A woman in Sydney has been informed by her local gym that sports bras are no longer appropriate clothing to wear during a workout.
Janelle Loke, a 24-year-old Sydney woman had been pumping iron at her local Planet Fitness for four years without ever second-guessing her attire.
However, this changed recently when the gym informed her that she would need to stop wearing her sports bra during workouts, something Ms Loke claims she had done for the entire time she attended the gym.
“Before this year there were never any rules about not being able to wear sports bras, so it’s just come out of nowhere,” Loke said in an interview with 9Honey.
Planet Fitness own a bunch of gyms across the globe and recently accelerated their expansion in Australia, with the company telling Loke it was a “new rule for the New Year”.
After being told of the gym’s new clothing policy, she took to Instagram to vent her frustrations as per 9Honey.
“Can’t believe the gym I’ve been going to for years has placed a ban on women wearing sports bras?! Completely absurd that this would even be a rule!!!” she wrote in an Insta story.
“What’s next? Girls can’t wear tights (because) you don’t wanna risk seeing a camel toe (because) it makes you feel ‘uncomfortable’? Words can’t describe how disappointed I am.”
What makes this tea all the more shocking is that on its website, Planet Fitness claims to be a “judgement free zone”.
This is a concept that the company apparently believes in so much that they’ve literally trademarked it.
The irony is just *chef’s kiss* at this point and Ms Loke believes so too, stating on her Insta “‘I feel very judged, so I don’t think they should even have that as one of their mission statements anymore.”
Laughably, the gym manager told Loke that not all sports bras were banned. You could still wear one – provided it could “cover the majority of your midriff”.
I’m sorry – do you mean a SINGLET, perhaps?
According to Loke, the gym’s reasoning for their policy change is that there are “lots of new members who sometimes bring their kids or friends and (they) just want it to be a more friendly environment,” as per the Daily Mail who contacted the gym for comment.
In the year of our lord 2022 – who would have thought that midriffs would be problematic? Planet Fitness needs to come back to planet Earth, tbh.
If midriffs are really that offensive to them, we sure hope these complaining gym-goers never take their kids or friends to the beach…
Update: Since the publishing of this article, a representative from Planet Fitness has reached out to PEDESTRIAN.TV to make the following statement.
“At Planet Fitness we are committed to providing a welcoming environment for everyone.
“The member was approached by our staff in error as her attire does not violate our dress code policy.
“Club management will be reaching out to personally apologize for the misunderstanding, and they are also taking steps to further educate team members on our dress code policy.”
– McCall Gosselin, Planet Fitness spokeswoman
