Gym Membership Costs?

Junepal

Hi all,
I am thinking about joining a gym but have no idea what to expect cost wise. I am in Ontario Canada but would love to hear how much you pay per month and did your gym charge an initiation (on-time) fee?
Any other tips about joining or questions to ask would be greatly appreciated.
TIA!

wellbert

Paid $100 to join Gold's and $10 a month.

Lina4Lina

I'm in the US but here is my experience.

I have belonged to various gyms over the years. The first gym I joined was 24 hour fitness and I think it cost $19/month (20 years ago?), later I joined a women's only gym which cost about $30 month, then joined Ballys total fitness and that cost me about $15/month for 3 years then ~$8/month for renewal after that. Then I joined a Crossfit gym for about $200/month, then I just recently joined a more traditional gym for $60/month.

So my experience is that the more you pay, generally, the better services you get and the less crowded a gym will be. When I joined Ballys, I loved the gym but then I moved and the gym I went to wasn't as good but still decent, then I moved again and the gym was tiny and cramped and the next closest one wasn't very convenient so I gave up my Ballys membership. They keep sending me letters to renew for $99/year but at that price, it still isn't worth it.

I'll gloss over the Crossfit gym but basically, it was fun for a while, would recommend caution for anyone interested and I don't think I'd ever join another one.

Although I'm not the biggest fan of traditional gyms, I needed some motivation and consistency and I've only really had that while I was enrolled in something. Classes, karate, whatever. In my area, the cheapest gym is about $30/month and it is very crowded without very many amenities. There are some other gyms in the $40-$70 range.

I chose my gym because it had a pool, lots of exercise classes, some unique equipment (TRX, pilates reformers, variety of cardio equipment, good sized free weight section, etc). Also, I've seen the evening crowd and it is a decent size but there are still plenty of machines available. In some gyms, if you go at the busy times, you might have to wait in line for a machine if you want to do cardio. I think also some gyms require you to sign up for exercise classes, mine does not.

Lastly, for anyone who has never belonged to a gym, I'd say that January will drive you nuts. The gym will be crowded with a variety of new people and it will be super busy but by March, it tends to slow down to a normal pace.