The gym—or at least a good gym—should be a place where all can lift heavy things, toss the heavy things around, and make gratuitous grunting sounds, free of judgment. Planet Fitness takes this fitness ethos seriously, and literally has a registered trademark for the phrase, "The Judgment Free [sic] Zone®." Planet Fitness plasters this slogan on its walls, on its advertisements, and made news once for taking the "Judgment Free Zone" beyond the Planet Fitness atmosphere (its gym walls).
I mention this because I want it to be clear that Planet Fitness wants you, a potential member of the gym, to know: you will not be judged in its facilities. Given this truth, consider the case of Eric M. Stagno, a 34-year-old man who recently walked into a Planet Fitness in Plaistow, N.H. and allegedly stripped naked in front of the front desk and sat down on some yoga mats.
According to CBS News in Boston, Stagno was charged with indecent exposure, lewdness, and disorderly conduct after police arrested him at the Planet Fitness. The New Hampshire Union Leader reports that officers on the scene found Stagno in a "yoga-type pose" at the time of his arrest.
"The only comment he made was that he thought it was a judgment-free zone, apparently referencing their slogan," Plaistow police Capt. Brett Morgan told the Union Leader.
Planet Fitness members and employees allegedly felt "uncomfortable" at the sight of the grown man, fully embracing the gym's policy (and perhaps taking it a bit too far).
The Union Leader reports Stagno declined any medical treatment upon his arrest, and was later released on bail.
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