There are more and more options though nowadays, and I like the fact the bigger chain-zillas are getting greedy. It means good business for me. My personal favorite is my newest client. She was telling me of the gym she got a membership to a month before coming to me. As she got out of her car to go inside, a STAFF member was out front smoking. Turns out, this is the trainer she got paired up with. She told me the trainer was, “going to call her if she wasn’t at the gym.” Right. Walk the walk? Something like that.
I applaud everyone’s posts as that you all are ‘active’ in your decision making process and not ‘prisoners of the moment’. Too many facilities use a customer/client’s initial energy and eagerness against them and get them to sign up for 101 different classes and machines, when they might only need 2 or 3 to start out with. True professionals KNOW that basics work. Hundreds of machines and tons of classes look fantastic for validating high costs, and inflated overhead, but not for practicality.
Keep up the fitness vigilance people, it’s not a race but a pursuit.

Not to make light of your trials on the phone, but my personal experience with 24hourFitness (they make it one word, not me) has been really great.

To the guy’s credit, it is genuinely difficult (though not impossible) for them to quote you a package because there ARE so many packages. However, the REAL reason he won’t quote you is because they’re flexible when you beg and flirt. This is truth.

I joined 24hf in 2005. The sale advertised was for a $400 set-up fee, $30/month for life with a 2-year contract (for ONE gym – downtown Seattle). I went in and thought that joining just the one gym would be ok (it was over $1000 to have nationwide access – not money I had). But I went in wearing heels and shiny hair and found a muscle-y guy to talk membership with. Within an hour I had the deal down to $200 upfront and $15/month for life, no contract. I was still tied into one gym only, but that’s not the point. The point is that they don’t quote you because if you try hard enough, they’ll figure out a way to give you what you need and are willing to pay for. Also, I got 5 sessions with a trainer for free.

While I’m not advocating flirting with everyone to get what you want, it worked for me in this one instance (I was 19 at the time – I was allowed ).

Sometime last year I was working out and ran into an old friend from high school who had recently started working for the downtown 24hf. The next week, I went to transfer my membership to a gym uptown (I moved) and they mysteriously informed me that I hadn’t got a membership to only the downtown club, but to all clubs nationwide. I suspect my old friend did this for me as a friendly aside gift while I wasn’t there.

This all leads me to conclude that people controlling membership can basically do whatever they want as long as you nicely hassle them enough. I’ve had a great affordable plan with 24hf for three years and now I can visit them no matter where I live or travel! Just because the guy on the phone couldn’t quote you doesn’t mean that you can’t get a great price by going in. It worked for me, anyway.

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1. Local community centers – some of these let you pay by the class, others you sign up by the quarter. I’ve had luck with them here in the Seattle area, and they’re pretty friendly.

2. Community Service! A year ago I discovered Washington Trails Association, an organization that does trail maintenance and construction across the state, and I now go out every weekend (yes, even in winter, in the rain, snow, whatever). This has done more to get me in shape than anything, and it’s amazing, in large part because though it’s exercise, the exercise is secondary to the day’s activities. Mostly we go out, do good work, get really dirty, and have a lot of fun. The WTA holds workparties near the Columbia River gorge (I know folks who drive up from Portland), and there may be organizations in Oregon who do similar things – who work, for example, on the Pacific Crest Trail. And, trailwork is totally free!!

Our town has a gym which I belong to. No b/s – $254 / year. My health insurance covers $250 of it. And because it’s not a big-name gym, at 6AM it’s mostly full of old people that just want to walk on the treadmills – so there’s no waiting in line to get to the weights.

[...] first, Ads I hate: East Side Athletic Club, talks about dishonest advertising techniques. While this post isn’t necessarily about [...]

I decided that the most important thing for me was to join a gym I would actually use. That means it has to be convenient! Nothing matters as much as convenience when it comes to this decision.

If you choose to join a gym, treat it like buying a car. Always be willing to walk away from the table if the salesperson won’t negotiate with you. Ask to speak to the manager. Keep going up the chain until you get to someone who will help you. Come back another day and talk to a different salesperson. Know what you are willing to pay, just like when you are buying a car.

These guys make their money on commissions, and they often have a monthly quota. Go in at the end of the month for more bargaining power.

Read the contract carefully, and if there is anything on it that you don’t like, see if you can cross it out and both of you sign or initial that. Even if they say, “Oh, we won’t hold you to that,” just say, “Great! Then we’ll just cross it out.”

I don’t suppose my employer would like it much if I posted these tips to my blog!

I had the same problem with Bally’s. They were sending collectors after me YEARS after I told them I quit! Ugh!

There’s a 24 Hour Fitness Super Sport right across the street from me that I used to go to, and I really liked it. Friendly staff, a variety of classes, a pool, plenty of weight equipment and treadmills, etc. Plus their rates were reasonable for such a huge gym; I think I paid like $45 a month total. (There are more expensive options, but I chose one of the cheaper ones. I think there was an even cheaper one, but it would only allow me to work out 3 or 4 specific days during the week…) But because of my financial situation I ended up quitting and using the VERY small fitness room at my apartment complex instead (which is free). There’s no pool, no classes, much much less weight equipment and only one treadmill, but it’s enough to keep me in shape on the cheap.

I had no problem canceling my membership from 24 Hour Fitness, unlike those sleezes at Bally’s.

But if you click on the link now, it’s not even listed, so I guess it’s no longer available.

The catch, apparently, is that there are a limited number of memberships available at that price, and when I checked it out, they were sold out.

Also, if you’re not already a Costco member, you’ll need to pay $50 for a yearly membership to get the $149 fitness deal.

I do believe the basic gym business model is based on having way more members join than use the gym on a regular basis. And then from there, its just a matter of convincing people to stay enthusiastic long enough to renew for another year– another year in which they mostly won’t use the gym.