Wednesday, July 31, 2013

Seeking New Gym

When you move, there are lots of things that you have to find again. Hairdressers, dentists, car repair guys....and your gym! And truth be told, I'm not having much luck with finding many of these, most specifically a gym. I had told myself that until I knew where I'd be working, I wouldn't spend the money to join a gym because I could just run and do some machine-free exercising at home. Well, while that's true, our schedule has been so all over the place that my discipline has been slipping and I haven't been making the time like I should. It's easier to convince myself to take time to work out if there's a dollar figure attached to it.

So I started my foray into searching for a gym in Williamsburg, online last night. I can always join the W&M gym at an alumni rate and get a Fitwell pass once the semester starts, which would be nice because I could take classes again AND my yoga practice would be included. But despite being a slightly better deal than a non-W&M gym, something about returning to my undergrad gym and taking classes with freshmen, seems weird to me. Granted, it's a fantastic gym with lots of offerings, but for some reason I'm just not feeling it. I feel the need to explore other options before just settling on what's familiar.

However, the problem is, all the gyms I've found in Williamsburg have high monthly rates. Granted, it's because they all include unlimited classes, but $45/month is steep! But one gym offers spin, bootcamp, yoga, pilates, and some other classes I'm interested in, so part of me wants to give that gym a shot because it's set to a "real persons" schedule as opposed to a student schedule. They have a "free" trial week that I'm tempted to partake in next week, just to see what it's like. They have super early classes that I want to summon up the discipline to attend, but again, $45/month is steep! Especially when I know similar things will be offered at W&M, but I'm afraid their Fitwell class times won't mesh with my schedule.

I guess my question with this is, how much do you invest in your fitness each month? In Tallahassee, we paid $20/month for the gym (that got me in all the time and Will could come with me an unlimited amount as a "guest"-Gold's didn't do family rates) and another $120/20 classes of yoga, which usually covered us both for 2-2 1/2 months. So I guess paying $45/month for everything included is less than $20/month for gym + ~$60/month for yoga. But it just SEEMS so much more expensive! If you don't mind, please share with me what you invest on a monthly basis for your fitness and what that includes-I'm curious to know so I can have some sort of price comparison!


3 comments:

  1. The gyms in Boston average 80-90/month if you want monthly classes included - and some don't even include that. Yoga studios can easily be several hundred/month if you want to go frequently. It's really unfortunate.

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  2. PS - Unknown=Courtney. It said it would connect to Google and show that account but it LIED.

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  3. I know the feeling...there are like no gyms here in Fayetteville either. And the ones that are, are local, small businesses that have pretty expensive rates that I can't afford. So, what I'm doing, is spending a little extra money to get at-home equipment until I can afford to join a gym again. My strength training exercises I use a set of free weights and a medicine ball. It's all I really need for the next few months until I can afford a gym membership again. But, I did find a really nice yoga studio here that has fairly cheap rates, but I only go once a week, if that. Otherwise I just practice yoga on my own to save myself financially. But, that's what I'm doing to deal with it. I don't have the money to even spend $20 a month for a gym membership right now when I know I can save money in the long run by just working out at home for a few months. (and by the way, the set of free weights and a medicine ball cost less than $50 combined). Not sure if this helps but that's what I'm doing to be able to work out and afford it at the same time :-P

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