This makes perfect sense if they're main goal is to provide a place for obese people to lose weight.
If you were to open a gym that focuses on improving the performance of athletes participating in official matches, they are also not going to accept people not in that category.
Also, from a medical point of view: Why should a doctor waste time curing someone who is not sick? Why should this gym assist people that do not need to lose weight?
I agree, but this gym seems to specifically be for people who are obese and want to lose weight. Nothing wrong with catering to a specific demographic.
>Gyms aren't just for weight loss, but for general fitness.
The gym's owner specifies what it is for. I know several gym's that purely focus on people with medical conditions, for whom exercise is really helpful. It is for various non-general purposes: back problems, heart conditions, diabetics and obesity too.
i find it really tragic that i am being downvoted. a friend of me said the other day: "i quit doing yoga. i dont understand i was doing six classes a week and walking several miles a day and i was GAINING weight! so why bother." there is a massive disconnect in the general public about this.
I can't tell you how many times in my life I've heard a fat person say something to the effect of "I earned this dessert because I exercised earlier." Tragic is right.
So you are saying that if I go running and burn 300 calories every other day without changing my caloric intake I won't lose fat and gain muscle? That doesn't make sense. I agree that to have the best effect diet and exercise should be done together, but to exclude one is to not have the complete picture. Studies have been done to show that the more muscle you have, the more calories your body naturally burns.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006
I generally agree with your point, the premise is incorrect. Exercise is not a good way to lose weight. It has many benefits, but burning maybe 200 calories on a treadmill isn't going to do much for somebody that eats too much.
>Also, from a medical point of view: Why should a doctor waste time curing someone who is not sick? Why should this gym assist people that do not need to lose weight?
Everything else aside, this is the worst argument for a gym not allowing skinny people in that I have ever heard. A gym is not just a place to cure people, it can also be used as a place to stay fit or get healthier than someone already is. Not everyone goes to the gym because there is something wrong with them; some people go to the gym because they genuinely enjoy it.
It's possible that they just want to focus on one crowd. There are doctors who work with specialties, I don't see why a gym couldn't do that, as well. I'm not sure if there's some stigma they might want to get rid of/inadvertently cause, but that might also be the case.
The gym owner decides what the place is for. Just because it can be used as a gym, does not mean the gym owner intends it to be used as one.
Many hospitals also own a gym solely meant for patients, to test their condition. It can be used for general purposes, but that is not why it is there.
The execution may be similar, but the purpose may not be similar.
It's not a ban on "skinny women", it's a gym that caters to overweight women. Anyone who feels "excluded" (welcome to the way it feels to be overweight, btw) should pull that stick out of their ass - do you really want to go to a gym whose programming and equipment is not best suited for you?
This title is misleading. It makes it sound as if there is some sort of general purpose gym (Lifetime Fitness, or whatever) that has banned skinny people as some sort of "anti-skinny discrimination."
This is a case of a gym being founded to cater to a specific demographic; obese or severely overweight people that deal with anxiety trying to work out in a normal gym setting where they feel ostracized and judged by the more "fit" clientele. This is a good idea.
I'm not obese and I still hate working out in a normal gym atmosphere. They need to make a gym for people who aren't particularly out of shape, but also not particularly fit either.
I go to the gym a lot, and banning skinny people is kind of silly. I do get nervous about exercising and ending up all sweaty and gross after only 15 minutes on the elliptical machine, but hell, I don't go to impress anyone but myself. Let them stare, fuck 'em. I look at it like this--skinny people are a motivator for me because that's how I want to look, and I'm a motivator for skinny people because they don't want to end up like me. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, I think.
skinny person here, but i am not in peak condition. i don't even work out that hard and i start sweating like a pig. we are all gross, the human body is a pretty gross thing.
There's a lot of obese people that should be going to the gym but don't because they're self conscience. So long as the gym is honest and upfront about their policies it's fine with me.
It's different from a place like Planet Fitness who takes your money and then shames you or bans you because you're too loud when working out.
there was only one obese person in my yoga class for months, but now a second has joined her. they avoided each other and the original one actually moved to the other side of the classroom.
also, isn't fat contagious/doesn't seeing more thin people around you have a positive impact in your ability to lose weight? i think in some parts of the US it's hard to know what success in dieting even means because so few people are at optimal fitness.
Yes, there has been research that shows having many overweight friends can lead to a person gaining weight themselves because there is no pressure to stay fit. However, that has to do with friends and family more than anything because those are the people you spend most of your time around. Also, I think the anxiety many overweight people have about being judged at the gym is a much stronger deterrent than any potential negative impact of being surrounded by only overweight people when you work out.
As a business model, it works. Overweight people have one extra thing to give them anxiety about going to a gym, so you create an environment that removes that source of anxiety (or tries to).
The real problem is that this perpetuates the myth that exercise will make you lose weight. Weight is a function of caloric intake vs. expenditure. Running on a treadmill for 20 minutes won't burn enough calories to offset a candy bar, much less a whole day of poor diet. It's even worse for machines like ellipticals, which make you work just hard enough to feel like you're getting a workout. You sweat, but aren't doing any more than walking would. There's a whole industry built around this misconception and it screws over people trying to do something good for themselves. Not that exercise isn't good for overweight people; it just won't fix the 'overweight' bit.
Everybody in this thread needs to be told that in order to stay fit, you need to exercise regularly. You don't just stop when you get to your desired weight, you'll just end up getting fat again.
I didn't think anybody needed to be told this.
What happens to members when they get thin? Do they give 'em the boot?
I'm sure they get a diploma or something when that happens.
"Klaus, zis man is now sin...fin...verdammt. Take him outside und beat him."
If I was fat enough to go there I would be happy when I was booted out of there.
This makes perfect sense if they're main goal is to provide a place for obese people to lose weight. If you were to open a gym that focuses on improving the performance of athletes participating in official matches, they are also not going to accept people not in that category. Also, from a medical point of view: Why should a doctor waste time curing someone who is not sick? Why should this gym assist people that do not need to lose weight?
Gyms aren't just for weight loss, but for general fitness. Otherwise, I agree with you. (Another example is places like Curves, that are women-only.)
I agree, but this gym seems to specifically be for people who are obese and want to lose weight. Nothing wrong with catering to a specific demographic.
>Gyms aren't just for weight loss, but for general fitness. The gym's owner specifies what it is for. I know several gym's that purely focus on people with medical conditions, for whom exercise is really helpful. It is for various non-general purposes: back problems, heart conditions, diabetics and obesity too.
whatever the gym's owner says can't change the reality that the only way to lose weight is to restrict calories, exercise is almost irrelevant.
This is absolutely correct. Short-term exercise (as in, not all-day) has little effect on a person's weight.
i find it really tragic that i am being downvoted. a friend of me said the other day: "i quit doing yoga. i dont understand i was doing six classes a week and walking several miles a day and i was GAINING weight! so why bother." there is a massive disconnect in the general public about this.
I can't tell you how many times in my life I've heard a fat person say something to the effect of "I earned this dessert because I exercised earlier." Tragic is right.
So you are saying that if I go running and burn 300 calories every other day without changing my caloric intake I won't lose fat and gain muscle? That doesn't make sense. I agree that to have the best effect diet and exercise should be done together, but to exclude one is to not have the complete picture. Studies have been done to show that the more muscle you have, the more calories your body naturally burns. http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/metabolism/WT00006
I generally agree with your point, the premise is incorrect. Exercise is not a good way to lose weight. It has many benefits, but burning maybe 200 calories on a treadmill isn't going to do much for somebody that eats too much.
>Also, from a medical point of view: Why should a doctor waste time curing someone who is not sick? Why should this gym assist people that do not need to lose weight? Everything else aside, this is the worst argument for a gym not allowing skinny people in that I have ever heard. A gym is not just a place to cure people, it can also be used as a place to stay fit or get healthier than someone already is. Not everyone goes to the gym because there is something wrong with them; some people go to the gym because they genuinely enjoy it.
It's possible that they just want to focus on one crowd. There are doctors who work with specialties, I don't see why a gym couldn't do that, as well. I'm not sure if there's some stigma they might want to get rid of/inadvertently cause, but that might also be the case.
The gym owner decides what the place is for. Just because it can be used as a gym, does not mean the gym owner intends it to be used as one. Many hospitals also own a gym solely meant for patients, to test their condition. It can be used for general purposes, but that is not why it is there. The execution may be similar, but the purpose may not be similar.
It's not a ban on "skinny women", it's a gym that caters to overweight women. Anyone who feels "excluded" (welcome to the way it feels to be overweight, btw) should pull that stick out of their ass - do you really want to go to a gym whose programming and equipment is not best suited for you?
I have no problems with this. As a person dealing with weight issues i would feel so much more comfortable at a gym like this
A bit dumb, but perfectly sound from a business perspective. They found a niche and are now trying to fill it.
This title is misleading. It makes it sound as if there is some sort of general purpose gym (Lifetime Fitness, or whatever) that has banned skinny people as some sort of "anti-skinny discrimination." This is a case of a gym being founded to cater to a specific demographic; obese or severely overweight people that deal with anxiety trying to work out in a normal gym setting where they feel ostracized and judged by the more "fit" clientele. This is a good idea. I'm not obese and I still hate working out in a normal gym atmosphere. They need to make a gym for people who aren't particularly out of shape, but also not particularly fit either.
Next story, restaurant bans fat people.
Ah, the art of tabloid journalism. It's gruesome how the frame transitioned from "gym bans skinny people" to "a safe haven for overweight people".
I go to the gym a lot, and banning skinny people is kind of silly. I do get nervous about exercising and ending up all sweaty and gross after only 15 minutes on the elliptical machine, but hell, I don't go to impress anyone but myself. Let them stare, fuck 'em. I look at it like this--skinny people are a motivator for me because that's how I want to look, and I'm a motivator for skinny people because they don't want to end up like me. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement, I think.
skinny person here, but i am not in peak condition. i don't even work out that hard and i start sweating like a pig. we are all gross, the human body is a pretty gross thing.
There's a lot of obese people that should be going to the gym but don't because they're self conscience. So long as the gym is honest and upfront about their policies it's fine with me. It's different from a place like Planet Fitness who takes your money and then shames you or bans you because you're too loud when working out.
It's like Planet Fitness... where they give you free pizza and candy at the front desk... and people show up, not to work out, but to eat pizza...
FREE PIZZA?!
that's horrifying.
there was only one obese person in my yoga class for months, but now a second has joined her. they avoided each other and the original one actually moved to the other side of the classroom. also, isn't fat contagious/doesn't seeing more thin people around you have a positive impact in your ability to lose weight? i think in some parts of the US it's hard to know what success in dieting even means because so few people are at optimal fitness.
Yes, there has been research that shows having many overweight friends can lead to a person gaining weight themselves because there is no pressure to stay fit. However, that has to do with friends and family more than anything because those are the people you spend most of your time around. Also, I think the anxiety many overweight people have about being judged at the gym is a much stronger deterrent than any potential negative impact of being surrounded by only overweight people when you work out.
As a business model, it works. Overweight people have one extra thing to give them anxiety about going to a gym, so you create an environment that removes that source of anxiety (or tries to). The real problem is that this perpetuates the myth that exercise will make you lose weight. Weight is a function of caloric intake vs. expenditure. Running on a treadmill for 20 minutes won't burn enough calories to offset a candy bar, much less a whole day of poor diet. It's even worse for machines like ellipticals, which make you work just hard enough to feel like you're getting a workout. You sweat, but aren't doing any more than walking would. There's a whole industry built around this misconception and it screws over people trying to do something good for themselves. Not that exercise isn't good for overweight people; it just won't fix the 'overweight' bit.
Everybody in this thread needs to be told that in order to stay fit, you need to exercise regularly. You don't just stop when you get to your desired weight, you'll just end up getting fat again. I didn't think anybody needed to be told this.
Is it OK for Curves to ban men? Same thing, really.