How to Choose a Health Club

I tried a local health club once. It was a very nice place, pricey, but nice. I signed up for one year for just around 300$. I know it was a lot, but my boyfriend lived in the city and got a membership for 200$. I have been a guests at a few other health clubs over the years. This advice piece will show you why I haven't signed up for another health club since and why I might or might not sign up for one in the future.

Price is a factor, but shouldn't make or break your decision
My community health club was expensive because it was more than just a health club. It had community sports, a place for hanging out, and then of course a place to exercise. Other health clubs I've checked out have been much cheaper, but still more than I'd want to spend. When choosing a health club you shouldn't say "NO" simply because of the price. First, you should take all of the below factors into consideration. If you say NO based solely on the price, you may be missing out on a great place!

How about per-visit prices
Our local club was 13$ per visit. Doing the math we thought 13$ x 20 visits = 260$. At this point we had planned on visiting way more than 20 times in 1 year, so buying a membership seemed more practical. However, after doing the one year membership, I learned the "per visit" would have saved me much more money! I ended up only going to the gym about 12 times during the year I was a member.

When you are choosing whether to get a membership OR to pay per visit, do the math first. "If I pay full price for 1 year, I'll have to visit x number of times in order to save money. If I only go x times per year and pay per visit, I will have spent less money than buying a membership"

Once you come up with your x's in the little calculation above, determine which one is more likely. For example, at the time I was a member, I was unlikely to go to a gym 30 times a year to make a membership at my local club worth it, but I was likely to go 12 times a year. Therefore the per visit price would have worked better for me. Now if I want to work out, I just pay the 13$ and forget about signing up for a membership.