Quit the Gym: Confessions of a Former Gym Manager Part 2

After over ten years in Big Fitness, I walked with many secrets I intend to share. This one, I believe, is going to shock you. If you aren’t using the gym membership you pay for, unless it’s for a temporary injury then quit.

(Source: peoplepassionate.com)

Try not to think of it as walking away from your health, but accepting that the only way you can open another door is when you close this one.

It’s time for you to let go. Your membership to Big Fitness is doing you no favors, not your mind, your body, your finances, nor the gym.

Here’s why…

(Source: journalpsyche.org)

You’re not doing your psyche any favors.

Belonging to a gym that you don’t use, you believe, is keeping a placeholder for someday, maybe every Monday? What it’s really doing is contributing to your long term excuse habit cycle.

The longer you belong but don’t go, the more your story is about how “I joined a gym, but I never go so I’m gonna cancel it.”

In fact, if they didn’t have some stupid policy about having to cancel in person you’d have done it ages ago, except they don’t really have that policy. That’s just what you’ve heard.

Free your mind. Quit that membership today by calling them right now. Then go for a walk to think about how awesome you are.

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You’re not doing your body any favors.

There are no calories burned for belonging to a gym. I looked it up.

Also, just belonging does not build mass, develop heart and lungs, nor does it make anyone more athletic. In fact, because you have a gym membership you don’t use, you’re likely to avoid other activities.

When friends invite you to take a walk, you decline. “If I wanted to exercise, I would use the gym membership I pay for,” you say. Rather than keeping a healthy habit, your gym membership is helping you create a no-exercise habit.

Storm out your front door, walk run all the way to that gym to tell them you are done. Do some pushups before you go in so they can’t totally judge you. You’re in charge.

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You’re not doing your finances any favors.

So what if you have a great monthly rate? You keep telling yourself you pay it so when you’re ready you can go back. How long will that go on before you stop?

How many months of $20 or $10 or whatever you are paying is it worth flushing that money away? You’d be better off putting that money in a savings account, flipping it to a CD or mutual fund later, then you can pull from the interest to buy your own gym equipment.

You would be better off giving that money to a homeless person. At least then you could write it off as a donation, maybe feel good about it.

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You’re not doing the gym any favors.

This is gonna blow your mind, but the gym doesn’t want you to belong and not go. They’re whole M.O. is to expand their membership base.

Members who use the gym are ten times more likely to refer their friends. I just made up that stat, but for sure people who don’t use the gym, refer at zero percent.

Even the blood-sucking gym guys who you blame for not keeping the gym clean enough for your standards, don’t want to see you pay for something you don’t use.

Let them off easy. Tell them you found something better; that you have to move on. They’ll understand.

(Source: quotesgram.com

Alright, so this blog is kidding on the square somewhat. Let’s get serious.

Everything you’ve read is true, but the goal was to stimulate you to do something different with that membership. No doubt, nobody is gaining from your dedicated payment without usage.

The day you finally drop that membership you will see something else grow in its place. You’ll finally see the best pathway to finally making exercise part of your life.

Either that, or you’ll go on living the life you’ve been living, with a little more cash in your wallet, a little more confidence in your step. You’re not stuck anymore.