Save euros and lose pounds in health club price war

In these newly dark days, words like "aerobic" and "cardiovascular" when coupled with the word "exercise" can seem like strange concepts, designed only for those top international athletes who still do it the hard way, not for people with full-time jobs and/or families to care for.

Many of the September batch of new recruits to health clubs and fitness centres around the country will have curbed their enthusiasm for the gym by the time Christmas approaches, although with membership conditional on a 12-month commitment at a number of clubs, they will often still be paying for it.

Several private health clubs and gyms charge hefty joining fees between €75 and €200, which should, in theory, deter people who just want to check that their limbs are still working from signing up.

But even those of us with good intentions can steadily grow weary of watching MTV while jogging on a treadmill, surrounded by lycra-clad semi-professionals who never break a sweat.

By that stage, it may be too late to stop the direct debit until after the annual contract has expired.

But if they let their contracts lapse, ex-members may face having to pay a second raft of joining fees once their guilty consciences are re-activated by medical advice, peer pressure or the kind of body-imperfect holiday photographs that attract big red arrows in celebrity-baiting magazines.

There is, however, some good news for future members.

Mr Killian Fisher, chief executive of the Institute of Leisure and Amenity Management (ILAM Ireland), believes the private health club industry has reached saturation point in certain areas, leading to more competitive tactics for attracting fresh bodies.

"At the moment, there is a bit of a price war developing in Dublin," he says, citing advertising for Westpoint in Blanchardstown, which was running a special offer of an annual membership rate of €395 until the end of October.

People who have little faith in their long-term stamina levels can also opt to pay a €75 joining fee plus €49 for each month at the club.

The Westpoint club's standard annual membership costs €595 plus a joining fee of €150.

"I definitely feel that around the M50, a number of gyms have opened up and I think that price is becoming an issue, so that speaks for itself really," says Mr Fisher.

In the Dublin area, a number of new health club and fitness facilities have opened up this year, including the publicly owned National Aquatic Centre and a branch of Total Fitness in Sandyford, while Eircom's private membership Sportslink facility has added a swimming pool.

Fitness chain Jackie Skelly, which has clubs in Dublin city centre, Swords and Clondalkin, is also due to open a new club in Ashbourne, Co Meath.

The days where the full rate of joining fees are applied are few and far between at many clubs.

At Jackie Skelly Fitness Club in Clarendon Street, off Grafton Street, Dublin, the current joining fee is €40, down from the usual rate of €160.

This means that the cost of membership works out at €47- €59 a month, depending on the payment plan people choose, according to Ms Jean Smith, manager of the club, which is expanding next year to include a pool, a sauna and an extended cardiovascular room.

Corporate rates and rates for off-peak hours - 6.30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday, and any time at the weekend - are at the cheaper end of this scale, she says.

Off-peak is a growing area for the fitness industry.

"Most off-peakers would come in either because they want to avoid the traffic in the morning or because they want to do a quick half-an-hour exercise on their lunch break," Ms Smith says.

With facilities including a 50-metre swimming pool, the Westwood Club in Clontarf would be at the upper end of the market.

"The full amount of the joining fee hasn't been paid for a while," says Mr Barry Carthy, deputy general manager of the club. The current rate is €100.

After that, full membership costs €70 a month with a 12-month commitment, or €50 for people using the centre during off-peak hours, which are 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekdays and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on the weekends.

Over-55s are charged a reduced membership fee, with specialised exercise classes such as "Nifty at 50" designed for older members.

"Generally, the off-peak members would either be slightly older or they would be students who have a lot of flexible hours," says Mr Carthy. "A lot more people work different shifts now, too."

Drop-in creche facilities are frequently included in the cost of membership at the larger health clubs, while nearly all clubs will include classes in their annual fees.

At the Riverside Fitness Centre on Eden Quay in Dublin, groups of mostly women take part in classes such as step aerobics, Pilates and toning as part of their membership. This costs €490 upfront for a year or an €85 joining fee plus €49 monthly.

"We're trying to get more men into the classes to make sure they are getting full use of their membership," says Ms Louise McConnell, an instructor at the club.

Spinning - roomfuls of people pedalling on exercise bikes - is popular with both sexes, however.

"It's just cycling non-stop. You don't need any co-ordination for it whatsoever," Ms McConnell says.

The price of annual membership will vary according to the facilities and services a club offers.

One fitness chain, Total Fitness, told The Irish Times it was its policy not to give out membership rates over the phone and that potential members making inquiries this way would be asked to do a tour of its premises first.

While close inspection of the goods is a crucial step before paying for anything, this policy doesn't help consumers who simply want to know if membership costs are within reach of their budget.

Government grants and lottery funding has increased the number of local authority leisure complexes around the country, while there is "a little bit of crossover" between the annual membership and "pay and play" or pay-as-you-go sectors, Mr Fisher at ILAM Ireland notes.

For example, at the National Aquatic Centre, people can join as full or swim-only members or they can pay adult rates of between €8 and €11 for use of its pools on a pay-as-you-go basis.

At Eircom's Sportslink centre, meanwhile, full members pay just €132 and associate members €152 annually - substantially lower than the average health club charges, even outside the Dublin area.

They then pay small usage charges for each facility, such as €2-€3.50 for every time they use the gym.

Fitness centres that enable people to visit on a pay-as-you-go basis are cost-efficient options for normally gym-shy applicants who lose interest by the time they have figured out how to monitor their heart beat on the machines.

Drop-out rates are high. Mr Fisher estimates that there is an average annual membership retention rate of 60-70 per cent in the industry.

Some gym members are more committed to getting value-for-money than others.

"You have the members who are more or less there every day at the same time, then you have members who make a burst in January, don't come back for a few weeks and then have another burst," says Mr Carthy at the Westwood.

A customer service team at the club rings new members after the first week and again after six weeks "just to make sure they are getting the full benefit of their membership", he says.

"You do need to keep in touch with members."