Fitness Club memberships are a scam.

Let’s tell the truth.  Very few people exercise and keep fit regularly.  Majority of the population are just too busy and/or lazy to keep a regular exercise program.  People have good intentions especially during the new year but after 3 months, they are back to their regular routine of eating too much and not exercising.  Fitness Clubs know this and they take advantage.  They sign you up for a long term contract when you are eager for a change knowing full well that after a few months you’ll probably be paying the club for a service you’ll never use again.

For those who don’t already know, when you join a fitness club, they make you sign a contract stating you must continue to pay monthly until your contract runs out regardless of whether you keep coming to the club or not.  And, with some clubs, unless you tell them specifically not to, they will keep renewing the contract over and over again so that you continue paying.  They make it very hard to get out of the contract, they either make you pay a fee to break the contract or won’t let you break the contract at all.  I know someone who kept her fitness club membership for 8 years and only set foot in that club in the first month she signed up.  When asked why she never canceled the membership, she said that she had to go down to the club and had to cancel the membership renewals in person and she was so busy it was easier to continue to pay the fee.

If you want to exercise, try your local rec centre or some other place where you do not need a membership to use the facilities or to join the classes; where they accept a drop-in fee or at the most, ask you to buy a 10-visit punch card.

I love the rec centres in my city (Burnaby, BC).  They have great fitness facilities, yoga classes, boot camps, weight training, Pilates, step classes, dance fit classes, etc.  You can come to any class or use the weight/fitness room at any time for a drop-in fee of $8-12.  Just as good as any fitness club, no obligations or contracts, way cheaper and no scams.