I signed up for the gym recently (which always reminds me of this Friends episode). Here’s what happened:
24 Hour Fitness
About a year and half ago, I got a 24 Hour Fitness 2-year membership for $300 from Costco. It worked out to about $12.50/month which was (and probably still is) the best price you can get for a gym membership. Over the year and half, I used 2 difference locations – one before I moved, and one after. The first one was okay inside but had a parking garage that cost 25 cents (?) with validation and of course, was always crowded. The second location was located in a plaza that had a lot of food options (bad when working out around dinner time), was even more crowded and pretty smelly.
Over time, I stopped going. It just got to the point where I wanted to work out at home instead. Total cost: $300.
Home Fitness
I decided to start working out at home instead of trying to go to that 24 Hour Fitness. Equipment at home can be expensive so for my birthday, I asked for the adjustable Jillian Michaels dumbell and my roommate got one as well. I also got an exercise mat – both this and the dumbells are really nice. I decided to try Jillian Michael’s Ripped in 30 which was supposed to be better than the shred and I can tell you that this definitely worked. I was working out 4-5 times a week and it was painful but I could see results within a week.
Also, because I have a Kinect, I wanted to try Your Shape Fitness Evolved. Although it was fun, I started getting bored working at home even though I was supplementing all of this with running at the park. Total cost: $40 ($160 if I didn’t get some of the stuff for my birthday).
LA Fitness
I wanted to go back to the gym but was definitely not willing to go back to 24 Hour Fitness. G and I decided to check out the LA Fitness that’s right down the street from us which we never looked at before since it would definitely be more expensive than 24 Hour Fitness. We took a tour of the facility and I fell in love with it. It’s such a great gym – it has high ceilings and a really open floor plan which makes it feel huge (and no where near as claustrophobic as 24). The equipment looked like it was in good condition, it didn’t really smell (thanks to how open it was) and best of all – it wasn’t crowded! It was the normal time I would go to the gym and where 24 would always have someone on each machine, there were so many free machines here, I didn’t even know what to use!
We decided that we definitely wanted to sign up but I wanted to make sure we were getting the best deal possible – which is difficult because I’m not very good at negotiating for things that I really want. We talked to the manager and he gave us our options which we took into consideration and left. We came back a few days later and finally agreed on paying $250 initiation and $40/month – for the both of us. This means each of us were only paying $125 initiation and $20/month.
I had done my research online and new that I only wanted to pay $20/month and although I wasn’t happy with the initiation fee, the only other option to get it cheaper would be to pay $759/3 years which I wasn’t willing to do. The deal I got works out to $23/month over 3 years while the 3 year option would have been $21/month. This works out to $72 more over 3 years but the peace of mind in having a month-to-month contract vs a 3 year contract was worth it to me.
Do I Regret It?
It’s been about a month since we signed up for LA Fitness and I definitely don’t regret it. I love the gym and I’ve been going at least 3 times every week. Since it’s closer to my house, it seems easier to go to and we’ve actually started going on the weekends. In fact, this past Saturday night, we didn’t have any plans but I knew I didn’t want to sit at home. Since we’re on a tight budget this month, we decided to go the gym – and it was a lot of fun!
I have to admit though that this isn’t all the money I spent on fitness. I mentioned in passing that I bought a personal trainer package for G for Valentine’s Day. Stay tuned for how they convinced me to do that – and how much I’m paying.
Do you have a gym membership? Are you happy with it? Do you think it’s worth the cost?
Young Professional Finances 
Michelle
/ February 23, 2012I have a gym membership, but I haven’t been in forever. It’s only $10 a month for me though, so I’m not too worried.
youngprofessionalfinances
/ February 24, 2012$10 is nice (even if you don’t go)! What gym are you a part of?
Emily @ evolvingPF
/ February 24, 2012I’m lucky to have free access to our university’s gym as a student (well, I pay a small “activity fee,” but I have to pay it regardless of gym use). It’s super nice and there are lots of fitness classes offered between about 4 and 7 PM. It does get crowded around 5-6 PM but I try to avoid that time.
I go back and forth on using it, however. Even though it’s on the same campus as my office/lab, I find it’s a bit of a timesink to get over there, go into the locker room, walk up and down many flights of stairs, (wait for a class to start,) work out, go back to the locker room, and get to my car. It’s much quicker to work out in my home (I have some JM videos and light weights) or in the tiny gyms at our apartment complex (usually for the treadmills) that take me only 2 minutes to get in and out of. Now I generally only go to the school gym if I want to lift heavy (which I’m not doing at the moment), I want to erg (since my apartment complex’s gyms don’t have them), or my husband is playing racquetball or basketball at the same time.
I’m glad I’m not paying for a gym membership because this back-and-forth would be a real waste of money! But I think any gym that you actually use is a good investment in your health, be that out of the home or in.
youngprofessionalfinances
/ February 24, 2012Sounds like the gym is pretty out of the way. At least you have stuff at home and a gym at your apartment complex. I really would love to set up a full home gym but I have to wait until I have the room (and the money).
Emily @ evolvingPF
/ February 24, 2012I recently visited the home of some (rather wealthy) friends of my parents and the husband gave us a tour of the home gym he set up in their basement. It was sick. Probably 12 different weights machines (all individual motions), several cardio machines, equipment for body circuits, and entirely mirrored walls. He told us how much he had spent – I think it was around $20k. While it was really impressive and definitely got him to work out daily, I think that was a bit overkill!!