The culture tells us to be healthy by eating better and getting fit through exercise. The gym is advertised to us as the best way to lose weight, gain strength, and be healthy. It can be a great resource to those that use it. I repeat… to those who use it! There are many people that have a gym membership because they have a distant dream of being healthy. Yet they do not utilize the membership. They may even start strong going every day or even every other day. The fact is that they soon fall away from going because it doesn’t actually become a priority in their life.
I am guilty of this and have wasted my money on this as well. I go a few times and then quickly fall into the habit of developing excuses of why I can’t go anymore. Excuses like, “I had a really hard and active day at work so I got my exercise in already today”. “I hurt my arm at work from dragging the computer mouse back and forth so I don’t want to go lift weights”. “I am too tired to get up early in the morning and I have no other time in my busy day to go to the gym”. The list just keeps on going with reasons why going to the gym is not favorable. Even if my culture tells me I need a gym membership to get healthy and in shape, it isn’t enough motivation to keep me going there. That is the way many Americans use the gym membership. It is a great thing that they should do, they may try it for a while, and then they stop before it becomes a habit.
I know some people actually do succeed in going every week to the gym. They do lose weight and gain muscles. I am not speaking to those individuals here. I am speaking to people, like myself, who keep trying but can’t stick with it.
I had a limited view that the gym was the only way to get healthy. I was so stubborn I didn’t even want to think about the fact that there could be an easier and cheaper way to pursue my goals. It wasn’t until I realized the amount of money I was paying for the membership versus how much actual usage I was gaining that I changed my mind.
I was gaining nothing at some point since I had stopped going but I was paying a small fortune. Gym memberships are not cheap. Not to mention you have people watching you exercise. Which was another one of my excuses of why I didn’t want to go. Seems like a silly thing to pay for when it makes you uncomfortable anyways.
Once I couldn’t afford the gym membership anymore I was forced to quit. I thought I would never achieve any form of good health and a fit body. It turns out I could walk around my neighborhood block or better still pace back and forth in my house. No one would be watching me and it was just as good as a running track.
I love that my house has a circle that forms between the kitchen and the living room. It makes for a good track and I don’t have to pay any extra money. I can listen to music if I want to and even sing along without any judgement.
I had thought about signing up for a class. I like the class environment because I get to learn new exercises that I probably wouldn’t have thought of before. Also there is the accountability of doing the routine with the teacher instead of blindly trying exercises myself. The only problem is classes cost money. In addition, at least this is a problem for me personally, I would have to be watched by others in the class. Not an ideal situation but I discovered I could take a class online. Avoiding that contact and others watching me.
Can you guess what is even better than that? I found out I didn’t have to pay for a $400 per month class subscription just to have access to online video workouts. I could get the same benefits from a FREE workout routine on YouTube. Isn’t that crazy?!?!
I can take a class, get exercise, all while staying home and saving money. My suggestion now is to ignore what culture tells us about gym memberships being the best way to reach your goals. Find things at home that you enjoy and use those ways to get in shape. You’ll have more fun in the process and you’re way more likely to stick with it. On top of it saving you money.
Whether you like to walk, take an online class, play a dancing video game, do push ups, or anything in between. You can find ways to do it at home or around your neighborhood. I am just saying that there are a lot of possibilities out there that could very well save you money and still help you reach the same goals.
Think about how much money you could save just by cutting your gym membership bill out of your budget. Go and cancel your gym membership if you don’t use it a few times a week. It really isn’t worth the money when you can get better value elsewhere. The gym won’t keep you accountable, only you can do that and only if you enjoy what you’re doing. Go cancel it now and live a better life without the extra payment.
If you would like to learn more visit my YouTube channel to see workout routines I have tried at home:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI-3UJZMc7q6OuvfUtkGk_Q?view_as=subscriber
