Are You a Lunk? Why Planet Fitness Runs a Lunk Alarm

We have all visited a gym and been led to believe it isn’t the right place for us with all the people deciding they need to be the loudest person in the gym grunting on every movement. If you are like me this was a negative to even think about signing up in the first place!

What is the Planet Fitness lunk alarm? The lunk alarm is used specifically to draw attention to someone who is being overly noisy, grunty, and in general creating a poor atmosphere for other patrons. The goal is to provide a space for people to work out without the linked machismo to grunting.

While many “bodybuilder” types will see this as a net negative I do see why this may have been instituted as Planet Fitness isn’t aimed at those types of gym members.

They are mostly targeted at those people who are in their late 30’s who have families and are trying to find out how to drop those stubborn 30-50 pounds. Those people who are dissuaded from going to a gym due to those gym goers power grunting their lifts.

Planet Fitness has a goal to be super friendly to gym newbies, while also providing many sites that are open twenty- four hours a day, seven days a week.

They provide two membership choices: the $10 a month plan allows access to just one home club. The more expensive plan at $22.99 allows access to many other additional sites and gym benefits.

What is a Lunk?

A lunk according to Planet Fitness is someone who is so focused on their personal lifting that they don’t pay attention to their loud grunting and slamming of the weights into the ground at the conclusion of their last rep.

Does Planet Fitness Still Have the Lunk Alarm?

As of the last time I went to the Planet Fitness they still had the lunk alarm, it is still frequently spoken about on forums and Reddit so I would assume that even in the pandemic they aren’t catering to body builders.

This is like their bell cow now-a-days so I wouldn’t expect them to drop it unless they were close to bankruptcy as it would mean changing direction on their marketing 180 degrees.

What Sets the Lunk Alarm Off?

While you may think it is an automated alarm based on some level of noise it appears outwardly to be a manual controlled alert. The alarm goes off when someone in the Planet Fitness gym gives off a loud grunting noise or drops weights so hard they thump.

The above video shows someone from YouTube attempting to bait them into setting off the lunk alarm but it takes until about 3 minutes 30 seconds in to finally trigger an alert to go off.

Basically all you need to do is not try to make super loud noises and it won’t go off on you, don’t make loud vocalizations and don’t drop weights and you have no fear of setting off the alert.

Why Does Planet Fitness Have a Lunk Alarm?

The main objective of the lunk alarm is really to make everyone at the gym pay attention to how their noise can and does frequently cause issues for other people using the space.

This seems to be a constant as people more and more will work out with headphones on and pay no attention to how incredibly loud they are getting while lifting weight and then dropping them.

Does Planet Fitness Kick You Out For Grunting?

Normally you get a warning prior to any action being taken as you may not realize how loud you are being, though I have heard as they come to see a constant offender you may not receive that warning and get an immediate boot.

Final Thoughts on the Lunk Alarm at Planet Fitness

While I don’t honestly care about anyone grunting and dropping weights I understand that the people who Planet Fitness caters to would not be happy to hear this non-stop.

This may be due to it showing how little effort they put into their lifts versus these other bodybuilders. All I can say is that the business has its choice and it obviously makes them money so while it may be irritating it isn’t bad for them financially.

If all you have around you is Planet Fitness for a gym option then I would recommend looking at Rogue Fitness for building out a viable home gym so you are no longer stuck with how hard you can work out!