It’s been over six months since my fiancé and I joined the ever growing community of Prius Dwellers and moved into our Prius V, where we plan on traveling the US for 1 year to visit all 48 contiguous states. Check out our About Us page to read about why we’re doing this! Prius Dweller is a term used to describe people who live out of, or dwell in, a Prius. The Prius is especially well suited to car life/car living (is there a term for living out of a car like van life?). Its hybrid battery lets us run the car safely all night if we need heat and its spacious back seat area lets us stretch out comfortably while we sleep.
Before we even bought the Prius, we knew one of our biggest concerns was where we would park the car at night and where we would shower. Planet Fitness seemed to be the best answer to both of those questions. Before we started our journey, we briefly had a gym membership to Planet Fitness so we could work out there. The facilities seemed pretty nice, and they had showers. Planet Fitness also seemed like the most popular option for many other Prius Dwellers, as we found out through the Reddit group r/priusdwellers. So we decided to take the plunge and get memberships through our local Planet Fitness.
Why Planet Fitness?
This is a common question we get from our families.
First, many Planet Fitness locations are open 24/7. This is huge because we can easily park the car in the parking lot overnight and blend right in with the other gym-goers. It’s also a convenient place to use the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Second, with our Black Card memberships (read more below), we can use any Planet Fitness location in the world. There are over 2000 locations in the US alone. So we have access to hot showers nearly everywhere we go. Plus, they often have a few tables to sit at and do some work.
Third, the cost. Our memberships are approximately $23 each per month. For unlimited hot showers, gym use, and a place to park, this is well worth it to us.
Why not just get a camping shower or shower at truck stops?
A camping shower is a portable shower that uses either gravity or a pump to pressurize the water flow. Many of them use solar power or propane to heat the water, which can last up to seven minutes. We don’t really have room for a camping shower. Camping showers seem to be more popular with vanlifers, who have a lot more room than us. We also don’t have a practical way to store all the water needed, which is usually 5 gallons. We also tend to stay in cities during the week, so we can work. There aren’t many convenient spots to use a camping shower in a city.
We’ve never tried truck stop/travel center showers. They tend to cost between $10 and $15, so that doesn’t really make sense for us. Why pay $20 for both of us to have 1 shower each when we can pay $46 to have unlimited showers for both of us for a whole month. With that said, if someone is traveling for a short amount of time and doesn’t already have a gym membership, it might make sense to buy a shower at a truck stop.
What’s the worst part about it?
One of my least favorite parts is feeling awkward just going into Planet Fitness at night just to use the bathroom. Sometimes when we go in, the front desk attendant wishes us a great workout and then we leave just a few minutes later. I try to not feel awkward. They probably forget about us 10 minutes later.
One time, an attendant asked us if we were planning on working out. This kind of shocked me – how did she know?? But she didn’t. She noticed I wasn’t wearing sneakers and said sneakers were needed to use the machines. I awkwardly gestured to my gym bag, implying that my sneakers were in there. I hung out in the locker room extra long, and fortunately she was gone by the time I came out. We weren’t doing anything wrong, but it feels like going against the social norm. But oh well. I got over it.
What’s the best part of it?
Having a nice hot shower every morning. It’s a total game changer for me. Occasionally, we don’t have immediate access to a Planet Fitness location if we’re out in the middle of nowhere. I can still go for a hike without a shower, but I will feel grubby and gross. When I finally get a shower, I feel human again. When you live out of a car, a hot shower is a total luxury.
What are the showers like?
In a typical Planet Fitness, there are at least two showers. Most of the time, there are three or four. It depends on the size of the city. The cleanliness depends on each individual location. Sometimes they don’t get cleaned for days, other times they are cleaned multiple times a day.
The busyness also seems to vary by location. On weekdays, we typically go into Planet Fitness around 7AM, which is basically rush hour for a gym. Sometimes the showers are heavily used. As for the Planet Fitness we are going to currently, I haven’t seen a single other person use the showers while I’ve been there. Only once, out of dozens of Planet Fitness locations, have I had to wait for a shower. So I think that’s pretty good.
The type of shower facilities tends to vary based on the state we’re in. Within a state, they all seem to be identical for the most part. The most luxurious showers we’ve seen have a curtained off area with a separate shower area. They were very nice. But luxury doesn’t always mean the best. One location had great showers, but the water was cold. Another location had the most basic showers, but the water temperature and pressure was fantastic.
The most common showers seem to be a small stall with a curtain. There is a shelf inside to hold soaps and a hook on the wall outside to hold a bag. Occasionally, there is a soap dispenser in the shower, which can be nice. In the women’s locker room, there are usually a couple changing rooms across the showers.
Does the water get cold?
Not usually. Most of the time, the showers are great and have plenty of hot water. There are exceptions occasionally at certain locations where the water goes cold quickly or never gets hot. It really does seem to depend on the shower stall. If one stall has less than ideal water temperature, I will try a different one the next day and usually it’s better.
What’s your process for using Planet Fitness?
I store my shower supplies in a small gray duffel bag. Below is a list of my shower supplies:
–shower bag (only used to keep small items together)
–refillable silicone conditioner container
-refillable plastic shampoo container
-face wash
-razor
-shaving cream
-soap
-toothbrush
-toothpaste
-nail clippers
-sunscreen
-small makeup bag
-feminine sanitary items
-change of clothes for next day
-pajamas
Check out our complete list of items we brought on our year-long road trip here!
My process, if that’s the right word, starts the day before. I get my clothes for the next day together and put them in the gray duffel bag. My clean clothes are kept in a larger red duffel bag. I use packing cubes to keep shirts, socks, and underwear organized. My pants go directly in the bag. We often go to Planet Fitness earlier in the evening and hang out in the parking lot. We do the usual things people do after work – watch movies, eat dinner, relax, and go to bed. It’s just in a parking lot.
In the morning, Spencer and I climb out of the car and grab our bags. We both wear our shower shoes into Planet Fitness. Mine are black flip flops that I also use outside in the summer. We check in using the Planet Fitness app at the front desk and go to the locker rooms.
If there are multiple open showers, I will hang up my gym bag on the hook next to one. I get out my soaps and put them on the shelf in the shower. Rarely, the shower won’t have any shelves, which is pretty annoying. In that case, I put my soaps on the floor. Then I use the bathroom before getting changed in a changing room. After my shower, I get dressed in a changing room. That’s pretty much the whole process.
Types of Planet Fitness Memberships
There are two types of memberships at Planet Fitness: Classic and Black Card.
Classic
The Classic membership allows unlimited use of only your home gym. This is the heavily advertised $10/month membership. This would not work for us. At our home location, this membership also required a 12 month commitment and had a $49 startup fee.
Black Card
The Black Card membership allows use of any Planet Fitness gyms worldwide, guest privileges, and access to tanning and massage chairs. The only catch, is that you can only go to a location outside your home club 10 times per month. This is in the fine print and not very well explained. We found this out the hard way when we were in Boston and tried to go to a location more than 10 times. Actually, we made it to 12 times before someone, probably the manager, noticed and said something.
There is a franchise fee, usually around $5, for any check-in over the 10 times. We did attempt to get around this once by one of us being a “guest” of the other, so it only counted as 1 check-in instead of 2. This didn’t seem to be worth it. It took a lot of time to put me in the system as a guest. We now just make sure to move on after 10 check-ins per location.
Besides that catch, this membership works well for us. We haven’t tried the tanning booths, but the massage chairs are nice. My fiancé likes them more than me. This membership is $23/month for each of us. Our home location did not have a startup fee or a 12 month commitment. We can cancel any time.
It’s also important to know that with both memberships, there is a yearly $39 fee. A lot of people tend to be surprised when they get charged this, so make sure to read the fine print before joining a gym.
Does Planet Fitness know you’re doing this?
Nope, we’re not sponsored in any way by Planet Fitness. We prefer to fly under the radar. I wouldn’t be surprised if Planet Fitness knew that some people just have memberships to use the showers, but as long as the membership fees get paid, they don’t seem to have any issues.
What is it like sleeping in a parking lot?
Loud. Quiet. Dark. Bright. It really depends on the location, again. We get lucky occasionally and Planet Fitness is tucked away from the main road. Main roads can get very loud at night. If it’s away from the main road, it can be very quiet and nice.
There’s always the possibility of a street sweeper coming through in the middle of the night. They are very loud, especially when they drive right by your window.
Another thing we look out for are “no overnight parking” signs. If Planet Fitness is open 24 hours, we usually risk it and still park there. We blend right in and we plan on going in in the morning anyway.
We’ve also learned that it’s best to park the car directly underneath a street light. This makes it less likely that the light will shine directly into the back windows and on our eyes.
We’re not the only ones who use Planet Fitness like this. We frequently see trucks parked overnight near Planet Fitness, along with RVs, campervans, and sometimes even another Prius. If we pull up to Planet Fitness and see one or more of these, we assume that it’s okay to park there overnight.
Planet Fitness parking lots are usually quieter than Walmart parking lots. We had a funny experience at a Walmart in Montana. It was more like an RV park than a Walmart. The entire back of the parking lot was filled with RVs, campervans, and campers. They were all so loud. Some RVs even had front porches set up. It was the strangest thing. It wouldn’t have surprised me if people had campfires. Planet Fitness is much more under the radar for this kind of thing.
Check out our best tips for living out of a car in this article!
Do all Planet Fitness clubs stay open 24/7?
No, unfortunately many of the clubs are only open 24/5, meaning on weekends they close at night. Some of them, many in smaller towns or cities, aren’t open at night at all. None of the clubs in West Virginia, for some reason, were open at night. This definitely can be an issue. Usually, we make a judgement call when we get there if we want to sleep in the parking lot anyway. Sometimes it seems to be okay. Other times we choose to find a different spot to sleep. Walmart is usually a good alternative if they allow overnight parking. Otherwise, we use the app iOverlander to find places to sleep.
Are there other options besides Planet Fitness?
Anytime Fitness is another option. We actually slept in front of an Anytime Fitness a few times. The parking lots seem to be quieter than Planet Fitness. They have over 2,000 locations, just like Planet Fitness. We didn’t choose Anytime Fitness for a few reasons. First, the only plan available to us required a 12 month commitment. Second, the plan was $35/month for each of us. That’s more expensive than the $23/month we pay for Planet Fitness. Anytime Fitness does have better hours, with each location being open 24 hours all the time. But this wasn’t enough to justify the cost for us.
So, yeah, we basically live at Planet Fitness and it’s worked out well for us! Now that we’re over 60 Planet Fitness locations in, I don’t think we plan on changing our process any time soon. Maybe one day we’ll actually use our memberships to work out!
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