“I wanna quit the gym!â€
In a fit of New Year enthusiasm thousands of people take out gym membership, but as the months go by and their gym visits dwindle they slowly realise that their good intentions have now cost them a small fortune €" sound familiar?
Gym membership...everyone has tried it at some point in their life. As the indulgent, boozy days of December take their toll the promise of a shiny new gym membership to support your New Year resolution to €get fit' holds quite an allure. Not to mention the overwhelming January advertising campaigns where super sexy, toned and tanned boys and girls peer out at you from the local newspaper and TV, metaphorically jabbing you in the belly whispering €you are a chunky monkey and you know it€.
So you make a promise to yourself, €this year is going to be the year I am really going to get fit (quit smoking, stop drinking, save money, learn a language etc.)€ You obediently head down to the local gym where more tanned boys and girls get you all hyped up with energy and possibility until you let out a primal scream, tear the gym membership form their hand and sign whatever it is they have put in front of you!
You head home from the gym (having not worked out) and pop to the shops to stock up on pasta, salad, mineral water, energy bars and dark chocolate (it's better for you). Like a whirlwind you vanquish your kitchen of all temptation, display your new healthy produce proudly in the fridge and then sit down on the sofa with that dark chocolate to watch a film safe in the knowledge that tomorrow is a new day and a new you.
The day of your first gym visit comes and you feel great. You get changed and head to the main gym area to perform a few awkward, self-conscious stretches and take in the scenery. The first thing you notice is just how busy it is considering it is early January (!), and the fact that virtually no one looks like the tanned and toned boys and girls from the telly. The queue for the treadmill looks pretty unappealing so you head over to the less populated rowing machines for a 20 minute warm up. €Wow, these things are pretty tiring, probably shouldn't push myself too hard on day one...€
With your 5min rowing machine warm up over you take a sip from the water tap and stretch your arms. There is still a queue for the treadmills but they do have televisions above them which is surely what you need to avoid the boredom of those awful rowing machines so you join the queue.
25 minutes of patient, British queuing later and you are up and running, headphones on and your favourite TV show right in front of you €" here we go! Hang on, something is wrong...there is a dull ache coming from your knee, and would you believe it your hip hurts as well. This seems pretty serious so you slow the pace to monitor the pain, before abandoning your planned run for 5 minutes of walking. There is definitely something wrong, surely exercise shouldn't hurt this much?
With the pain subsiding and the fear of failure beginning to take over, you head to the free weights section to at least give your upper body a workout. Barry the Beefcake looks you up and down as you pick up a pair of dumbbells whilst trying to remain inconspicuous. €Wow, these things are pretty heavy, probably don't want to hurt myself on day one...€
Feeling slightly beaten you get changed and head down to the swimming pool before realising that you almost certainly damaged your arms on those ridiculous weights, so swimming would not be a safe thing to do and you head to the Jacuzzi instead. That's more like it; this is what fitness should feel like!
You head home feeling slightly empty - considering how pumped up you were on the day you signed up - and tuck into a nice pasta bake (carbo loading), a couple of energy bars (for recovery) and the rest of that dark chocolate (a reward for all your hard work).
As the days turn into weeks you find it easier and easier to talk yourself out of going to the gym. Any excuse will do, too tired, too busy, too cold, too rainy, too early, too late...but those weeks soon turn into months and before you know if you are forking out for your gym membership every month without ever going. How did this happen yet again? How did you fall for the gym membership con, and even more importantly how do you get out of it?
Quitting gym membership is not an option; those gym guys know what they are doing and really have you by the short and curlys. All you can do is count down the months until you can hand your notice in whilst impotently watching your hard earned money disappear from your bank account every month whilst.
If this sounds familiar then you are not alone. Thousands of people fall for it every year and the worst thing about it is that by the time you reach the following January you will be faced with the exact same scenario and will again be telling yourself €this year is going to be the year I am really going to get fit (quit smoking, stop drinking, save money, learn a language etc.)€
It doesn't have to be like this though, there are loads of alternatives to gym membership if it doesn't work for you and all you need to do is take the time to find them. Pay as you go options are a great way to control what you spend before deciding if the gym works for you, plus you can always consider outdoor sports like running and cycling.
Gym membership...everyone has tried it at some point in their life. As the indulgent, boozy days of December take their toll the promise of a shiny new gym membership to support your New Year resolution to €get fit' holds quite an allure. Not to mention the overwhelming January advertising campaigns where super sexy, toned and tanned boys and girls peer out at you from the local newspaper and TV, metaphorically jabbing you in the belly whispering €you are a chunky monkey and you know it€.
So you make a promise to yourself, €this year is going to be the year I am really going to get fit (quit smoking, stop drinking, save money, learn a language etc.)€ You obediently head down to the local gym where more tanned boys and girls get you all hyped up with energy and possibility until you let out a primal scream, tear the gym membership form their hand and sign whatever it is they have put in front of you!
You head home from the gym (having not worked out) and pop to the shops to stock up on pasta, salad, mineral water, energy bars and dark chocolate (it's better for you). Like a whirlwind you vanquish your kitchen of all temptation, display your new healthy produce proudly in the fridge and then sit down on the sofa with that dark chocolate to watch a film safe in the knowledge that tomorrow is a new day and a new you.
The day of your first gym visit comes and you feel great. You get changed and head to the main gym area to perform a few awkward, self-conscious stretches and take in the scenery. The first thing you notice is just how busy it is considering it is early January (!), and the fact that virtually no one looks like the tanned and toned boys and girls from the telly. The queue for the treadmill looks pretty unappealing so you head over to the less populated rowing machines for a 20 minute warm up. €Wow, these things are pretty tiring, probably shouldn't push myself too hard on day one...€
With your 5min rowing machine warm up over you take a sip from the water tap and stretch your arms. There is still a queue for the treadmills but they do have televisions above them which is surely what you need to avoid the boredom of those awful rowing machines so you join the queue.
25 minutes of patient, British queuing later and you are up and running, headphones on and your favourite TV show right in front of you €" here we go! Hang on, something is wrong...there is a dull ache coming from your knee, and would you believe it your hip hurts as well. This seems pretty serious so you slow the pace to monitor the pain, before abandoning your planned run for 5 minutes of walking. There is definitely something wrong, surely exercise shouldn't hurt this much?
With the pain subsiding and the fear of failure beginning to take over, you head to the free weights section to at least give your upper body a workout. Barry the Beefcake looks you up and down as you pick up a pair of dumbbells whilst trying to remain inconspicuous. €Wow, these things are pretty heavy, probably don't want to hurt myself on day one...€
Feeling slightly beaten you get changed and head down to the swimming pool before realising that you almost certainly damaged your arms on those ridiculous weights, so swimming would not be a safe thing to do and you head to the Jacuzzi instead. That's more like it; this is what fitness should feel like!
You head home feeling slightly empty - considering how pumped up you were on the day you signed up - and tuck into a nice pasta bake (carbo loading), a couple of energy bars (for recovery) and the rest of that dark chocolate (a reward for all your hard work).
As the days turn into weeks you find it easier and easier to talk yourself out of going to the gym. Any excuse will do, too tired, too busy, too cold, too rainy, too early, too late...but those weeks soon turn into months and before you know if you are forking out for your gym membership every month without ever going. How did this happen yet again? How did you fall for the gym membership con, and even more importantly how do you get out of it?
Quitting gym membership is not an option; those gym guys know what they are doing and really have you by the short and curlys. All you can do is count down the months until you can hand your notice in whilst impotently watching your hard earned money disappear from your bank account every month whilst.
If this sounds familiar then you are not alone. Thousands of people fall for it every year and the worst thing about it is that by the time you reach the following January you will be faced with the exact same scenario and will again be telling yourself €this year is going to be the year I am really going to get fit (quit smoking, stop drinking, save money, learn a language etc.)€
It doesn't have to be like this though, there are loads of alternatives to gym membership if it doesn't work for you and all you need to do is take the time to find them. Pay as you go options are a great way to control what you spend before deciding if the gym works for you, plus you can always consider outdoor sports like running and cycling.
