F45 gym sued by New Yorkers who compare the music to POW ‘torture’

An Australian fitness chain notorious for blasting an ear-splitting soundtrack is now open in New York City, where neighbors claim the incessant racket — which allegedly begins as early as 6 a.m. and can be up to four times the legal noise limit — is akin to punishment inflicted on POWs by enemy soldiers.

“It is not insignificant that extremely loud music has been used by various military forces to torture prisoners, and the substantial disruption to Plaintiffs’ day-to-day lives created by the noise from F45… over the course of an entire year has been extraordinarily difficult to bear,” says a lawsuit filed in state court on Monday by two sleep-deprived Manhattanites infuriated with the F45 franchise downstairs.

For event planner, gallerist, and standup comedian Susannah Perlman, who works from her second-floor apartment near Union Square, the drawn-out battle against the gym’s “absurdly loud music and noise” has caused “severe anxiety, depression, and increased stress levels,” according to the complaint.

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“Perlman has also suffered severe bouts of fatigue caused by the poor sleep quality she experiences as a result of her anxiety, and because of the constant disruptions to her sleep due to noise from the Gym,” the complaint states. “The situation has left Perlman dreading to come home to her own apartment.”

The nonprofit Hearing Health Foundation says sustained exposure to sounds louder than 70 dB can damage a person’s hearing. In New York City, the residential noise limit is 45 dB, described by the Hearing Health Foundation as “average room noise.” Measurements taken in apartments on the floor above the F45 in Perlman’s building have allegedly reached as high as 78 dB, approximately the decibel level one would experience aboard a moving airplane and roughly five times what local code allows, when measured on the logarithmic decibel scale.

F45 Training, a publicly traded company, has more than 3,300 CrossFit-style studios globally, including a series of Boston locations owned by actor Mark Wahlberg. The gyms have infuriated people across the world, who specifically call out the bone-shaking low-end frequencies heard during classes as a singularly demonic force.

“Elderly residents at a complex on the Gold Coast have been deprived of sleep for months ever since [an F45] gym opened next door, with the bass so deep residents cannot sleep,” Queensland’s Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

One woman said the sound was “like a dripping tap… it’s a ‘thump, thump, thump.’ You can’t get it out of your mind, and you just lay there listening to it.” In British Columbia, a neighbor has lodged nearly 200 complaints with authorities since 2019, telling a tribunal that the music was so loud, her dishes clattered with the beat. When the noise emanating at 5 a.m. from an F45 “a few doors down” became too much to bear for a Blenheim, a New Zealand man, he found himself in handcuffs after confronting the gym’s owners, telling police that “he was tired of being woken up so early,” according to Stuff NZ. And a Brooklyn man who circulated an online petition about the F45 studio in his building claimed to be hearing gym sounds “even when we’re in other locations because we’re so used to hearing them at home.”

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In their complaint, Perlman and co-plaintiff Francoise Timoll, a real estate appraiser who lives and works in an apartment next door, contend, “Powerful bass from the music played by the Gym [makes] the walls and floors of Plaintiffs’ second-floor apartments vibrate and windows rattle,” and say “items on shelves and tables in their apartments shake.”

The “pulsating” sounds start before the sun rises, waking upstairs residents “with the deep bass of the music causing their beds to vibrate,” and last until 5 or 6 p.m., according to the complaint.

“On any given day, Plaintiffs cannot watch television or listen to their own music in their apartments because of the unreasonably loud music from the Gym below,” the complaint goes on.

It says old friends from out of town who used to visit Perlman regularly have stopped doing so because they simply can’t get a decent night’s rest at her place. As for Timoll, working from home is now untenable because her dog gets so agitated by the noise, making phone calls an impossibility. Both say they have lost roommates due to the noise, reducing their incomes and causing them each to fall behind on their rent.

Another tenant, who has since moved away, pleaded for a compromise, imploring F45 representatives to listen to their concerns.

“This is a simple matter to correct,” the letter stated. “Just lower the music, there is no need for the deafening sound levels.”

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The F45 studio in Perlman and Timoll’s building has been ticketed by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection for exceeding permitted noise levels, according to their complaint. It says a DEP inspector went downstairs and “attempted to shut [the] music off, but was told no repeatedly.”

An audio specialist sent by F45 and franchise owner Club Sports Group to Perlman’s apartment to take measurements told her the noise was indeed “a nuisance,” the complaint says.

Further, according to the complaint, a pair of NYPD officers who served a second noise summons to F45 told Perlman that “the F45 US-NYC class that had been in progress during their visit made Plaintiff Perlman’s apartment sound ‘like a disco.’”

Still, it alleges, “the unreasonable volume levels for the noise and music from the Gym [have] remained unchanged.” It concludes that F45 and CSG’s “absolute and ongoing refusal to properly address the problem reveals a malicious intent… and a wanton disregard for Plaintiffs’ rights, safety, and health.”

Perlman and Timoll are demanding punitive damages for the effect the downstairs F45 studio has had on their well-being, plus at least $240,000 to cover lost rent, lost income, and various expenses incurred, such as hiring experts to measure sound levels, plus attorneys’ fees. F45 and CSG now have roughly three weeks to file a response to the allegations.

Attorney Serge Ambroise, who is representing Perlam and Timoll, told The Independent that he would not be able to comment until getting the go-ahead from his clients. F45 and CSG representatives did not respond to multiple requests for comment.