Review: Planet Fitness' at home work(ins)

Two weeks ago, around the onset of stay-in-home orders across the country, Planet Fitness announced it would be livestreaming daily workouts on Facebook fit for all levels of stamina, no equipment needed.

To be honest, I always thought of the gym franchise as a bit lame, with its bright yellow and purple color scheme and its slogan of a "Judgement Free Zone." Although from time to time I would take up my friends' offers to tag along to the gym with them as a guest. So when I heard about what Planet Fitness was doing, I filed it under the "whatever" tab in my head and went on with my quarantined life.

But after a week of random workouts (sit-ups, push-ups, chins-up) and days spent with very little movement, my fiancé Mike, and I decided it was time to try something different and pulled up Planet Fitness's Facebook page on his PlayStation.

Each home work-in (get it?) in PF's United We Move series has a warm-up and cool-down, with a few set workout sandwiched in between. Mike and I were feeling silly after a week spent in the house and solely with each other, and laughed through the beginning warm-up that we thought was the actual workout.

"This is so easy," we said to each other. "This is barely a workout," we giggled.

We ate our words shortly after the first set of reps. We were sweating by the second set, and were shaking by the end. The next couple of days our muscles were sore.

I should note that neither of us are gym rats, yet we aren't out of shape either. Mike and I had our strong and weak points, which was interesting to discover. I had trouble getting through the arm exercises, but excelled and tried out the advanced exercises during the abs portion. Mike, on the other hand, had to take a break during abs, but far surpassed me and the instructor when doing arm reps.

Planet Fitness's United We Move workouts are short and satisfying, and if even your fitness level is above that shown in the videos, it at least will get your body moving while staying at home.