Why You Should Cancel Your Gym Membership
By Jen Glantz
On the first day of 2015, I canceled my gym membership and enrolled myself in a semester of stand up comedy writing school.
Both are things I’ve been putting off for some time.
Let’s talk about the gym membership.
Most people start of the new year with the goal of being healthier. I’m one of those people — of course.
I eat mostly carbs and spend way too much time in front of a computer screen. But my gym membership has gone untouched for quite some time. I think in all of 2014, I went a total of 20 times — actually 21 times if you count the time I went there to get some lunch because they were offering free bowls of quinoa.
So, I thought to myself, I can try to put on a pair of Old Navy yoga pants and drag my butt to the gym on January 1st, or I can do something different.
I can quit my gym membership and use that cash to work out a different way — a way that will actually motivate me to get off the couch.
So I did that. I canceled my membership and said goodbye to the days of standing idly on elliptical machines and trying to lift a five pound weight over my head while standing next to sweaty guys lifting dumbbells twice my size.
With the $40 I’m going to save every month, I figured I’d try a new way to put that cash toward working out.
My plan for 2015 is to buy a Groupon once a month, for a series of workout classes somewhere new and challenging and scary — yet oddly motivating.
I have a feeling I’ll be willing to lace up my sneaks to try a class called “Anit-Gravity yoga” or “Karaoke Spin Class.”
Plus, when the month ends and I’ve used up all my classes at one place, I won’t find myself bored. If I tune out the rough voice of one workout instructor after class number five together, I’m free to try some place new. If I’m over peddling my way across what feels like the entire United States during spin class, I can say a giant “Thank you very much!” to Flywheel and head on over to an army-like boot camp class.
No annual contracts. No sign on the dotted line and be a member here for the rest of your life. No personal trainers hounding you down and telling you that you can’t leave the gym until you’ve done 75 squats.
No more hiding in between my couch cushions because the thought of going to the same old workout spot makes me want to stuff down a half a dozen donuts first.
So this is my new plan: try something new to achieve something old.