you’ve never worked out at a gym before, Planet Fitness is a place where you don’t have to feel uncomfortable or judged. In contrast to the majority of gyms, Planet Fitness was founded on a mission to serve as an affordable alternative.
The gym owners sought to inspire more people to exercise by building a low-cost, no-commitment gym that aspires to be judgment-free and encourages participation.
When Planet Fitness first opened, it was known for its pleasant, comfortable staff and low prices for gym memberships.
Planet Fitness is for people who don’t attend the gym on a regular basis. The “lunk alarm” has been established by the gym to ensure that its members don’t feel intimidated throughout their workouts. So, what exactly is the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness? This post will answer this and many of your other questions about the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness.
What is the Lunk Alarm at Planet Fitness?
Lifting weights can result in some noise, whether it’s a weight dropping occasionally, a grunt as you raise a weight, or even hitting the weights together while you work out.
Since this is not permitted at this gym, there is a lunk alarm at Planet Fitness to warn people if they are in the vicinity of someone who “grunts, dumps weights, or judges.
While working out, the Planet Fitness lunk alarm might interrupt your routine with its deafening tone.
The lunk alarm would go off, and the club management would step in if someone groaned or dropped weights.
However, there’s no guarantee the alarm will go off; it’s up to the manager whether or not it does.
People who breathe too heavily, grunt while lifting considerable weight, or drop equipment very forcefully on the floor are likelier to set off the alarm.

Lunk Alarm Rules
A lunk is defined as a person who purposefully or unintentionally draws attention to himself. Noisy individuals may be asked to leave immediately should management hear any unusually loud noises created by them.
As a new member-friendly club, Planet Fitness goes to great lengths to keep members who aren’t yet proficient weight lifters from feeling intimidated by things like groaning or the sound of big weights tumbling to the flooring.
People who lunk are frequently evicted, and there are several complaints and recordings about how they are treated.
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Why Does Planet Fitness Have a Lunk Alarm?
Planet Fitness wants to make their audience feel at home. They established the lunk alarm in an effort to make almost all of its customers feel less intimidated by the gym.
Planet Fitness staff will give you critical glances for grunting or smashing weights, and the lunk alarm would go off in their gym.
Just so newbies and beginners don’t feel pressured to engage in behaviors that make them uncomfortable, they make an effort to keep the gym welcoming. And thus, the lunk alarm was born.
Planet Fitness prohibits certain practices that are commonplace at other clubs.
This is the gym’s way of attracting attention to those struggling. Persons at risk of expulsion are those who bring attention to themselves.
What Happens When You Set Off the Lunk Alarm?
Grunting is widespread in many gyms, but Planet Fitness considers it unpleasant and disrespectful.
If you set off the lunk alarm, the Planet Fitness staff will ask you to exit the facility. You may lose your membership if you commit repeated infractions.
Judgment-free training zones at Planet Fitness allow newbies to exercise without fear of being intimidated by more experienced members.
For the most part, Planet Fitness employs the lunk alarm to filter out customers who don’t seem to suit the Planet Fitness brand’s ideal demographic.
Is the Lunk Alarm at Planet Fitness Real?
Yes, the lunk alarm at Planet Fitness is definitely real. Numerous members of Planet Fitness had to leave Planet Fitness because they set off the lunk alarm intentionally or inadvertently.
There have been disagreements over the lunk alarm.
Some people think it is an excellent thing; however, others say it is ridiculous and has caused a lot of controversy at Planet Fitness.
Is the Lunk Alarm at Planet Fitness Automatic?
The lunk alarm isn’t automatic. We don’t know exactly how many members have been subjected to the wrath of the lunk alarm.
A few times a month, maybe it will go off. It’s going off depends on the number of bodybuilders that happen to wander in.
Employees, however, are solely responsible for initiating it.
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How Does the Lunk Alarm Get Set off at Planet Fitness?
The lunk alarm gets set off like this: The front desk employees will ring the lunk alarm, and then the manager will intervene if you make excessively loud noises. The personnel then ask you to leave.
The lunk alarm was designed with good intentions. And Planet Fitness appears to benefit from this strategy in upholding its policy of maintaining a non-judgmental environment.
Does Planet Fitness Kick You Out for Grunting?
Yes, they do, and the termination of your Planet Fitness membership is a possibility if you engage in grunting on multiple occasions and are expelled each time.
Lunk Alarm Controversy
There are, however, particular concerns regarding the lunk alarm. This policy, for example, is vulnerable to abuse. What if a coworker disapproves of your appearance? You have no control over whether or not they call what you’ve been doing as lunking.
A toxic environment can be created for some persons. Albert Argibay, a huge bodybuilder as well as a New York state detention officer, was asked to leave the facility in 2006 just after Planet Fitness staff overheard him growling.
As a result, his membership got terminated. People in the facility called him a “lunker,” which only made matters worse.
Even World’s Strongest Man, four-timer Brian Shaw, tried a Planet Fitness gym. In 2018 the incident happened. He wanted to get as far as possible without setting off the lunk alarm. In the end, he was expelled. If anything was amiss with him, it wasn’t his loud grunting.
In Planet Fitness, several women feel uncomfortable. Vanessa Golembewski wrote a bad review of Planet Fitness in a report. Due to the hazardous environment, she decided to stop visiting the gym after about nine months. When she was catcalled and sexually assaulted, she stated that no one on the personnel set the lunk alarm off.
The lunk alarm at Planet Fitness has become a joke throughout the years. It’s not uncommon for somebody to purposefully visit a Planet Fitness facility in order to set the alarm off and be expelled.
The Thomas Bros pulled a prank on one Planet Fitness location in 2017, and their YouTube video got over 6 million views. At a point in the video, the prankster stripped his shirt and grunted loudly while exercising.
Despite the complaints that his conduct was obnoxious and impolite, the personnel failed to address the issue adequately. Instead of explaining what was wrong with the troublemaker and then telling him to leave, the personnel just forced him out of the building.
This isn’t to argue that the lunk alarm is a bad thing. There are advantages and disadvantages to it. It all comes down to how Planet Fitness staff apply the company’s policies and mission.
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Planet Fitness Lunk Alarm Lawsuit
Lunk alarms have been widely criticized over the years, with several people expressing their displeasure. In other cases, Planet Fitness members have considered or have actually filed a lawsuit against the company.
Jonathan Ragsdale’s Lawsuit
Jonathan Ragsdale was a resident of Louisville, Kentucky, and a member of Planet Fitness. Planet Fitness canceled his membership, and later a refund was given to him when the branch decided to terminate his membership.
What’s wrong with him? In the eyes of the gym’s administration, he was no longer fit enough to exercise at Planet Fitness because he had gained muscle mass similar to that of professional athletes. Other members were getting intimidated because of his muscles.
Jonathan kept a “lunk alarm-free mentality” and stated that he had not broken any of their rules. That’s why he was surprised when his membership was canceled. As a result, he decided to sue Planet Fitness.
2017 Lunk Alarm Case
Another example is a person who posted a query in 2017 about a lunk alarm lawsuit online. After dropping his weights, this gentleman said he had injured his foot. This occurred because he was shocked by the lunk alarm set off by a Planet Fitness staff.
It’s worth checking if he was gravely hurt, according to many lawyers who commented on the posting.
Lawyers suggested that a personal injury lawyer was suitable for him, and he needed to avoid communicating with the company, particularly if they requested access to his health files.
2014 Case
Tiffany Austin, a law school graduate from UC Berkeley, was contemplating bringing legal action against Planet Fitness in 2014. When one of their employees reported that other gym-goers had complained about her toned physique, the facility began receiving many other complaints.
She was requested to wear a second shirt to hide her gym attire from others. This incident had nothing to do with lunk alarms, but it demonstrates that Planet Fitness is not just concerned about the grunters.
Conclusion…
What exactly is lunk alarm, yet again? In order to deter people from misbehaving, Planet Fitness has installed a lunk alarm.
A staff member at Planet Fitness initiates the alarm if they see or hear someone grunting, loudly dropping weights, displaying their physique, and so forth.
This helps new or inexperienced gym-goers feel more at ease and less apprehensive.
Even though Planet Fitness came up with the idea of a lunk alarm with good intentions, it also has a downside, and Planet Fitness has been sued for it.