So you have found yourself at Planet Fitness, able to kickstart your fitness journey. At $10 a month, it’s incredibly reasonably priced, but while it could offer a budget-friendly membership, you may wonder the best way to profit from the gym’s equipment to get healthier and construct a well-rounded physique.
As a substitute of aimlessly walking around and trying out machines, let me offer you an in-depth guide to one of the best Planet Fitness machines for each muscle group to enable you start.
Table of Contents
- Intro
- Planet Fitness Cardio Machines
- Planet Fitness Arm, Shoulder, Back, & Chest Machines
- Planet Fitness Hip, Glute, Ab, & Leg Machines
- Outro
Planet Fitness Cardio Machines
Cardiovascular exercise is crucial for enhancing heart health and stamina and torching those extra calories! At Planet Fitness, you will find a spread of cardio machines that cater to all tastes and fitness levels.
Whether you are a speed demon on the treadmill, a stair-climbing champion, or prefer the graceful glide of an elliptical, there’s something here to make your heart race (in a great way!)
Stairclimbers
Wish to climb Mount Everest without having to take care of the cold? Stairclimbers are an awesome alternative because they will simulate the sensation of climbing stairs while also making them incredible for targeting your lower body muscles—quads, hamstrings, calves, and glutes will thanks later!
Among the finest suggestions I can offer you for using the stair climber is that the variety of steps you’re taking at a time will affect which muscles are engaged more. Climbing one step at a time will work more on the front of the legs, whereas climbing two steps at a time hits the back of the legs.
Next time you employ a stairclimber, try alternating between one and two steps while increasing the speed to challenge your lower body and increase your heart rate.
Treadmills
A primary staple of any gym’s cardio section, treadmills allow you to hit the bottom running (literally!) with Planet Fitness’s lineup of machines. These machines offer a cardio session like several other treadmill, allowing you to manage your speed, incline, and workout duration.
So, whether you want walking, running, or spicing things up with interval training, you should use them year-round without inclement weather and traffic risks. To get essentially the most out of treadmills in your cardio, I like to recommend doing interval training, where you turn between walking, jogging, and sprinting to maintain your body guessing and maximize your calories burned!
Stationary and Recumbent Bikes
Need something low-impact and improves heart health? Then pedal your way over to the stationary and recumbent bikes. A stationary bike is just like the treadmill since you do not have to fret about outside issues like weather and traffic.
Besides its heart-health advantages, it’s also great for slimming down the physique and blowing some steam off after a rough day at work. Adjust the resistance to dial the intensity and give attention to those leg muscles with smooth, consistent pedaling.
Ellipticals
Why make a choice from running, cycling, or stair-stepping when you possibly can sort of have all of it with ellipticals? These are a few of my favorite machines because they mix different movements seamlessly, supplying you with a full-body workout without additional joint strain.
Ellipticals offer many benefits. They supply a comprehensive full-body workout that concurrently engages the upper and lower body. An elliptical can enhance balance and mobility, making it a superb option for anyone recovering from specific injuries.
Do not be one in every of those individuals who hop on and do nothing with their arms; grab the handles to interact your upper body. I’d also recommend switching things up with the pedal direction to focus on other muscle groups.
Rower
You do not have to go right down to the local river with a rowboat to get the advantages of rowing. You should utilize it in multiple ways, one of the best being as a part of your warm-up because it helps to loosen up the bulk of your body and gets the blood moving.
One other way you should use it’s as a cool-down or ending exercise in your workout. Rowing is a superb option for cardio lovers who want something aside from the traditional options, just like the treadmill or elliptical.
Even sprinters can profit from mixing rowing into their workouts. Rowing could make them more explosive without putting the identical stress on their joints.
ARC Trainers
Not all Planet Fitnesses have these unique machines anymore, which is unlucky because they’re incredible for engaging your glutes, quads, hamstrings, and calves with every stride. So in case your Planet Fitness still has them, then you definately’re lucky!
The patented arc pattern creates less stress on the knee joint, allowing a better muscle training effect with less work. Experiment with different resistance levels, inclines, and stride lengths to challenge yourself.
When using any of those cardio machines, especially should you’re just beginning to go to the gym, aim for at the very least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio per week to maximise cardiovascular advantages. To avoid losing interest and falling off your health journey, switch it up occasionally and use different machines to avoid adaptation and plateauing.
Planet Fitness Arm, Shoulder, Back, & Chest Machines
Planet Fitness offers a powerful lineup of machines for isolating and strengthening muscle groups. So, who needs a ton of free weights when you may have the range of machines that Planet Fitness offers?
Whether you are targeting your arms, shoulders, back, or chest, these machines, when used accurately, can enable you achieve some incredible results and construct a stronger, more defined upper body. So, let’s explore a few of the commonest upper body machines that you’re going to see in your local Planet Fitness.
Bicep Curl Station
When not using free weights, the bicep curl station isolates and strengthens the upper arm (biceps). It is usually one in every of the one machines that moves the upper arm away from the torso without adding additional strain on the shoulders.
To get essentially the most out of this machine, give attention to controlled movements with none wild swinging, and do not ego lift by utilizing an excessive amount of weight. Deal with getting a great squeeze through the muscle and training lighter to observe your biceps grow.
Chest Press
The machine chest press might be one in every of this list’s hottest and easy-to-learn machines. It means that you can work on developing your chest, triceps, shoulders, and lats with heavier weights without the added risks of injury.
Adjust the seat and grip positions to hit different parts of the chest, and avoid bringing your elbows too far back, which might put an excessive amount of pressure in your shoulders.
Low Row Machine
Just like the rowing machine you’ll use for cardio, you engage your back and biceps by pulling weights toward you in an analogous motion. The largest difference is that with a low-row machine, give attention to difficult yourself with the weights as a substitute of doing as many as possible.
To completely engage the muscle in your back and biceps, squeeze those shoulder blades together such as you’re hugging the gains.
Lower Back Extension
Typically, I like to recommend deadlifts or other types of free weights to work the lower back. Unfortunately, Planet Fitness tends to lack on this department.
Why is that vital? Lower back strength is important to the musculature of your entire body. These muscle groups are pivotal for walking, jumping, and picking stuff up off the ground.
In the event you can learn to make use of it accurately, the lower back extension might be the following best approach to goal those lower back muscles and boost your core stability. As cool because it is, don’t attempt to ego lift your complete stack. Deal with slow and controlled movements to isolate the lower back muscles.
Shoulder Press
The shoulder press machine is great for constructing strong deltoids for beginners and seasoned gym heads. Unlike most shoulder press variations, the machine isolates the muscles in your shoulders using a hard and fast movement pattern.
Making it extremely hard to do it incorrectly. In case your shoulder press machine has them, experiment with using different grips to place more emphasis on different parts of the shoulder.
Also, be sure to regulate the seat accurately. When the seat is just too low, or the handles are too high, you increase the danger of straining your shoulder muscles to overcompensate for this.
Lateral Raise Machine
Among the finest ways to focus on the lateral (side) head of the deltoid muscles within the shoulder is to do lateral raises. While using free weights for this movement is great, I prefer using the machine, because it helps stabilize the range of motion and makes it easier to isolate the muscles.
You may’t cheat the machine either, whereas, with free weights, you possibly can by accident engage an excessive amount of of your body. Contrary to what you see online, you do not have to lift your arms as high as possible to get a great range of motion with this machine; as a substitute, give attention to going to about 90 degrees to see the complete advantages.
Incline Press
While much like the bench press machine, it varies just a little since it focuses on the upper portion of the pectoral muscles while offering more stability than the free-weight alternatives. For most individuals, if I had to choose from the bench machine and the incline, I’d suggest using the incline because it offers an extended range of motion and creates more time under tension on the muscles.
Cable Tower Machine
This might be the most multipurpose machine on this list since you possibly can technically exercise every muscle in your body depending on the cable angle and the attachments. A cable tower machine can also be great for balancing muscle imbalances, improving the mind-muscle connection, and performing therapy-style movements for injured muscles.
Unlike machines, cable tower machines offer a movement that is usually safer and easier than free weights but still can work on some stabilizing muscles. A cable tower machine typically has various attachments for various exercises targeting different muscle groups.
Probably the most common attachments you may find are a straight bar, rope, D-handle, V-bar, ankle strap, and EZ curl bar.
Triceps Extension Machine
When you possibly can’t use the cable tower to work in your triceps, the following most suitable choice is the tricep extension machine. By placing the back of your arms on the pad, you lock your arms in and isolate the tricep higher, making the machine an efficient way of constructing muscle, size, and strength within the triceps.
To maintain the strain in your triceps, try to not let your elbows lock completely out when pushing the handles away from you.
Lat Pull-Down Machine
This machine is the most effective ways to focus on the lats, the massive muscles extending from the center of the back to the edges, in addition to the arms, core, and shoulder muscles. So, if one in every of your goals is to have the opportunity to do some pull-ups, then this machine must be an element of your routine.
Several variations of lat pull-downs might be used to hit different back and upper body areas. Probably the most common variation is the wide-grip lat pull-down, which involves using a wider grip on the bar, emphasizing the outer portions of the lats and the upper back and shoulders muscles.
One other variation is the close-grip lat pull-down, which involves using a grip that’s roughly shoulder-width apart. This variation targets the inner portions of the lats, in addition to the biceps and forearms.
Pec Deck Machine
A pec deck is designed to extend chest strength and muscle mass. It’s so effective that it has been ranked the most effective exercises for constructing chest muscles.¹
The pec deck works each your chest, primarily your pectoralis major, which is the muscle that means that you can bring your arms together and swing them out. Meanwhile, your supporting muscles, just like the serratus anterior, are also activated.
Don’t focus an excessive amount of on the burden you employ; as a substitute, take your time and squeeze at the highest of the movement to focus on your chest.
Planet Fitness Hip, Glute, Ab, & Leg Machines
Did you realize that the legs have a few of the biggest muscles within the body? It is smart since they’re used often and for many various activities.
Because the legs are the body’s biggest muscle group, you possibly can do tons of of exercises to construct your legs and pick from many exercise machines. Listed below are a few of the machines in Planet Fitness that I’d recommend searching for out to get strong, toned legs.
Seated Leg Press
Sitting leg presses can goal the quads, hamstrings, and glutes should you are uncomfortable doing free-weight squats. Coping with lower back pain? It is not an issue since you might be seated, which protects your lower back from strain.
To take full advantage of the leg press, adjust the seat in order that your knees have roughly a 90-degree bend and your feet are shoulder-width apart. Your toes should point barely outward, like a frog. Be sure your knees have a slight bend as you drive through your heels to increase your legs.
Leg Extension Machine
Leg extensions are sometimes ignored and underappreciated within the grand scheme of leg exercises, like squats and lunges. The leg extension machine’s primary focus is the quads, and it’s one in every of the one ways of isolating them.
Chances are you’ll hear some people say that this machine is bad in your knees, nevertheless it is actually really good for them! So long as you do not attempt to go too heavy and do not lock your knees out at the highest of the movement.
Leg Curl Machine
Leg curl machines are an awesome addition to a lower body training program because they assist you to isolate your hamstrings and work them from angles that might be difficult to realize using free-weight exercises.
Most Planet Fitnesses have a lying leg curl machine, but some might also have a seated leg curl.
Each are great options, with lying leg curls offering a rather higher stretch through the hamstrings.
This can be a pretty easy machine that does not require much thought to do accurately; the one thing that I think is price mentioning is to be sure that your toes are pointing the identical way, as it may possibly hit the hamstring barely in another way in case your feet aren’t in the identical position.
Smith Machine
This machine may be one of the best thing Planet Fitness offers besides the cable towers. With a hard and fast vertical barbell path and adjustable safety features, the Smith machines enable you lift heavier weights and make gains with lower impact while providing many exercise options that hit all major muscle groups.
Planet Fitness doesn’t typically offer equipment for barbell movements, so you’ll have to use the Smith machine for squats, bench presses, bent-over rows, deadlifts, and other compound movements.
Seated Calf Raise Machine
Probably essentially the most neglected muscles within the lower body, the calves, should get some love, and you do not need people considering you may have chicken legs. So, construct those calf muscles on a calf raise machine.
Why is that this vital? Weak ankles and calves could cause issues in gait and stability during running, standing, jumping, and even squatting.
To get essentially the most out of seated calf raises, use a great weight, avoid bouncing the weights, and get a great stretch out the underside of the movement and a squeeze at the highest.
Abductor and Adductor Machines
Whether you are a guy or a lady, I understand that this machine might be awkward to make use of, especially whenever you by accident make eye contact with someone. Nevertheless, the advantages you possibly can see while using this machine should make you ought to overcome this sense.
In fact, having a well-shaped booty is one good thing about doing each abduction and abduction exercises in your hips. Still, there’s way more to it than that, including mobility, balance, stability, and improved muscle strength.
Glute Kickback Machine
Isolate and strengthen your glutes for a sculpted posterior. The glute kickback is an isolated exercise that works all three gluteal muscles (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, and gluteus minimus).
It is usually great for strengthening your hamstrings, calves, and core since muscles help to stabilize the movement. To avoid hurting your back while using this machine, don’t let your back arch try pushing the burden. Lighten the load if this happens, and brace your core.
Abdominal Crunch Machine
I think abs are typically best worked by utilizing free weights, a cable tower, or your body weight.
Nevertheless, Planet Fitness does have a few ab crunch machine variations that might be just pretty much as good.
Like all ab exercise, don’t let momentum take over, making the movement easier. As a substitute, give attention to using core strength only and doing each rep under control.
Outro
Planet Fitness offers diverse machines to support your fitness goals. While traditional weightlifting options could have some limitations, you possibly can still achieve a full-body workout and make significant progress with some dedication and intelligent training.
Explore the range of machines available. In the event you need assistance getting began figuring out at Planet Fitness, take a look at this text, The Best Planet Fitness Workout Routine (3-5 Day Plans).
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