Some facts from my mate who owns a gym..

[GreenDragone]

My mate owns a private gym. The other day we were sitting in the sauna together & he was telling me all about the running of it:

There are 3000 members paying just over £100/month
Of that, the membership is split 70%women/30%men
Only 300 members regularly attend, so 2700 are paying subs for something they never use!
Of the 300 who do regularly attend, 70% are men & 30% women..

Somehow that just blows my mind... I don't know what the overheads are but it sounds like a money-making machine. 2700 coughing up £100+ a month for nothing... & a great place to meet a man!

I pay £25 a month for 24/7 no frills and bells gym. It is big, airy and has loads of equipment and free weights. It also does classes if you want them (included in the fee) and has an assortment of PT's during staffed hours. I wouldn't use a sauna etc and rarely use the showers as I run too and from the gym - use it 5 days a week.

I thought it was quite well known that the gym model is based on 75-90 per cent of your members never attending regularly.
www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/01/05/what-your-new-gym-doesnt-want-you-to-know/?utm_term=.01db40997f5f No conventional gym has capacity for that.

The CrossFit model is in part a reaction against that - most Crossfit gyms/boxes will only take on as many members as they can accommodate within their weekly class programme, mine has closed its books to new members several times (genuinely, not as a marketing ploy).

I think many people pay for a gym and never go. It’s one of those things you sign up to with the best intentions and you go regularly for a month, then you tired/don’t feel like it etc and slowly it drops off. Then you haven’t been for months but you kid yourself your start going again Monday or you just forget about it and never remember to cancel.

I use my gym/pool most days, I can’t imagine paying and not using it, what a waste of money, I’m sure there are loads of people that don’t use it but the money is probably not that important to them. I have to use mine at least once a week to get my monies worth (I pay £42) and to pay as you go would be £5.50 per session, I go 4 or 5 times a week but less when the kids are off school, I think I get my money’s worth.

This is an excellent podcast on the topic www.npr.org/sections/money/2014/12/17/371463435/episode-590-the-planet-money-workout

I guess the overheads will be quite high with all the staff & all the facilities that need maintaining.
They can be astronomical so charging £100/m might actually be profitable but fuck me no way I would even consider paying that.

I used to work for Leisure Services in a LA. There we're 5 /6 LA ran leisure centres. I worked in the largest, that was also the admin hub for the rest. All ran at a loss. Between staffing and maintenance the place just pissed money. Then with all the government cuts they had to adjust opening hours to try and cut staff costs, a couple were even closed and sold on.

Raven I thought you said 'in LA' and was imagining sunshine and palm trees . . . then I read it again

I'm one of the ones that cost them money. I go 6 nights a week for an hour swimming and then use the showers and the hairdryers etc. Its £33 a month for me. Would cost me £70 to go to council pool in a month, with cold pool side showers. So someone else is subsidising me with their unused gym membership and I thank them. I hate Januarys and June because people start to use it more. January for New Years resolutions and June because they want beach bodies in a week.

I've also noticed how it always gets busy in January with the new Christmas memberships but they've all buggered off by Valentine's & we have the place to ourselves again!

Every Christmas my favourite instructor reminds us all to go back to booking the classes rather than just rocking up come January. But also reminds us we can just rock up come February. Four years in and I've not known her to be wrong yet

My gym is £30 a month and at my work so I definitely get my money's worth - I swim before work, do a class at lunchtime and sometimes go and do something easy like yoga after work.

If it wasn't at my work there's no way I'd go this much. I don't even go at the weekend and I only live a mile from work.

Until recently I was a member of a gym which cost £27 a month. No pool or sauna but a good range of free classes, and I went four or five times a week. However, it was a 30 minute walk or bus ride away and the classes were only 30 minutes so I spent more time travelling than working out!

I've just joined a much fancier gym a five minute walk from my house which costs £125 a month. It's worth it though, because classes are at least an hour long and it saves me time overall.

I used to pay about £110 a month 7/8 years a go for the gym - London gym, nice but not crazy exclusive or anything. Same gym costs £155 now. I think overheads are a lot depending on where you are - whether space is at a premium etc.

I meant to say, I go five or six times a week so let's say 24 times a month; that's only £5 a go so feels like good value!

A gym will have massive overheads.

I just bought some trainers and did Couch to 5K. 30 minutes, straight out of my front door, done. Fittest I’ve ever been. I’m over being a Gym Fool.

@MyFamilyAndOtherAnimals1 I go to Xercise4Less 

I pay 9.99 per month (with a small corporate discount) which gets you gym membership and unlimited classes.

It’s a huge warehouse of a gym with loads of cardio machines and weights. It also has a decent ladies section although I don’t use that myself.

My membership is good value for money against pay-as-you-go since I do one gym day, and two classes with a gym warm-up beforehand, so three times a week.

I recently had an annual update/review with a trainer and he said there are three joining/use peaks during the year:
The big one is the January 'New year, new me' crowd
Smaller one around late spring, early summer for the 'beach body' wannabes
Another one for the 'want to get into my xmas party outfit' types.

I read an article once that said if it takes you more than 8 minutes to get to the gym then statistics prove you are less likely to go.

I alternate between going 5/6 times a week and not going at all!

My gym is €55 per month. This includes pool, sauna and steam room and all classes. I go 5 times a week and also do pilates, yoga and a tone and flex class. Totally worth it to me.

The best part though is that it is an 8 minute walk from my doorstep

I pay £33 per month and hardly go as i’m always tired or hungry after work, nightmare.

Catofaragon it takes about 20 mins to drive to mine on a good day but my only other options are a local leisure with very limited classes or David Lloyd which I can’t afford. I do go regularly although some weeks more than others.

Only two things surprise me- that someone would tell you details of their c£3.5m a year business, and that it is £100 per month.