.
Jul
8

5 Reasons Why Joining 24 Hour Fitness is a Bad Idea

by mkeplinger 0 Comments Share this

 

I stumbled across an article that said in BIG BOLD LETTERS:  I hate 24 Hour Fitness.   Whoa!  I searched google for this phrase in quotes, which limits the search results to that exact phase, and could not believe that I found 3,290 results!!!!  Wow, that is a little extreme, I certainly don't hate 24 Hour Fitness, but there are reasons why it does not work for me.  So I read a bunch of these posts and pages and then asked a bunch of other people to try and understand what the deal was.  This is what I came up with...
 
5.   It costs more than you think.  Most plans require you to pay a start-up or initiation fee, plus agree to a contract of at least one year.  While, the month-to-month fees seem inexpensive, when you factor in the start-up fees it works out to be much much more.  And that low monthly cost, makes it so much easier to convince yourself to skip the gym just one more day.
4.   People are notorious for overestimating their plans.  If you are like most people, your ambitious plans to get in shape and workout 3-4 times per week for the next year may wane in a few months and you will be stuck paying for a fitness membership that you don't use.  This only increases the real cost of the gym membership.
 
3.   Classes and gym visits seem impersonal.  Because they are so big and have some many different people it is hard to create a community and meet friends.  If you enjoy fitness classes, the instructors must spread their time across many people.  When surveyed, people indicated the biggest difference between gyms and smaller fitness studios is that they get a lot more attention and one-on-one attention from the smaller more intimate classes.  This means a better workout, and that's the point of going anyway, right?
 
2.   They are crowded.   24 Hour Fitness has a business model to get as many memberships as possible and partially hope that you never come.  You may have to arrive 15-30 minutes early to attend fitness classes that barely have room to move and exercise in the class.  This also applies to the treadmills, stair-masters, and even weight machines at peak hours.  That sounds like a lot of excuses to not exercise.
 
1.   And the number one reason why joining 24 Hour Fitness is a bad idea...   You don't get as good of a workout, as you would from other places.   Of course, there are exceptions to the rule as some people have a lot of self-motivation.  But, most of us do not have the motivation needed to really push ourselves in a self-directed workout.  Personal trainers are great at this, but can be quite expensive.  Smaller instructor-led classes offer superb workouts.  Not only are the instructors usually better trained and certified, they are passionate about what they do and will push you to your limits and do it in a fun way.  After all, this is the reason that you are paying for fitness to begin with.  
 
I do have a confession.  I had the same 24 Hour Fitness Membership for 10 years.  I kept it because it was cheap and there were locations everywhere I went.  Months would go by at a time where I never went, but I justified that to myself because I was paying only $99 / year!  Sure I was saving a lot of money, but there were so many excuses and reasons to not go to the gym, which included all the reasons above.  My fitness goals were not being met, and it was my own fault.  Gym visits, in general, are a great way to get in and do some resistance training every once and awhile, but I learned that the best way for me to keep my motivation up and commit to a long-term fitness lifestyle, is to frequently change up my workouts, use smaller instructor-led classes to recharge my motivation, and make it fun and workout with my friends or make new ones.  This is why we started FitPass Network.  
Share this
<< back
Leave a Comment