I Did Free Trials Of Every Gym Around Me

I'm here to fess up to my money-saving, pretty sketchy and questionably immoral fitness extravaganza. Wow, what a mouthful.

Hear me out. I get really bored of the same old same old and I'm pretty broke. My life is always a bit of a whirlwind as well with a jampacked schedule, so locking myself into a gym contract gave me the ick.

But, Youtube exercise vids just weren't motivating me anymore. It was time to get out there in the big, scary world of gyms. I realised pretty quickly that most gyms and classes offered free introductory passes to potential members. That's one thing you should know about me. I love free stuff.

Not only was this a fitness journey, this was free and a lil' cheeky. With this combination, I became the fittest I ever have been! So here is how I capitalised on free gyms near me (bearing in mind that I live in a city so there are tonnes of gyms around me).

The signup process

I tried normal gyms, as well as classes (like boxing, pilates, yoga, barre...)

Most of the time, the classes were subtle about the whole 'sign up' process. You could pop your head in, say hi to the instructor, do the class and then disappear.

With gyms, however, it is a little more tedious. A lot of the time you need to talk to a receptionist, fill out forms (one form was three pages long and asked in-depth questions like "are you stressed at work?" and "what are your hobbies?"... 😭) 

Gyms also tended to give you a tour of the place and normally would call you again, and again, and aggaaaaiiinnnn to get you to come back. I have had to block some gym numbers.

The length

The length of a free trial, on average, is one to three sessions. You'll be stoked if it lasts a week. 

Some classes/gyms offer a longer trial but you may have to pay around the ball park of $20. Sometimes I bit the bullet and did this. (I mean, I was still saving a bucket tonne compared to the actual membership price). This meant I could try a lot more things - like contemporary dance classes. I was too much of a kook for that but gold star for trying, aye.

The catch

Like I said before, it was a little awkward suffering through paperwork and gym tours, knowing full well that you won't be back again. But I got used to copping it. 

Beware of chains as well. I signed up to the same cardio class chain but in 4 different locations. Occasionally, instructors would work at multiple locations which was bbbaaadddd. Sometimes I'd still do the class and hope that they don't recognise me but sometimes I knew I wouldn't be able to get away with it. What a waste of a trip there. 

I genuinely loved trying so many different workouts. I really worked out what I love and don't love. Sometimes, the catch was so annoying, or I frothed the class so much that I thought "maybe I should just lock into something"... Maybe I will one day, but for now, there are still so many gyms around me that I haven't sussed out yet... Mwahaha.