Interesting article on gym geared only for the obese

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/06/downsize-fitness-ov erweight-gym_n_1189582.html?ref=mostpopular

I wonder what happens when the obese lose weight and become the skinny people who aren't allowed to join in the first place!

What do you guys think?

I see what you mean about the wisdom of a business model that, if successful, loses the clientele. But the fact is that there are thousands of larger people who are afraid to go to a gym for fear of being ridiculed about their weight. Some of them are my friends. I think this is long overdue, and I hope it works.

Good point, Beth. There are a lot of people who could do a lot of good things for themselves if they felt comfortable in the environment that would promote such behavior. To me, it seems that most of that comfort is all in people's own minds.

That being said, at my heaviest I never felt afraid or embarrased or nervous about being ridiculed at the gym. I go to the gym with other adults (though admittedly there is a room for day care near the front!) and I have never once encountered nasty whispers, comments or rude behavior. The majority of my gym co-members always appeared to me to be meat heads and cheerleaders bouncing around a little on the machines and with the free weights but mostly socializing. Now that I've lost a considerable amount of weight and "fit in" better into that atmosphere I realize that there are a few meat heads and cheerleaders there, but there are also lots of people of all ages and weights who are genuinely trying to lose weight and get into shape. I don't think I really saw all those other people when I was at my heaviest.

Maybe if heavier people would give it more of a chance they'd be pleasantly surprised that there wouldn't be any ridicule or rudeness? I'm not sure... and nobody really knows for sure because you can never truly walk a mile in someone else's shoes...

But, as much as I think a gym that only accepts overweight people as members is ridiculous, if it gets people going to the gym at all I think it's a step in the right direction towards the battle against obesity.

I've always said that this was needed!!!! I would SO join :) 

 I JUST joined a gym called Planet Fitness.  It is NOT for bodybuilders and little hardbodies.  It has a huge sign at the door "No Judgment Zone" and they ban "LUNKS". I joined because I feel very comfortable there.  The clients are like me ... out of shape, some are older like I am, and even though there are college students that use the facility, they seem more intent on becoming fit than flaunting their bodies.  No short shorts are allowed.  No tank tops or sport bras.  They take great pains to make everybody feel comfortable coming in to use the facility. The instructors are VERY fit but they make you feel like helping you achieve your goals is THE most important thing to them.  They do not talk down to us or look at us like "how did she ever allow herself to get so fat and out of shape".  There are Planet Fitness gyms all over so with the black membership, you can enjoy all the facilities have to offer (fitness machines, red light therapy, tanning booths, and massage chairs) at any of the locations.

They don't discriminate against people of any size.  They do however make it known that snide remarks about other members will NOT be tolerated.

Good luck.
Mickey

Sounds like a lawsuit to me .....Discrimination for sure !!

I wish there was a place like this here. I would totally join. I had to buy a treadmill for my apartment and i'm looking in to a home gym thing... not that I know how to use it. All in my head? I think not. I've been to a gym at my size. I've seen the looks and the eyes following me and it was humiliating. I wanted to cry. People DO look at you when you're 400 pounds and they DO say things.

Shwag, that's a shame. Like I said, noone can really walk a mile in anyone else's shoes...

I've never been 400 lbs so I've likely not had any experiences similar to what you've had, but I have seen some very morbidly obese people at my gym (New York Sports Club, in the same chain as Boston Sports Club as well as Connecticut and New Jersey clubs of the same name) and though I haven't been inside their heads/eye looking for the looks or eyes following, I can't imagine that anyone has behaved rudely to them. I do know what it's like to be almost 275lbs at a gym where people do walk around in short shorts and sports bras and cut out shirts and muscle tops.... I've had people look at me, then look away. Kind of the same as how I've looked at people, then looked away. No real staring and certainly no comments. Aside from the somewhat questionable choices in dress, I've noticed that at my gym chain the people generally seem to be pretty respectful and adult.

People still look at me then look away, as I still look at people (all ages, all sizes, all levels of dress or undress on the gym floor!). I feel glad that I never felt objectified or judged by it and pleased that I still don't. I guess I had enough to worry about spending all my time thinking about my own personal health and fitness to worry about what the other people at the gym were thinking. One of my heavy friends asked me once about this type of behavior at the gym and I said something like "if they want to look, let them look. I'll be busy looking at the calories burned and steps walked on the eliptical machine!"

Good luck!

I hope losing some weight gives me the confidence to go into a gym and be like "eff you guys, I'm here to get buff!" because I really need to build some muscle. I keep thinking about it and I know I'm going to have skin issues... big ones :( For now I've been trying to use my Wii to work on my arms but I know that's not doing much which is why I want to home gym. Even then, that's not the same as the gym and neither is my treadmill. I wish I could find a place like the one in the article. You're right that most people don't behave the way I described, but all it takes is 1 or 2 bad apples to make my sensitive ass not want to go back.

I hear ya. Is there a Curves for Women near where you live? There are quite a few of them in my area and they are limited to only women, which I think will help with minimizing the stares. I've done two trial workouts there on two different occasions in two different locations and both times noticed that the majority of the people working out there were on the heavier side (as in more than 200 lbs or so) and they seemed to be middle age or older. At 27 and 30 (how old I was when I went to the trials) I was maybe 15+ years younger than the median age of the clientelle workout out alongside me.

That might be a great place for you to try out-- much less judgment than you might feel in a traditional gym setting.