Exercise Products

Still Wasting Your Money at the Gym?

January 12, 2010
By Michael Zaun

Are you looking for ways to save money? Do you pay for a gym membership? If so, consider other options and see huge savings in the long term.

Own your own equipment. I highly suggest buying your own equipment and ditching your gym dues. There are excellent options available for as much as one month (about $30/month) at the gym that you can purchase to put together a nice little home gym with plenty of options. This is a perfect option for those who do not have much space.

Or, look at it other ways and determine how much you spend per year (typically around $500-$1,000) to be a member of a gym. Invest that money on a larger pieces of equipment. Try getting a quality home gym and a quality cardiovascular machine for about as much as two years at gym (one year for a couple). This investment should last at least 5 years and as much as 10 years, or more.

Lets quantify that now. Hypothetically, lets say you pay $500 ($1,000 for a couple) per year for a gym. If you spend $1,000 on your own equipment and that lasts you can easily save $4,000 ($8,000 for a couple) over a ten period. Then, there is that option of selling your equipment and making some money back if you decide to upgrade or no longer use it.

Tangibly, $4,000 or more is a decent amount of money. Do you have a price for an hour of your time? If you do, you can figure out how much money you lose in transit time to/from the gym and time wasted waiting for equipment to become available. If you do not, just think of what you could be accomplishing with that time.

Select your entertainment. Another oft forgotten benefit when you have your own equipment is you can select your entertainment. Having great entertainment you can actually hear definitely goes a long to make the time go by much faster than when you are staring at the time during your run on the treadmill.

It took me a while to get to this point because I became conditioned think that I had to go to the gym to get the workout I need. Once I got out from under the awful contract and came to my senses, I ditched the gym membership. It has been nearly five years and I have not looked back at all.

For excellent more money saving ideas, equipment options, and other advice please visit my website.

Michael Zaun runs a Health and Fitness website, where he offers free health and exercise advice, equipment reviews, recipes, and much more. His site can be found at http://www.health-exercise.net/.

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