Too much squatting? Man fights cancellation of gym membership
How long is too long to spend in a 24-hour gym? Can you do too much squatting?
That’s the question on the mind of Hawke’s Bay man Arthur Eagle after what he claims was his unfair eviction from Flexfitness in Hastings after spending all night there.
Eagle, whose membership has now been cancelled after the March 4 incident, claims a clause stating that ‘all memberships include unrestricted access’ wasn’t followed and that he was deliberately discriminated against.
But the gym manager has a different story. He claims Eagle broke several gym rules and was loitering, leaving it no choice but to terminate his membership.
It started simply enough. Eagle signed up for a one-month membership at Flexfitness Hastings to increase his fitness before he embarked on a series of hikes around Aotearoa.
But he said it soon became clear he wasn’t welcome after his exercising patterns and actions — often late into the night and in at least two cases, all night — were scrutinised by staff.
He said he was told his presence was “making other members feel uncomfortable”, but he claimed he was minding his own business and not breaking any rules or codes.
“Would they rather have TVS, lights and speakers on for no one all night?”
He claimed the gym’s initiation of what would become a confrontation was a case of “character discrimination” and that other members there virtually all night weren’t reprimanded.
Gym manager Meryn Hemmingsen said staff members had spoken to Eagle several times about what he described as “highly unusual” behaviour within his gym.
“It sounds like he may have indicated to you that other people were ‘spending all night’ at our Hastings gym as well. That is simply not true,” Hemmingsen told Hawke’s Bay Today.
He said on the final night Eagle used the gym, he had spent all night there, left for a short time in the morning, and then returned again within an hour.
“When he did exercise in the gym, it was nowhere near the entire time of his stay, and some early mornings when he spent time in the gym, he did not exercise at all for many hours at a time.
“Our gyms are not a place loitering; they are a place exercising.”
But Eagle said he wasn’t loitering or violating any terms or conditions, and was correctly using his membership to its maximum potential.
“Exercising is exactly what I was using the gym for, but they, of all people, should know that muscles need rest and recovery time, especially if you’re a beginner. for for “I was trying to maximise my short one-month period to beef up and get fit for my plans to go hiking around New Zealand.”
He said Hemmingsen’s claim he’d spent the night in the gym on “numerous occasions” was inaccurate.
“It was only twice, from what I recall — the last of which was beyond my control.
“More importantly, the only reason I returned again within an hour was because I thought I’d left my wallet behind.”
Hemmingsen also said Eagle was following people into the gym without using a security tag.
“Mr Eagle’s violation of this rule potentially put his own safety and that of other members at risk.”
Eagle denied this was the case, saying he asked a few people nicely, and only on two occasions, to use their swipe card to enter the gym.