That bargain at the Gym

Last year I joined a gym. It was a great gym with an amazing range of classes and equipment, but it turned out that going to the gym wasn’t really me. I attended for around 2 months.

Now while that is all true, it’s not exactly the whole story. You see, when you sign up with a gym, they offer you several payment packages to choose from and they are incredibly clever at selling these simple packages. I forget the exact amounts and I’m sure that after a year, the prices have changed anyway, but the concept remains the same.

The longer you sign up for, the less you pay – that’s the selling pitch at least and for those people who are “gym people” I’m sure that’s actually true. But for those of us who sign up, attend for a couple of months then lose interest, it’s a real con!

For example:
Month by month contract – very high price… lets say £50 per month
12 month contract – Medium price … lets call it £40 per month
18 month contract – Low price…. £30 ish a month

Now that 18 month contract looks good! It’s a whole £20 a month saving right!?

Wrong!

My 2 month stint at the gym would have cost me £100 on the month by month contract, £480 on the medium and a whopping £540 on that “amazing” low price contract!

This bargain you are getting from your local gym is ONLY A BARGAIN if you are going to be there for the whole contract period! And how many of us do that? Lets face it….. not very many!

Am I saying don’t join a gym? No, I’m not. They can be great places while on the Great Weight Loss Journey. What I am saying though, is stop and think before you sign up. Are you 100% sure you will be attending for the whole contract period? If not, sign up for a rolling, month by month package, you can always change it later, should you discover you’re a closet gym addict or something.