Gym Memberships in Hard Economic Times

Posted by: Curt | Under: 40's/fit, Children/fit, Diet and Weight Loss, General Fitness, Health, Ladies/fit, Prime/fit, Quick Tips, Seniors/fit, Sports, Travel/fit, Youth/fit | (0) Comments

MSNBC has a article on what to do about your gym membership when times are tough and it seems that the money could be used elsewhere. There are a few good suggestions, but the general tone of the article seems wrong to me. My advice is this- cut back somewhere else and look for the best deal out there. There are 3 gyms in my town that have monthly rates under 20.00/mo. That is 67 cents/day. The local Golds Gym is offering a 15.00/mo membership with no contract and 10.00/mo extra for a partner. That is an amazing deal and worth skipping a half cup of coffee for. The reason I say this is because most of us never really stop to think about all the places we waste money that could be better spent elsewhere. So if you are like most of us now and watching your pennies, don’t give up one of the most important health benefits you have- you gym membership.

One friend of mine tells me regularly that he wants to join the gym so he can work out with us but that the cost is keeping him from doing it. The problem is that the cost isn’t the problem. He eats crap food at Waffle House several times a week that costs him more than the gym membership! If he would skip one junk food meal a week, he could pay for his 20.00/mo gym membership. Plus, as we all know, the cost of a bad diet and lack of exercise will be astronomical when he is older.

So don’t give in to the temptation to cancel your gym membership. In the end, it saves you far more than it costs- plus you get the added benefits of working out with friends, less stress and a better mental state as well. Now go to the gym and work out!

BTW, Andrew over at MPF has a good post about home gym equipment and whether people will actually use it when they buy it.

I think part of the reason that fitness is such big business is that it just ain’t that hard to convince someone that if you throw money at a problem, you’ve solved it.  We throw money down the fitness wishing well because we don’t want to jump in there ourselves.