Gym Membership: A Good or Bad Choice?

So you're fired up about getting in shape! You stroll over to the local gym, take a tour and get excited by the smell of sweat and the humming of treadmills in the background. A trainer with a chiseled body explains membership options. You sign the yearly contract, hand over your credit card and wait for a six pack to appear! One month later you realize you only made it to the gym twice. Three months later, a new project starts at work and it's even harder to get there. Yet every single month your bank account gets hit with a monthly charge. So what do you do? Avoid the gym at all cost? Definitely not! Here are some points to consider when deciding whether a gym membership is right for you.

Not all gym memberships are bad. Some have incredible facilities and services and truly care about your health and fitness. Smaller gyms, run by an owner tend to offer better customer service and care. However the basic gym membership business model is designed to protect the gym. When a gym sells a new membership package, they have a customer who pays regardless of whether they show up! This has led some predatory gyms to go heavy on sales or membership drives while staying light on customer service, cleanliness, equipment and trainers. One unscrupulous manager, who will remain nameless, remarked, "The best customer is one who pays and never shows up!"

This is the kind of gym to altogether avoid. Despite these few bad apples a gym membership may work for you for a number of reasons:

If you are comfortable using gym equipment and planning your own workouts. If you are a creature of habit who likes a good workout or run on the treadmill to get you going in the morning. Maybe a doctor has recommended you join a gym for other health reasons such as lowering blood pressure or recovering from injury. Some gyms offer great classes as part of the membership. These are all good reasons to purchase a gym membership. For the rest of us here are some other options.

If you need support, get bored easily or just like being around people; joining a fitness challenge or a boot camp may be a great choice, especially if you have short term goals and need a push. You can usually pay per month or for a block of classes, saving you from a monthly charge and giving you more control. You are more likely to stick with a program once you build a rapport with the instructor and camaraderie with your fellow boot campers. It's also motivating to watch your class mates make progress and transform their bodies. Finally there is always a shoulder to cry on when your thighs are burning and your abs are sore. Once a challenge finishes you can decide if your schedule permits and join the same challenge again or try something new.
If you desire to learn more about your body try a discipline like Yoga, Pilates or Tai Chi. You can usually pay by class, month or purchase packages in blocks, this way you pay for it once and if you have unforeseen travel or hectic work weeks you don't lose out. Just check the package expiration date to make sure it works for you.

If you have a little more to spend, are not a fan of classes, not sure how to use the equipment and don't want to have to figure out a workout on your own, then getting a personal trainer may work for you. You can usually pay in blocks of sessions and you get specific attention paid to your goals, strengths and limitations. Some trainers will meet you at home, even give you wake up calls. It's much harder to not show up at the last minute if you know you have someone waiting for you.

So when you are next thinking about your fitness regimen, keep your options open. Don't be seduced by the sales pitch, think about who you are, what your goals are and what you want to accomplish before signing the membership contract.