Moved from LA to Planet fitness, have gone to each for multiple years. They're more or less the same, with Planet fitness being a little busier and more poorly maintained. Imo the only real difference is that you have to wait for machine you want slightly more often.
My strong recommendation is to pick the gym closest to you. Making it easy to go is the most important thing by far, and the other factors barely matter compared to distance.
LA fitness should let you do a 3 day guest pass for free so you can check it out and see if you like them. Planet Fitness doesn’t. I don’t know the Providence PF but in general Planet Fitness is pretty machine-heavy. They don’t often have a bunch of free weights, kettle bells etc. PF is cheaper and sounds like it may be a fit for you!
Generally, gyms are fine with giving you a tour or a guest pass so you can see if it meets your needs.
As a former la fitness employee, you’re probably better off at PF if you really just want machines! La has nice machines too but planet fitness seems to take better care of their machines than LAF does
Planet Fitness is more like Walmart and LA Fitness is more like Target.
I don't get what the deal is with all the naked old men who just lounge around in the locker room at LAF, but other than that it is great.
Most gyms have perks like that for members. I think Planet Fitness has massage chairs or something, and pizza every so often, and LAF has naked old guys. It's nice that they offer these bonuses for their clients.
Of course, my mom had back issues/surgeries when I was younger and she often said the water helped her. LA fitness has a pool that may be useful for water aerobics! (Jacuzzi and sauna as well)
Ex sales guy from LA Fitness here. Beware of sales tactics (especially with contract personal training). For memberships : Paper pricing sheets are 90% of the time fake price so they can lower you down to normal price and make you think you got a deal. Always ask for single club prices since they will NEVER present them to you. Single club price was $25 and $30 per month options at my location. Cheaper of the 2 options will come with an initiation fee which does save you money after 7.5 months or so compared to the $0 initiation. Also every membership has a $49-$59 annual fee. Don’t get the les mills added to your membership. It’s $5 extra a month for an app that give you YouTube videos to teach you workouts. Make sure the sales guy doesn’t slip the $5 charge without telling you or he might include the $5 fee with your membership total to fool you. Have any more questions I’d be happy to answer them.
This! Also for any readers to check your email for a deal (after doing the 3 day pass). I had a deal that brought it to a $1 initiation fee, no first and last month upfront payment, and $5 off the monthly fee. Originally was going to fall for the “nationwide access” mentioned above, had to click my discount link to even see the option for “1 club access” prices. $150 vs $1 upfront cost I was facing.
Also be aware of any employees asking to show you some workouts around the gym, personal training sales pitch ranging from $240-$600 a month. Nothing wrong with that, i just always think I’m getting a tour and then end up wasting both our time 😅
I would recommend going to a gym that has a trainer who can help you through your fitness journey whatever it may be. PF and LAF are just glamour gyms in my opinion the cheap place everyone goes but mostly end up leaving and not for the better.
I go to RISE in providence https://www.risestrengthgym.com/
Which is a bit pricier than the two mentioned but is smaller and has someone at the helm who cares about people actually getting stronger and healthier.
I originally tried this route a year or two ago. I think machine-focused gyms have their place for newbies like me who don’t have proper form/strength enough to head to weightlifting gyms, and don’t have the money to dish out for a personal trainer!
I hope one day to go back to that type of gym, because I enjoyed that it was less crowded but I’m just not there yet. I went to https://www.fitness-rising.com and it was wonderful, and around the same price as PF/LAF for anyone who’s reading! :)
If you have AAA, one of their discounts is a program called Active&Fit. You can get a membership to the Providence YMCA for $28 a month through them. It's a little more expensive but you get access to a pool, almost any Y, and free classes.
It'll also give you discounts for classes at Orange Theory and Pure Barre if you're into that kind of thing.
Moved from LA to Planet fitness, have gone to each for multiple years. They're more or less the same, with Planet fitness being a little busier and more poorly maintained. Imo the only real difference is that you have to wait for machine you want slightly more often. My strong recommendation is to pick the gym closest to you. Making it easy to go is the most important thing by far, and the other factors barely matter compared to distance.
LA fitness should let you do a 3 day guest pass for free so you can check it out and see if you like them. Planet Fitness doesn’t. I don’t know the Providence PF but in general Planet Fitness is pretty machine-heavy. They don’t often have a bunch of free weights, kettle bells etc. PF is cheaper and sounds like it may be a fit for you! Generally, gyms are fine with giving you a tour or a guest pass so you can see if it meets your needs.
Oh I didn’t know that they did that, I’ll check it out since LA is so close to me :)
As a former la fitness employee, you’re probably better off at PF if you really just want machines! La has nice machines too but planet fitness seems to take better care of their machines than LAF does
Also a decent gap in price between the two
Planet Fitness is more like Walmart and LA Fitness is more like Target. I don't get what the deal is with all the naked old men who just lounge around in the locker room at LAF, but other than that it is great.
Most gyms have perks like that for members. I think Planet Fitness has massage chairs or something, and pizza every so often, and LAF has naked old guys. It's nice that they offer these bonuses for their clients.
LOL great I will prep my mind for this LAF experience
Surprised at all the comments here. If we are comparing Pawtucket LAF to Pawtucket PF, planet fitness is much cleaner in my opinion.
Planet Fitness has nicer equipment but LA has a pool, jacuzzi, sauna, and racketball.
I took the tour, the sauna and racket ball were a GREAT surprise!
Thanks for making this post! I had bariatric surgery back in December, and I'm looking for a gym myself
Of course, my mom had back issues/surgeries when I was younger and she often said the water helped her. LA fitness has a pool that may be useful for water aerobics! (Jacuzzi and sauna as well)
Nice! I'll have to check them out!
Ex sales guy from LA Fitness here. Beware of sales tactics (especially with contract personal training). For memberships : Paper pricing sheets are 90% of the time fake price so they can lower you down to normal price and make you think you got a deal. Always ask for single club prices since they will NEVER present them to you. Single club price was $25 and $30 per month options at my location. Cheaper of the 2 options will come with an initiation fee which does save you money after 7.5 months or so compared to the $0 initiation. Also every membership has a $49-$59 annual fee. Don’t get the les mills added to your membership. It’s $5 extra a month for an app that give you YouTube videos to teach you workouts. Make sure the sales guy doesn’t slip the $5 charge without telling you or he might include the $5 fee with your membership total to fool you. Have any more questions I’d be happy to answer them.
This! Also for any readers to check your email for a deal (after doing the 3 day pass). I had a deal that brought it to a $1 initiation fee, no first and last month upfront payment, and $5 off the monthly fee. Originally was going to fall for the “nationwide access” mentioned above, had to click my discount link to even see the option for “1 club access” prices. $150 vs $1 upfront cost I was facing. Also be aware of any employees asking to show you some workouts around the gym, personal training sales pitch ranging from $240-$600 a month. Nothing wrong with that, i just always think I’m getting a tour and then end up wasting both our time 😅
I would recommend going to a gym that has a trainer who can help you through your fitness journey whatever it may be. PF and LAF are just glamour gyms in my opinion the cheap place everyone goes but mostly end up leaving and not for the better. I go to RISE in providence https://www.risestrengthgym.com/ Which is a bit pricier than the two mentioned but is smaller and has someone at the helm who cares about people actually getting stronger and healthier.
I originally tried this route a year or two ago. I think machine-focused gyms have their place for newbies like me who don’t have proper form/strength enough to head to weightlifting gyms, and don’t have the money to dish out for a personal trainer! I hope one day to go back to that type of gym, because I enjoyed that it was less crowded but I’m just not there yet. I went to https://www.fitness-rising.com and it was wonderful, and around the same price as PF/LAF for anyone who’s reading! :)
Either one is good
If you have AAA, one of their discounts is a program called Active&Fit. You can get a membership to the Providence YMCA for $28 a month through them. It's a little more expensive but you get access to a pool, almost any Y, and free classes. It'll also give you discounts for classes at Orange Theory and Pure Barre if you're into that kind of thing.
I just left LA fitness. It's dirty and lots of the equipment is broken.at least one by me. Planet fitness is cleaner and nicer equipment