Gym Calls Police On Weightlifter Who 'Grunted'

[LoKyBuckeye]

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Gym Calls Police On Weightlifter Who 'Grunted'
Man Made Noise While Lifting 500 Pounds

POSTED: 7:48 am EST November 3, 2006

ALBANY, N.Y. -- You could forgive a guy for grunting while lifting 500 pounds -- unless you're the owners of a place called Planet Fitness.

It turns out that grunting isn't allowed in their universe.

Corrections officer Albert Argibay learned that the hard way this week. He was hoisting 500 pounds on a machine at the Wappingers Falls, N.Y., gym when the manager said he grunted -- in violation of the Planet Fitness rules.

Argibay said whether or not he grunted is "open to interpretation." What's crystal clear is that police were called to escort him out after the manager came over and there was an argument.

The gym said they don't allow grunting because it conflicts with the non-intimidating atmosphere they strive for.

The gym, which refers to itself as the judge-free zone, has the following statement on its Web site:

Planet Fitness strives to promote health in a respectful atmosphere. For over a decade, Planet Fitness has gone to great lengths to provide its members with a friendly space to work out. We call it the Judgment Free Zone. We discourage weight dropping and obnoxious grunting so you can focus on your own workout and not the person next to you.

 

[Buck36]

This is incorrect. I heard he was on the toilet at the time.

 

[scooter1369]

This is incorrect. I heard he was on the toilet at the time.

Or playing women's tennis

 

[Jagdaddy]

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First of all, a dude who can lift 500 pounds on anything except maybe a leg press needs to be at a gym for people who weight train seriously, not one that calls itself a "judge free zone". That said, this story seems really fact dependent: There's a big difference between normal grunting and screaming like a dude in a World's Strongest Man contest . . . and dropping weights is almost always a dick move unless you're in a competitive weightlifting contest.

I'd lay good money that in this case the guy was being idiotically loud, the manager asked him to chill out a bit, and the guy went off on the manager to a greater extent than was reasonable.