Gyms don't fix it any more

More and more people are letting their gym membership lapse in favour of exercising for free in the park, writes CONOR POPE

AFTER MANY years of growing further and further apart, Price Watch finally walked out on our gym last August. Almost immediately the pleading text messages started and with each one, the price of membership fell.

They fell so low that we were fairly sure the gym would soon be offering to pay us to rejoin but we held firm and eventually the messages stopped coming.

It’s an experience that will be familiar to anyone who has turned their back on gyms over the last 18 months. And there are a lot of such people.

According to a study published by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) last month, there has been a marked decline in the numbers taking part in sport – down from 32.9 per cent of adults in 2007 to 30.8 per cent a year later, with a further significant decline anticipated in 2009.

The decline is principally being put down to people no longer being able to afford to pay fees. According to the second annual Irish Sports Monitor report commissioned by the Irish Sports Council, the connection between income and sporting activity became increasingly clear as the recession deepened with individual sports (including gym membership) falling significantly while participation in cheaper team-based games held firm. The report found that at least one in seven members of a gym let it lapse in 2008 with the number of women attending a gym or exercise classes falling from 9.4 per cent to 6.5 per cent.

The ESRI’s findings were mirrored in an Irish Times/Behaviour Attitudes opinion poll published in November which indicated that significant numbers were cutting back on gym fees because they simply could not afford them any more.

In the run-up to Christmas we asked readers if they thought gyms represented good value for money, given the current economic gloom. Most people who responded had quit and felt better for it.

“We traded down from posh family-friendly to basic family-friendly and finally quit altogether,” says one reader. “We never used either – occasional swims were costing about €100 a go. I’ve been bombarded with texts to no avail. Never forget that running is free and gyms really are unnecessary and very pricey.”

Another reader decided his money “was better spent on buying a bike. Fair enough, the weather isn’t always ideal to use it, but I always have it and I don’t need to renew my membership every year.”

A third said he had had to give the gym up because the fee of €260 was beyond him. “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.”

There were a couple of dissenting voices. One said he would “give up a lot of other things before I gave up my gym membership – but I’m one of those rare people who actually goes several times a week”. He said he 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”.

January is the time of year when thousands of Irish people, filled with the best of intentions, join one of the 600 gyms still operating throughout the State in order to work off the Christmas excess. Many choose to sign up to long-term contracts in an attempt to keep themselves motivated. It is nearly always a bad idea.

One recent study by the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association (IHRSA), showed that while 10 per cent of Irish adults are gym members, nearly half rarely or ever step on a treadmill once the initial flush of enthusiasm wears off.

Brendan Hackett, a former club owner and ex-chief executive of the Athletics Association of Ireland (AAI), runs Motions Health and Fitness, a company which trains instructors and runs a number of staff gyms for international companies.

“People have to be very careful when they go in to hear the sales pitches to be clear on a number of points,” he says. They need to make sure they understand exactly what is included in the membership and to make sure the facilities on offer meet their needs.

“They should ask themselves when they are likely to use the gym and will they be able to get on the equipment without having to wait, particularly in January and February when gyms are chock-a-block,” he continues.

It certainly is common sense. If you plan to use the gym between 5pm and 7pm – the peak fitness hours – there really is little point in visiting when it is deathly quiet, as it will create a distinctly misleading impression of what is on offer.

“People should also be asking what are they getting for their money and what level of guidance and assistance they will get from the staff.” He recalls that he joined a well-known chain for a year recently and was never once approached by a member of staff. “That was okay for me because I know what to do in a gym but not everyone does. While the membership fees might be getting cheaper there has also been a sharp reduction in the amount of instruction offered by many gyms and, if you want instruction, you have to pay extra for it.

“The vast majority of people need to be shown what to do and they need new stimulus every six weeks or so. If they do the same things over and over again and expect different results, they will be disappointed and bored. Everyone assumes that this is an equipment business but it is not an equipment business, it is a people business.”

The final thing he advises people to be wary of are the terms and conditions, particularly the length of contracts, the rolling direct debits and the cancellation policies. Despite his background in fitness clubs he does accept that for many people, a run in the park may represent better value in the current economic (if not actual) climate.

“I understand that people will say you can get as fit for free by running or walking outside, but one thing I would say is that a gym is a little like a supermarket. Everything you want is in one place, the cardio machines and the resistance training. And many people baulk at going outside in the winter when it is cold and dark.”

The dropout rate of people who join gyms in January is estimated to be in the region of 60 per cent, but many people who sign up to gyms without reading the terms and conditions – and many gyms still go out of their way to make their terms as unreadable as possible – don’t realise when they sign up, they sign up for a full year.

The National Consumer Agency receives hundreds of complaints about gyms every year with “a significant number” down to people not reading or fully understanding the conditions of their membership agreements. The agency has warned people to check the cancellation clauses in particular before signing.