If you do lots of different activities, how much do you spend on fitness/exercise each month?

[SnappilyMarried]

Until last year I was a member of a really cheap gym which offered some really cool, different fitness classes.
It was £30/month for unlimited classes. I was doing, on average, three classes per week which worked out at £2.50 per class 😍Over the summer months, I was managing four classes per week which worked out at £1.88 per class 😵

The gym closed down - unsurprisingly. I haven't found the types of classes that I want offered in one place, by one gym. So to continue the types and combination/balance of classes that I want I've ended up spread across three different offerings at a total cost of £126/month 😱Quite a jump in price.

The jump in price is making me twitchy.

I've had a look at local gym prices so I have an idea of how much people spend on membership. But I'm more interested in how much people spend when they're doing classes/activities here and there, rather than all in one place that they're a member of.

So, how much as you spending each month on fitness or exercise activities, please?

I'm also aware that there are hidden costs of exercise too - decent trainers, clothing, transport etc. But, for now, I'm just after a sense of spending on the actual activities themselves.

I'm a member of my local leisure centre trust - for £35 a month I can use any class, any gym, any pool of its five leisure centres, which are all no more than 10 years old. As an indicator, their pay and play prices are £4.40 for a swim, £7.70 to use the gym, and classes are £7.20 so its a great saving. I usually swim twice a week and do weights twice a week.
I also climb at a wall once a week - that's £10 a go.
I cycle to work twice a week - that saves around £8 per day in either parking or train fare, so cancels out some of the costs above.

Thanks @PauliesWalnuts

So, you're spending about £75 per month. It sounds like you get a very good deal at your local leisure centre - facilities sound wonderful 😊

My gym membership is £156. I work out four or five lunchtimes a week every week and usually do a couple of morning yoga classes each week, too. There’s a pool which I only really use in summer and will do so a couple of evenings a week then.

I don’t count my staggeringly expensive £400 a month personal trainer because I know that’s a real luxury and something I have because I really enjoy it and benefit from it but could easily do without.

Keeping fit however isn’t a luxury, particularly not as we age. It’s essential if we want an active and healthy old age, really. I absolutely get £156 a month worth from my gym spread over all my different activities throughout the year. I have several colleagues who “can’t afford” or “don’t have time” to exercise - who all spend more on their lunch each day than the daily cost of my gym membership and spend the hour I spend in the gym at lunchtime twiddling in their phones instead.

My gym membership is 35 a month. It's a privately owned gym with weights only. Use it 4/5 times a week religiously.

However I also pay 150 a month for an online coach so I pay 185 a month in total for fitness related "activites"

Nothing. I cancelled my gym membership and work out in my garage with a selection of weights, kettle bells, TRX straps and yoga equipment. I use all YouTube videos and I am in pretty good shape.

I also swim for free at my workplace.

£120 for unlimited classes at my yoga studio which offers weights and spin on the side. Expensive compared to some but it's great and in a great location.

I do a weekly pilates class for £9 per week, religiously, then I walk, cycle, garden, occasional run, occasional leisure centre evening swim, occasional youtube video the rest of the week.

It’s £33 for my local leisure centre. They do a decent range of classes plus pool but I like the gym.

I'm really grateful that you're all willing to share, thank you!

@ComtesseDeSpair That's a fascinating insight about luxury vs necessity, thank you. It's actually really helping me to make sense of (and get over!) my twitch about the jump in what I'm paying on fitness.
One of the things I pay for is a PT, once a week. I was thinking about adding another session but, again, twitchy about the jump in cost. Your comments are really helping me put that extra expense into context.

I don't have a garage and I'm not able to move house at the moment.

But a garage, which I'll covert into a very well-stocked home-gym is my number one priority for when I am able to move.

I'm very envious!

I pay for swimming and that’s it.

Use YouTube at home in what used to be a play area for the dc. Boxed up the Lego and got myself some simple weights and a couple of mats. It has a nice view of the garden which I prefer to being in an airless indoor gym.

I am part of my local road running club which is super friendly and accessible. The annual membership is £40 and there are 3/4 sessions a week run by experienced coaches who kindly volunteer their time to the club!

I also go to a local yoga studio roughly once a fortnight, I buy 10 sessions at a time and it works out at about £10 for a one hour class.

The only other cost I can think of is replacement sports clothes / shoes and the occasional cost of race entry for 10ks / half marathons.

So, not expensive overall but keeps me relatively active! I've never had or felt I needed a gym membership.

I'm currently spending over £300 per month but that includes an expensive luxury of a personal trainer. Without the PT I pay about £50 a month for gym, swimming and classes.

£45 pcm on small very local high street gym, which by strange quirk runs specialist classes in my main activity - I do 2/3 of them a week, plus 1/2 other sessions.

£25pw on shared PT in local park. I am not sure I would have started this if I was then at the gym with its classes, but very happy I did! For now, I want to make the most of getting all this teaching especially after the pandemic.

Think about £60 pa for my Les mills membership, got a special offer last summer. I use this for indoor cardio when weather is bad. I'll see what renewal costs are this summer.

Used to do a weekly park bootcamp that was a fiver.

If there was a boxing class locally that worked for me, I'd probably pay for that on top too, but maybe not every week depending in price.....

I agree about exercise being a necessity not a luxury. And for me, my training is a hobby as well, and something of a social life.

OP, I've also found that these things don't last for ever - instructors move on, class times change, pandemic...so if it suits you for now and you can afford it, I would keep going for say 6 months and review then? And in the meantime, chat to people at the different places and keep eyes and ears open for all-in-one offerings?

I find it really interesting, @purplepapaya and @ComtesseDeSpair, that you've both talked about your PT sessions being a 'luxury'.

My current spending is spread across three different offerings, one of which is a weekly PT session. I see my PT as the least 'luxury' fitness thing I spend on, and the last one I would give up. In fact, I'm thinking of doing an additional PT session each week.

But I get very specific work from my PT that I've really struggled to find elsewhere so maybe that's a factor in my thinking.

We have a peloton which works out at about £45 each for me and DH per month.

I don’t think that gives me enough thought so am debating supplementing with a CrossFit membership at £135 per month for 8 classes. Expensive, but I know CrossFit works for me and I enjoy it.

And I totally agree with the poster above that keeping fit shouldn’t be seen as a luxury.

I have peloton bike and treadmill at £40 a month, I use their strength classes too.

I sometimes do reformer pilates and it’s either £12 or £18 per class depending where I go

I'd definitely encourage you to start boxing if you can find a gym. I love it.

I agree completely about things changing - the gym I was at last year was totally perfect but then it shut and everything changed, hence me spreading myself across different fitness things nowadays. I'm getting to a nice balance again but I'm conscious people may move on, classes may change etc. so I'm trying to make the most of it while it lasts.

I spend loads... Probably £150-£200 per month I go to lots of different yoga studios and classes but I adore them and it's my main hobby

Yes it is a luxury, for me it was most important when the children were younger as I exercise in the morning and the gym didn't open early enough for me to get there and back before DH left for work.

Now they are older it's somewhere I can hide and lie on a yoga mat in peace!

I pay £42 a month at my local leisure centre which includes unlimited classes, and unlimited use of gym, swimming pool and steam room/sauna.

In a normal week I do 6 classes a week, swim once and go to the gym once so, although I could use it more, on the whole I definitely get my money's worth!

You definitely are getting your money's worth. Your classes are working out at £1.75 per go. Plus you have gymming and swimming on top!

I pay £29.99 a month for local leisure centre which includes swimming, gym & all classes. I use it a lot & definitely get my money’s worth.

I love that.

For me, a garage home gym would mean I could do PT with some semblance of privacy. At the moment, PT happens in the park at the end of my street where I take my dog twice daily and, therefore, know 98% of people 😩