{"id":76595,"date":"2026-01-15T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-15T07:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/?p=76595"},"modified":"2026-01-14T21:19:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T04:19:16","slug":"these-gyms-most-intimidating-machine-the-front-door","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/these-gyms-most-intimidating-machine-the-front-door\/","title":{"rendered":"These gyms\u2019 most intimidating machine: the front door"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"These<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Hey, have you seen those gyms where you enter through a tube?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the 60 or so PureGyms that have sprung up around New York and New Jersey, members must tap their phones to enter a narrow plastic pod. Once they are in, the door opens on the other side, and only then do they gain access to the gym. When they leave, they must repeat the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although this type of door has been used at PureGyms in Europe, it is less familiar stateside, leading to some confusion, some complaining, and even some Fire Department summonses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To PureGym, which bought the national chain Blink Fitness about a year ago and is transitioning the gyms to its brand, the doors \u201censure only our members can access the gym, and we know who\u2019s in the gym at any given time,\u201d said Clive Chesser, the company\u2019s chief executive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But to some gym members, the unfamiliar can be upsetting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emily Fish, a 30-year-old tutor who belongs to the location in Park Slope, Brooklyn, described the doors as \u201ca surprisingly negative way to enter a space of any kind,\u201d and said she was concerned about getting stuck inside of them. \u201cI would love to come to the gym without my phone, but I can\u2019t, because I need it to get in and out,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there\u2019s the predicament of what happens if your phone loses battery power. \u201cOnce, my phone died, and I couldn\u2019t get out,\u201d said Orlando Martinez, 40, a bartender, who also frequents the Park Slope location. Mr. Martinez said the pods hadn\u2019t worked for him on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(The company is offering clients the opportunity to purchase a key fob as an alternative to tapping in with their phones.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company says the doors help it provide 24\/7 service at many gyms while also keeping the price of membership down by automating the sign-in, sign-out process. The doors allow an employee who would otherwise be manning the front desk to do other tasks, for example. But gymgoers also expressed concern that although the gyms have emergency buttons as well as security cameras that are always monitored, at some points late at night no employees are present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf there is a fire or some violence, how can I escape from here?\u2019\u201d asked Austin Kong, 43, a software engineer from Brooklyn. \u201cI even thought, \u2018Maybe I\u2019ll break the window.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said that every location has an emergency non-pod exit, which can also be used by people in wheelchairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last two months, the New York Fire Department has found violations at seven PureGym locations, as reported in the New York City news site Hell Gate. PureGym, the department said, \u201cfailed to maintain means of egress free from obstructions or impediments,\u201d as well as committed lesser transgressions like not installing proper exit signage or fixing a burned-out exit light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are 100 percent sure that our procedures and processes are entirely safe,\u201d said Mr. Chesser, the company\u2019s chief executive. \u201cIn particular, the ability to exit the gym is entirely compliant with requirements and entirely safe and straightforward. We are entirely confident that will be recognized.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those lurking behind the anonymity of the internet posted additional gripes on Reddit and X about the egress policy, including about waits to get in or out of the gym and the smell inside the pods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A mildly claustrophobic reporter on a recent visit to the location in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan found that the pods worked smoothly, although the brief instant when the door closed behind him before the one opened in front was a trifle disquieting. And the emergency exit opened with ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company said it is also adding more pods in some locations to accelerate the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Chesser said PureGym was trying to be different from other New York gyms people by offering 24\/7 service, somewhat lower fees and shorter-term contracts that aren\u2019t difficult to break. \u201cIt\u2019s as easy to leave as it is to join,\u201d Mr. Chesser said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As with many new innovations, the system will eventually feel less alien. And maybe some of the grumbling will fade, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remi Kumar, a 28-year-old gymgoer from Brooklyn, said that because the doors were see-through, the space felt less confined than it might otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just imagine I\u2019m getting beamed up in Star Trek, and then it\u2019s all good,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Credit: The New York Times<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Victor Mather and Alexandra E. Petri<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey, have you seen those gyms where you enter through a tube? At the 60 or so PureGyms that have sprung up around New York and New Jersey, members must tap their phones to enter a narrow plastic pod. Once they are in, the door opens on the other side, and only then do they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":76596,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"These gyms\u2019 most intimidating machine: the front door - Opini\u00f3n P\u00fablica","description":"Hey, have you seen those gyms where you enter through a tube? At the 60 or so PureGyms that have sprung up around New York and New Jersey, members must tap thei"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1015],"tags":[1914,1724,1915],"class_list":["post-76595","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-optv-usa","tag-gym","tag-new-york","tag-puregyms"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76595","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=76595"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76595\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":76597,"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76595\/revisions\/76597"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/76596"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=76595"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=76595"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.opinionpublica.tv\/portada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=76595"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}