back in the old days
I’ve got zero idea what happened to gym pricing in the last 4 years, but it seems to be spiralling out of control. Back in college (2 years ago) I had an included membership to the local community center and spent 3-4 days per week lifting there. This was in South Dakota.
Since then I moved to Augusta, Georgia, which isn’t exactly an up and coming hipster city that should be charging tech bro prices for anything, but yet here we are. Ever since I moved I essentially stopped working out, as my gym commute went from a 2 minute walk to a 30-40 minute drive through rush hour traffic (one way).
I’ve recently been convinced to start going to more cardio-centric workouts to keep my heart and body healthy (very good thing) and did a month trial at a gym that catered to classes, which is a new thing for me. So I’ve been attending 2-4 classes a week for a month that varied from things like HIIT and spin, and generally enjoyed it. Let me preface the next paragraph by saying these things are 100% things you can do on your own. I see it as paying for being able to use the specific equipment at a certain time, as an instructor in those scenarios isn’t necessary.
price
The only situations I really see an instructor necessary in are for things that require multi-person participation. I’ve done some muay thai and kickboxing in the past, and that ranged from $175.00 / month for a year, or $240.00 a month for 6 months. Insanely expensive, but I kind of understood, as the instructor was literally catering and participating 1:1 for at least 1/3 of the time you were training, and was overseeing the entire class and ensuring safety the rest of the time. Not to mention, to get to the level of training professionals (which is what the gym I was at did), it was quite the process.
So when I got hit with the cheapest option of an upfront $1,400.00 charge for one year of the classes I was pretty shocked. This level granted me unlimited classes, but I really would be fine settling for a max of 2-3 per week, but the lower tiers didn’t cover those options, and buying each class individually would have skyrocketed the price.
I sucked it up… I paid it… “In the interest of my own health” I told myself. And I wanted to continue to go with my “gym buddy”. And given that we’ll eventually be attempting to move and are in an apartment, a home gym wasn’t an option yet.
the home gym
It’s totally okay to not be in a situation where a homegym makes sense, so I totally understand continuing with a membership somewhere.
But paying that whopping $1,400.00 got me thinking. Why drive 30 minutes there, workout for 30/45 minutes, then drive 30 minutes home, and on top of that pay a huge fee, just to use a spin bike and / or treadmill and some weights? When I ask the question “It can’t be that expensive right?”, I’m usually dead-wrong, but in this situation it’s actually very feasible.
Here’s the basic home gym starter list to fully replace both HIIT classes and spin, in two different configurations that can be mixed up. It also assumes you’re buying new, so if you go used there could be significant savings. Keep in mind, 5 years of the gym classes membership is $7,000.00.
cost saving plan
- 1 x Feedback Sports Omnium Track Trainer (require existing bike, which I have) -
$440.00 - 1 x Rouvy Subscription (or Zwift, Playbook, etc.) -
$156.00 / year - 2 x BowFlex SelectTech 840 Adjustable Kettlebell - Total:
$270.00 - & Run Outside (if you want to run, idc if I’m getting a lot of cycling in)
Total One-Time Equipment Cost: $710.00
Total One-Year Subscription Cost: $156.00
Savings after 5 years: $5,510.00
buy it all plan
- 1 x Echelon EX-5 -
$800.00 - 1 x Zwift Subscription (or Rouvy, Playbook, etc.) -
$200.00 / year - 1 x IronMaster 45 LB Set (can be extended to 75 LB w/ another purchase) -
$519.00 - & Run Outside (again, optional)
Total One-Time Equipment Cost: $1,319.00
Total One-Year Subscription Cost: $200.00
Savings after 5 years: $2,319.00
If you like the trainer aspect, just pay an extra $100.00 per year to a trainer you like, such as Gabriella Guevera. The place I go doesn’t really have a “community” aspect or anything, so this would be exactly the same as what I’m doing now (for just spin, at least).
The only extra thing I think would be cool (but not very space-conscious), is a power tower with a decent weight limit ($200-$300). This would allow weighted pull ups, dips, etc. to be thrown into the mix.
will i buy the membership again?
Probably not, if I can avoid it. It feels gross to be forced into a locked-in contract for so long, especially when the classes aren’t run that often. You get maybe two opportunities during the normal work day (5:30am or 5:30pm), and the options on the weekend are just as limited (two times max). For something that doesn’t actually need an instructor, it doesn’t feel worth it. The timing flexibility is rough as well, but I can’t really blame them, as that’s inherent to the business model.
This is a collection of my cybersecurity notes & projects.
I graduated from Dakota State University with a MS in Cyber Defense & BS in Cyber Operations. Since then I've worked as a Malware Analyst with the U.S. Army Cyber Command, and am now a Web Application Security Consultant.
I'm a big fan of open security standards for applications and workflow automation when it comes to security testing. The easier it is to identify and replicate, the more secure everyone's apps can be! My other writings and projects are scattered across the web, but can be found in the links page.
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