Buying a Gym Membership

I hate buying a gym membership. Honestly though, having been a personal trainer and manager of personal trainers for over a dozen years, I’ve rarely had to go through the gym membership experience. But it came up again recently when I was going to purchase a gym membership for my wife. Sure, she could have gone to my gym to workout, but this new gym was closer, thus giving her fewer reasons to miss a workout. So, she had me call them and find out rates. And that, of course, got me thinking about how much I hate buying a gym membership.

As an insider, I would love to see the system reformed. I would love to see the main focus of gyms to be getting people to workout. If that was their focus, the money would follow. Since I run a corporate gym that is subsidized by a “parent” company, we are permitted to focus on fitness first. Unfortunately most commercial gyms are stuck in the system of putting money first. Having run both commercial and corporate centers, I’ve got the luxury of being able to step back and take an objective perspective. By giving this overview of how to purchase a commercial gym membership, perhaps those that read this will spark a change in the system and the fitness industry will once again be able to focus on fitness first.

Why do I have to go in to purchase my gym membership? In theory, one should be able to call gyms and find out what their rates are. But, you’ll notice if you ever try to purchase a gym membership that they want you to come in. Obviously you should know what the gym has in it, but the main reason they want you down there is that you’re much more likely to purchase the membership once you are there. Shop around via the internet and see what you want in your gym membership before you call, otherwise you’re almost certainly not going to find out information about your gym membership over the phone.