I’ve been trying for the past four weeks to get the NYT to cancel my subscription. I emailed, I called, and the dead tree rag continues to drop at my driveway every Saturday and Sunday. Like a spurned lover who can’t believe it’s over, it’s not over for them.
Maybe the guy delivering the paper wants to have a holiday tip this year and he’s trying to stretch the deliveries out until December. The NYT keeps turning up every weekend, rain or shine.
In any case, I bring the NYT into the house and everyone else reads it. This item was brought to my attention this morning, fresh from the front pages of the NYT:
No Grunting, They Said, and He Was at the Gym
Albert Argibay, a bodybuilder and a state correction officer, was at a Planet Fitness gym with 500 pounds of weight on his shoulders one afternoon this month when the club manager walked over and told him it was time to leave. Mr. Argibay, the manager explained, had violated one of the club’s most sacred and strictly enforced rules: He was grunting.
Well, whaddaya expect? The man’s lifting 500lbs; most anyone would have ruptured something by then – of course he’s going to grunt!
What would you rather have him do, duct tape his mouth, break wind, or do Ethel Merman impersonations? Give the guy a break!
The NYT sent a girl, Anahad O’Connor, to report:
Grunting, rude as it may be, has been commonplace in gyms for as long as weights have been lifted. At most health clubs, grunts elicit little more than annoyed looks or sighs of irritation.
Had Anahad cared to look, at some gyms there are bodybuilder groupies, as Arnold can attest.
Certainly Anahad can’t abide such crass behavior:
Grunting can be a nuisance to anyone within earshot, sure,
Now, if Anahad cared to get out of her yoga pants mentality and step out of the confines of the Pilates classroom, she might be able to figure out that anyone lifting 500 lbs is going to grunt:
Dennis G. O’Connell, a professor of physical therapy at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Tex., has conducted studies on the effects of grunting. He found that weight lifters produce between 2 and 5 percent more force when they grunt, in part because the deep breathing grunting entails can help stabilize the spine.
But at Planet Fitness, it’s all about Politically Correct girlieness: Planet Fitness bills itself as “The Judgment Free Zone”.
And then there’s a domination aspect to the PC girlieness:
The picture shows a sign for the lunk alarm:
lunk (lunk) n. (slang) one who grunts, drop [sic] weights, or judges
Among some (grammatically impaired) women, nothing feels better than trying to control men under all circumstances. Take over the most male setting of all, the gym, and then prevent men from doing the things that men do.
Once that’s accomplished, humiliate the sap out of them:
At Planet Fitness gyms, grunters and other rule-breakers are treated to an ear-rattling siren with flashing blue lights and a public scolding. The “lunk alarm,” as the club calls it, is so jarring it can bring the entire floor to a standstill.
And then people wonder why my parents’ generation didn’t want co-ed gyms.
Since I’m not a shrink I won’t speculate as to whether enforcing the ban on “grunts, drop [sic] weights, or judges” through public humiliation is a sign of a perverse dominant-submissive personality. I’ll leave that to the pros.
The disturbing thing about this Planet Fitness story is that it is part of the trend towards creating a society that is generally hostile to men. The politically correct gym is only one more of the carcasses lying on that road.
From what I’ve heard, a lot of people go to gyms to meet members of the opposite sex. My advice to any guy would be to stay away from the kind of girl that supports a gym with lunk alarms, unless the guy is prepared to face a lifetime of hearing her whining about the fact that he scratches himself when he gets up in the morning. Think about it guys, what if she wants you to start waxing your body hair? (And don’t remind me that pro bodybuilders wax – they do it out of their own volition, not because some controlling girl doesn’t want men to look like men.)
Al Argibay has a website: BoyCott Planet Fitness!, featuring a Top Ten Reasons list, and a video:
You have my support, Al.
I wonder if the lunk alarm would end the NYT deliveries, though.
(technorati tags women, men, relationships, Planet Fitness)
Oh for the love of Charles Atlas! Lunk alarms?? What a bunch of elitist ninnies … if the gym doesn’t want “grunting” pull out all the heavy free weights and rename itself “Curves”
I go to my gym “24 Hr Fitness” at lunch 3 to 4 times a week, and I’ve never been bothered if any of the guys or gals in the freeweight section make a little noise if they are working hard.
Why not ban sweating? It messes up the quiet, serene ambience generated by lunk alarms and flashing lights!!!!!
This is hilarious.
That article wasn’t in my copy of the Times!
🙂
Lovely how morons take what’s printed in the NYTimes as unabided truth.
The moron was NOT arrested, though the cops were called. They were NOT called because he was “grunting”, they were called because he became abusive and threatening to the staff.
As for the “no grunting” rule, while some muscle bound apes find it necessary (and maybe it is for real body builders), PF is NOT Golds Gym. It’s main focus and clientile are adults who are not comfortable in the Gold’s Gym type of musclehead ego-manic environment. The atmosphere is more relaxed. The only reason this lunk was a member is because he’s a cheap SOB. While Gold’s and other such “pro” gyms charge upwards to $50+ a month, PF is $10.
I’ve been a member of PF for a couple years and am far from PC as you can get, but I enjoy the easy-going attitude and not having to deal with morons who think that they need attention and admiration because they’re on steroids.
Sullise,
You are a pussy.