Review: Various Sydney Gym's

Have you ever been so cheap you’ve done something ridiculous just to save money? I am the kind of person who only eats fruit Monday-Friday because it’s provided in my office. I am the kind of person who will actively leave the house needing to poop so I can use the free toilet paper at the train station, or my office, or wherever I am going. I am the kind of person who went to gyms for months, but didn’t pay a cent in membership fees.

I got to thinking after being aggressively handed a flier by a man in an orange morph suit one morning, who actually uses all these free gym trials? Given the volume of fliers, there must be hundreds of places you could do free trials at. After some brief research, I found 10 gyms convenient to me, and worked out that I could effectively work out for free for several months. The ultimate cheapskate scheme.

This is not my first foray into cheapskate behaviour. I’ve been known to see how long I can go without grocery shopping, eating pasta and various condiments as a ‘meal’ and relying on work functions to feed me. I have a yearly tradition of paying for fuel using only the spare change in my car. I study part time but I spend more time participating in PHD candidate’s research studies for vouchers than I do completing course work.

And so, here is the result of my free exercise program and reviews of all the gyms I visited;

Virgin Active - 1 class

I’d like to give this gym a positive review, it was swanky and had free towels, smoothies and hair ties, and the other clientele made me feel more inadequate than ever (which is why we go to gym’s, right?). The class was fun, the trainers were nice, the facilities fabulous. But I ended up in the hospital 48 hours later, so I’d caveat my review by saying – experienced trainers only. The spin class was a bit too extreme for my beginner, flu-weakened body. Otherwise 6/10 overpriced hair ties

W1LL Yoga Studios – 21 day trial

Yoga is hard. Harder than you imagine it will be, even when someone tells you it’s really hard. I got a ‘free trial’ in the mail for this one, which was actually a $1 trial you can only use by signing up indefinitely. I ran the direct debit gauntlet, remembering to cancel at the last minute. I would have continued on at this place, it was wonderful, and a great workout, but the class times just didn’t fit my schedule at all, and a month after opening the communal yoga mats were getting a little less than desirable. On the plus side, after 21 days of free yoga, I can now properly do a downward dog and have mastered the art of wearing ugg boots in public. 8/10 sweaty yoga mats.

Crunch - 1 day

Cheap gyms are cheap for a reason. Because the suck. I walk past this gym every day, and it was the one that aggressively fliered me that prompted this experiment. The gym was fine, but their flashy flier stating $9.90 a week is essentially a lie. For starters, $9.90 basically gets you in the door and that’s it. If you want a gym membership that only lets you use a treadmill, this is the gym for you. They run classes, but then your membership goes up to $19.95. To be honest, the fact that they only wanted to give me a one day trial, and that I couldn’t even do a class for that, turned me off. 4/10 orange morph suits.  

Anytime Fitness - 0 day trial

I have been a member here before, but figured I would try and get myself a trial here anyway. It didn’t work. Those reasonable jerks. 8/10 for having principles.

Snap Fitness – 3 Days

I’ll be honest, I only went to this gym once after redeeming the pass, and it was entirely because the location was inconvenient for me. One block in the wrong direction is apparently my limit for travel. It was fine, but the guy on the treadmill next to me didn’t stop farting for his full 30 minute run. Impressive, almost. The gym was exactly what you’d expect of a gym, but also they don’t have classes and we’re kind of unhelpful. 7/10 farty dudes.

Fitness First - 14 Days

This is where the reviews end, and way before my four months were up, because this one won out after the trial. Fitness First had many locations that were convenient to me (next to work!, next to me best friend’s house!, next to the train station!), swimming pools, yoga classes, free personal training and they gave me a backpack. I’m easily bought. The facilities are great, and the people were super lovely too (I mean they feigned being impressed that I can run for three minutes), no one farted on me, or asked me to use a sweaty yoga mat, or put me in hospital. Win, win. 9/10 free backpacks.

Gym’s I didn’t check out were;

• Plus Fitness North Sydney - 14 Days
• Goodlife - 5 Days
• Jetts - 3 Days
• FitnFast - 30 days free
• F45 - 14 Days
• Bikini Bods North Sydney - 7 days (have to share website on Facebook to get free trial)

Perhaps when my 12 month membership is up I’ll check out the others, and then use that to negotiate even further on my membership! In the mean time, I’m off to have my daily free mandarin. Ciao.