Before the fitness phase fades

11 January 2010

Made a New Year’s resolution to get fit? If running around the block isn’t going to be good enough, and using small children as weights isn’t practical, then you might be looking at a gym membership to help you with your fitness goal.

There might be some good deals out there now, especially for summer sign-ups but when you decide you are sick of it all and want to transform back into a coach potato (or maybe you have moved towns or have other things you need to spend money on) you might end up wishing you hadn’t signed such a long contract.

So you need to be realistic at the beginning. As well as looking at the equipment, classes and sauna, you need to check out the cancellation clause. This will say when and how you can cancel or transfer your membership if you don’t want it anymore. If it looks too harsh then negotiate or find another gym.

If you haven’t really tried a gym before, then see if you can get a trial or a short membership so that if it’s not working for you then you can get out.

Other people have gotten bored of their gym memberships and are selling them off. If you don’t take this as a warning sign then you can happily buy the membership off them for a cheaper price and less commitment.

Also check out whether there is any roll-over clause. Often contracts include a clause that say that at the end of the term the contract will be rolled over to the next term unless you give a few months notice to say you want out. If you don’t give notice in time then you might be automatically signed up to another year of treadmills and spin classes.

Lastly, if you are going to be paying weekly or monthly, check if you are actually getting into a credit contract. If your payment plan is not with the actual gym you might have to keep paying even if the gym goes bust and you no longer have anywhere to work out. If you aren’t sure then just ask the salesperson.