Planet Fitness is popular for providing advanced machines and equipment for meeting your overall fitness goals.
Apart from their well-equipped cardio and weightlifting sections, PF gyms also have several next-gen machines serving different purposes, such as HydroMassage beds, tanning beds, massage chairs, and so on.
These extra equipment are only accessible to the Black Card Membership holders at Planet Fitness. The plan is available at a low price of $24.99.
Moreover, PF Black Card Members have the option to try out the franchise’s Total Body Enhancement machine. Unlike HydroMassage machines and tanning beds, Total Body Enhancement (TBE) is a relatively unknown extension of Planet Fitness’s services.
Mostly, all Planet Fitness branches are equipped with several TBE machines. But many members don’t include it in their regular workout program because of a lack of awareness. In some cases, even the trainers at PF struggle with explaining the concept and functionality of the Total Body Enhancement machine.
To help you not miss out on any of the exclusive features of Planet Fitness Black Card Membership, we’ll tell you everything there is to know about using their Total Body Enhancement machine – benefits, limitations, how to use it, and when to use it.
What Will I Learn?
What is Total Body Enhancement at Planet Fitness?
The Total Body Enhancement machine (Beauty Angel RVT 30) at Planet Fitness is simply an enclosed booth that provides Red Light Therapy, which is also known as Low-Level Laser Therapy or Photobiomodulation.
Apart from giving the Low-Power Laser Therapy treatment, these machines also come with a vibrating footplate for providing a massaging sensation that is good for relieving any muscle tension or tightness in the body.
On the surface, the Total Body Enhancement machines at Planet Fitness simply look like stand-up tanning booths. Technically, they are very similar, save for one primary difference: while tanning booths use UV rays, these TBE booths simply use harmless Red Light for safe and visible emissions.
The wavelength used in the Red Light treatment of PF’s Total Body Enhancement lies somewhere between the range of 580 nm and 700 nm, which is ideal for experiencing the perceived and apparent benefits of this kind of low-light therapy.
The Beauty Angel RVT 30 machines at PF branches are well-equipped with several tubes on both sides, emitting blasts of Red Light all over your body.
The vibrating foot plate, also called the Vibra Shape, is capable of stimulating a massage-like experience for your body. It comes with four intensity levels, with one being the softest and four being the most vigorous, even reportedly being able to imitate the metabolic benefits of exercises like walking on treadmills (excluding the cardiovascular advantages of walking, of course).
How Does Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement Work?
Mostly, Red Light Therapy is used at spas and wellness centers for skin-related benefits. So, why would a fitness franchise like Planet Fitness use the same kind of treatment in their Total Body Enhancement booths?
Because the advantages of Red Light Therapy are diverse. Apart from stimulating collagen production and cleaning the skin cells, research and studies also indicate that such therapy can also help with fat loss and contouring.
Because of the vibrating footplate available in the booth, many people use the Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement booth to get a thorough massaging session for relieving muscle pain and boosting recovery. Many users have commented that using the HydroMassage beds after TBE has helped relax their bodies and improved their sleep schedules significantly.
The combined benefits of the massaging footplate and Red Light Therapy can be used as an effective post-workout or pre-workout program, depending on the user’s requirements and needs.
For example, Red Light Therapy is also known to penetrate deep into the skin. Mitochondria, the powerhouses of our cells, absorb the heat from the Red Light and use it to synthesize more energy.
Apart from rejuvenating your whole body, the effect of this could also help your body in post-workout recovery by helping your body heal muscle tissues and skin cells fairly quicker.
The booth will be illuminated by Red Light for the entirety of the session. The vibrating footplate, on the other hand, will be activated for the better part of the session but not through all of it.
While the Red Light helps your skin and muscle heal, the platform working on the lower part of your body with gentle vibrations will provide a different set of benefits, depending on the intensity level and other adjustments that you have made.
How To Use Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement?
Unfortunately, Total Body Enhancement at Planet Fitness is a relatively unknown affair. Even Black Card holders do not use this machine as frequently as they should.
One reason is that most members, staff included, are not aware of the basic functions and benefits offered by this holistic treatment.
To help you with that, here’s the ultimate guide on how to use the Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement machine.
Before we begin with the procedure, let’s determine what’s the best time to hit a TBE session. Ideally, you should be working this machine as a post-workout therapy.
Red Light Therapy can help your body stimulate natural repair and reduce muscle soreness in the process. It’s ideal for enhancing your post-workout recovery trajectory after a hard, cardiovascular workout at Planet Fitness.
Now, let’s move on to what you need to do before you enter the Total Body Enhancement booth:-
- Remove all kinds of jewelry, including piercings.
- To avoid skin-related complications, try and remove all cosmetics.
- Make sure that you stand straight at the center of the booth.
- Bend your knees slightly and use the overhead straps to support your posture.
- It’s important to wear eyewear to protect your eyes. Or else, you can keep your eyes shut for the entire session.
- You should expose as much of your skin as possible. You can opt to go inside naked or wear your undergarments.
Now that you’ve taken all the necessary precautions, you can go inside the booth. Follow these steps for the best results:-
- Climb into the booth, close the door, and make sure you stand at the center.
- To begin the session, you must choose the intensity of the vibrating footplate. Here’s how you can do it:
- Navigate to the buttons inside the booth and press the LEFT ARROW or RIGHT ARROW button to toggle intensity.
- Press the UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW buttons to choose between the four desired programs, each offering different levels of stimulation and massage intensity. Intensity level 1 is recommended for beginners to test the waters.
- Once you have adjusted the settings as per your requirements, press the START button to start your 12-minute session.
- The vibrating footplate will be activated. The Red Light bulbs will also turn on, emitting a kind of warm glow all over your body. You can switch off the bulbs by pressing the START/STOP button. In this case, the vibrating platform will keep running. If you want to stop everything and get out, you can simply hold the START/BUTTON until it works.
- You can also adjust the speed of the fan if you are feeling cold, warm, or stuffy inside the booth. Simply press the LEFT and RIGHT arrow buttons, navigate to the FAN icon, and then press the UP and DOWN to increase or decrease the speed/intensity of the fan.
- To help you understand the basic controls, you will also have a voice guide to assist you. In case you don’t hear any voice, activate voice assistance by pressing the LEFT or RIGHT arrow buttons to navigate to the VOICE GUIDE icon. Then, press the DOWN ARROW button to activate the voice guide.
- You can also tinker with additional options in the booth, such as changing the music or customizing the settings as per your requirements.
- Once the 12 minutes are over, the machine will stop on its own. Following that, you can simply get out of the booth and get dressed.
And that’s how simple it is to use the Total Body Enhancement machine at Planet Fitness. Unfortunately, there are no guides or instruction manuals available inside the booth. So, if you don’t want to remain confused inside the machine, it’s best you keep our guide with you at all times.
Note: To experience all the benefits of PF’s Total Body Enhancement procedure, you should use it frequently; ideally, 2-3 times per week for 90 days. Each session lasts for 12 minutes, and there should be at least a gap of 24 hours between the two sessions.
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What Can Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement Do?
Planet Fitness’s Total Body Enhancement machines provide a lot of mental and physical benefits, which we shall discuss in a later section.
But there are a lot of other things that it can do to help you out, like:
- The Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement booths can be used freely by all Black Card Holders as frequently as they want. A regular session of RLT at any other spa or wellness center would cost you anywhere between $50 and $100.
- At Planet Fitness, the Total Body Enhancement session is conducted in seclusion. So you won’t have to worry about taking your clothes off before you enter the booth.
- Planet Fitness also offers other services like HydroMassage Beds and Massage Chairs that can be used after Total Body Enhancement for optimum results.
- The combined effect of RLP and Vibra Shape can rejuvenate your entire body, making it more relaxed and energetic at the same time.
Is Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement Safe?
Yes, Total Body Enhancement at Planet Fitness is completely safe and free from all side effects. But this is only when you follow all the rules mentioned in PF’s guidelines and use the machine for short sessions as directed.
The Beauty Angel RVT 30 booths at Planet Fitness use Red Light Therapy instead of harmful, cancer-inducing Ultraviolet (UV) rays that are often used in other tanning beds and booths.
The therapy does not use any toxic materials, is non-invasive, and eliminates a lot of harsh treatments involved in other skin-improvement programs.
Is Planet Fitness Total Body Enhancement Good for You?
Yes, there are many benefits of Red Light Therapy offered by PF’s Total Body Enhancement program.
Photobiomodulation (RLP) stimulates mitochondrial electron transport chains, as they are photosensitive to red and near-infrared lights.
So, direct emission of Red Light on your skin for prolonged periods under a regulated environment can actually increase energy production by mitochondria. Thus, your body will have sufficient ATP for better cellular function.
The Total Body Enhancement treatment at Planet Fitness can help athletes improve their performance at the gym. This happens because of the increase in energy reserves in the body.
Naturally, the power output, performance, and endurance of our body increase.
As per research, it is already determined that athletes undergoing Red Light Therapy can see an improvement in their performance by up to 55% when compared to athletes undergoing normal strength training.
Similarly, another 2017 study indicated that Red Light Therapy could increase an individual’s time-until-exhaustion (endurance and stamina) and oxygen uptake significantly while bringing down their body fat percentages.
Another one of the primary advantages of PF’s Total Body Enhancement machines is that they help with muscle tissue recovery.
When used frequently, the therapy can also be used as a treatment for serious sports and athletic injuries.
For example, a 2016 study indicated that Red Light treatment can reduce the injury downtime of an athlete from an average of 17-20 days to an average of just 9 days, showing significant improvement in the time taken to recover from a sports injury completely.
Apart from that, TBE can also help improve your sleep pattern. For athletes, having a quality sleep is crucial. It is a time when your body undergoes the most important natural processes – muscle protein synthesis, recovery, hormone balancing processes, and so on.
The Journal of Athletic Training, for this reason, conducted a study to find the efficacy of Red Light Therapy in improving an individual’s sleep quality index. The results showed significant improvements in an individual’s sleeping patterns, with more instances of deep sleep experienced by them.
Planet Fitness Body Enhancement Rules
Apart from the above-mentioned rules that you must follow before entering the TBE booth, the following individuals are not allowed to use the Total Body Enhancement booth at Planet Fitness to avoid complications and side effects:
- Individuals with a body weight of higher than 300 pounds.
- Pregnant women or people suffering from epilepsy.
- People suffering from illnesses that can cause light sensitivity.
- People who suffer from illnesses that can be aggravated by exposure to light.
- People who are younger than 18 unless they have parental permission.
- People with Deep Vein Thrombosis.
- People who have recently undergone any operation or surgery.
- People who use pacemakers.
- People who might be suffering from retinal detachment.
The full list of restrictions can be seen in any of the TBE booths at Planet Fitness.
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Parting Words
As the name suggests, the Total Body Enhancement therapy offered at Planet Fitness can provide holistic benefits to your entire body.
From muscle pain relief and improvement in sleep patterns to enhanced athletic performance and better endurance, a simple 12-minute session can do a lot for you and your fitness goals!
