Home Gym Vs. Commercial Gym: Why I Switched

My better half and I joined a business recreation center near our home. The Iron Orr Gym was not one of the big chains, but rather was privately owned by a young couple. It had Hammer Strength weight machines (wonderful) and Life Fitness cardio hardware (first class). The free-weight area was extensive, loaded with elastic-covered Olympic plates, but with only one power rack.

The fitness center did not have a pool, but it did have a small gym where cardio classes were held. Higher up, there were tanning beds and a restorative massage region on the back. When we joined we were told that they were restricting registration to 500 people to avoid congestion. Extraordinary, we think. However, I later found out that their turnout ranged from 750 to 1,000 people, and the fitness center was really busy in the late afternoon and after work. What's more, maybe they were ranking one on top of the other.

The rec center opened at 5 a.m. m. days that weren't weekends and our schedule allowed us to exercise from 5 to 6 a.m. m., so we got up at 4:30 a.m. a. m. We would go three to four days during the week, and usually once on one or another Saturday or Sunday morning around 8am. m. This was surprisingly simple to do, for some time.

Management hired someone to open the rec center at 5am. I'm guessing they just paid the lowest wage allowed by law, so whoever they hired would actually get up early for a little compensation. It is not an extraordinary job, but it is simple to do in any case.

I maneuvered to the parking lot at 4:50 am. m. one morning and the rec center was dark. No kidding, I thought, I've beaten the rep here before. So I lasted 10 minutes, 20 minutes, and after 30 minutes I left, very upset. The fitness center didn't open until one of the fitness trainers showed up around 7am, I found out later.

The next day the supervisor apologized profusely because the rep never showed up and he just got up and stopped! "It will never happen again from now on," he guaranteed. Think about what happened the next month. Another rep didn't show up to open the fitness center at 5am! The following month, it worked once again! Several times I was left waiting in the parking area. Besides the fact that I was getting up right on time, I also missed my exercise. Also, they misled me about the number of shares they had sold.

We were paying the couple rate of $59 per month, and we were individuals for a long time from now on. So one night I stopped and worked out exactly what it really cost us to go to a rec center up to this point:

$59 every month for quite some time: $1416

The rec center was a 3.3 mile trip, full circle: 6.6 miles. We got there five days out of every week: 6.6 miles x 5 = 33 miles every week for quite a while minus a fourteen day getaway = 100 weeks x 33 miles = 3,300 miles. (Imagine how much this cost us in gas!) Using the IRS standard mileage rate (July 2008) of 0.585 cents: 3,300 x 0.585 = $1,930.50

$1,930.50 standard mileage rate + $1,416 tax = $3,346.50. This is what the rec center had really cost us for a long time! Phew!