We traded down from posh family friendly to basic family friendly and finally quit altogether. We never used either – occasional swims that were costing about 100 euro a go. I’ve been bombarded with texts to no avail. I hear some places are now operating on a pay as you go basis. Actually this reminds me to go check one out as we are still interested in swimming. Regarding fitness – never forget that running is free and gyms really are unnecessary and very pricy.

I always said to colleagues who joined gyms if you had cycled to the gym and home instead of driving you would have gotten a workout for free
never saw the point in gyms, unless who were a serious athlete.and needed to use weights etc and have expert advice other than that waste of money.

Depends on the gym. I’m not a fan of Ben Dunne but I go to Carlisle Gym in Kimmage. It’s cheap at E295 a year. It has plenty of equipment and a pool and most of the clientele would have been relatively untouched by the Celtic Tiger. I go 2 or 3 times a week so it’s brilliant value for me.

I’d probably pay up to about E350 – 375 a year for a decent gym. No more though.

As a student I had to give it up – €260 was beyond me. They called back a month after I declined to renew and offered me the membership at the same price, but with a gift bag thrown in. I don’t think they quite understood the issue I had.
I live in Galway City so a run along the prom makes far more sense.

All I’d really like is somewhere handy to go for a swim 3-4 times a month. Gym membership doesn’t offer value for money unless you’re going 2-3 times a week and the council pools aren’t handy for me (although are a good option generally). If some of the gyms started offering cheap rates on pre-work swims I’d be interested

I was a member of a gym for 9 years and used it pretty heavily at about 840 euro per annum.

I started running a few years ago and found that I no longer really needed a gym and cancelled it. You can do Yoga for anaerobic fitness and run for cardio-vascular fitness.

I also now have a gym at work which is great when I choose to use it.

I have to say I’d give a lot of other things before I gave up my gym membership – but (reading these comments) I’m one of those rare people who actually goes several times a week. But I did use the recession to beat them down on price and I renewed for 18 months at the same price I paid for a year last year!

I recently joined Total Fitness. I am a mature student. Their deal for Sept to May was €250, which I thought was good value. I like their pool and gym. I try to go about twice a week. I knolw running etc is free and I’ve tried it but lack the commitment (especially when I can feel no improvement, out of breath after 30 seconds every time).

I was in the local hotel Gym and switched to the local GAA club gym, half the cost, better equipment, only difference is that there is no pool, I never used the pool anyway so no loss and i’m €250 better off for the year.

Swimming in the sea? It’s bit too nippy in this country for that, well for me anyway.

What I really want is a gym that will allow me just to use the swimming pool and pay accordingly. I’ve yet to find one.