How to Save on a Gym Membership in Melbourne

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Posted 2015-08-16 by Natasha Abrahams ⇒ follow

[SECTION]How to save on a gym membership in Melbourne[/SECTION]
The streets are free, but sometimes you want the creature comforts and specialised equipment of a gym. This article reveals tips you can use to score a discount on your membership, without offering the usual advice of taking your workout to the park or the pavement.

[SECTION]Haggle[/SECTION]
The cost of a gym membership is not always set in stone. As membership is a recurring expense, even a very small discount can add up. Join up at the end of the month, when employees will be scrambling to reach their sales targets. This gives you extra leverage to negotiate a better price. Educate yourself on the deals available at different gyms in your area; if the gym you want to go to is not the cheapest, ask if they will match their competitors' deals.

[SECTION]Buy someone's membership[/SECTION]
Classified sites such as Gumtree are awash with former gym bunnies looking to offload their memberships. Typically, this occurs when someone has signed a 12 month contract and has decided not to continue. Transferring their membership means that they are off the hook for the rest of their contract. The benefit to buying someone's memberships is that it is often cheaper than starting a new membership. The seller may absorb some of the cost, or they may have joined at a time when the gym offered a lower rate, making it cheaper for you. You also benefit from the lower weekly cost of a contract, without having to sign up to a full year- a beginner may want to take up a membership that only has a few months left on the contract.

[SECTION]Groupons[/SECTION]
Score a cheap rate on fitness by scouring group buying websites such as Groupon for local deals. Most deals are designed to hook you into going to the gym to make you a full paying customer, so often they offer cut-price rate for one month of obligation-free use. It is common to find deals on one month of unlimited classes, from regular gyms, dance studios, boot-camp style training and yoga clubs. Sometimes you will chance upon a longer term deal, such as a three or six month membership at a low rate.

Many gyms offer seasonal deals, such as no joining fee or a two-for-one joining fee. These deals are not sold as Groupons, so you will have to hunt around for the best deals in your area. The end of the financial year and the January rush bring the best deals, but many gyms run promotions every few months.

[SECTION]Health insurance[/SECTION]
Have a private health insurance policy? You may be able to claim back some of the cost of your gym membership, though a doctor's referral may be needed. Many gyms also offer a discount casual visit rates if you show your private health insurance card.

If you are an occasional user of the gym and only pay for casual visits, you may be interested in Medibank's GymBetter program in which you pay a discounted rate per visit to any of the gyms in their network. Non-members of Medibank pay $11.95 per visit. The cost drops to $8.50 per visit if you hold a policy with extras included.

[SECTION]Join an unstaffed gym[/SECTION]
Think about what facilities you will actually need. If you are content to use the equipment without help from trainers, and are willing to forgo group fitness classes and fancy bathrooms, consider joining a cheaper unstaffed gym. Several gym franchises including Jetts , Rec Xpress and Anytime Fitness operate 24-hour gyms with minimal staffed hours and low weekly fees compared to a regular gym.

[SECTION]Send your gym membership on holiday[/SECTION]
Your bank account get debited every billing period, whether you use the gym or not. When you go on holidays, ask your gym if that can put a hold on your membership. Typically the fee to do so will be around two weeks of fees, so it is certainly worth the effort for longer holidays.

[SECTION]Be wary of contracts[/SECTION]
Saving a few dollars on the weekly rate by signing a twelve-month contract can be costly. Gym membership contracts are notoriously difficult to extricate yourself from. When you first sign up, you are brimming with motivation and have convinced yourself you will go every day for a year. Fast forward a month later, and you may have decided it's not for you, but now you have to keep paying if you are unable to weasel your way out of the contract. Take advantage of the free trial period, and then go on a month-by-month contract to start off.