Gym Memberships

[Phoebe3]

I was wondering if anyone used a gym membership to get showers, etc. If you do, how (in)convenient is it to find one while you are traveling, does the quality vary considerably, do they honor things like unlimited guest passes?

I was thinking about getting a Planet fitness membership. It's $22/month with "unlimited" guest privileges so we could both take showers. There seems to be a lot of them in the Western US.

[Lightfoot]

This sounds like a good idea. I know that the Russos of We're the Russos on YouTube use Planet Fitness for that reason. I believe the Wendlands of Roadtrekking and the RVLifestyle YouTube channel use Anytime Fitness and say they have very nice individual shower facilities.

[Davydd]

We belong to Anytime Fitness which does have private showers and they are open 24/7 with access via a key fob. We have taken advantage a few times when convenient on the road. My wife maintains her membership because locally they have extensive yoga classes. I gave up my membership this month because another 24/7 fitness place, Snap Fitness 24/7 opened up a half mile from our house next to a craft brewery. I don't do yoga. Snap Fitness is hit or miss though on showers.

[avanti]

I shower at Planet Sprinter.

[BBQ]

.

next to a craft brewery?

Priceless

[bobojay]

DavyDD does the craft brewery, then goes to workout, then back to the craft brewery to have another....

[bobojay]

We are just now (201 becoming siversneakers capable through our med insurance. Anybody know how this would work concerning the OP's original posting?

[mumkin]

I would check with Silversneakers (or Silver and Fit - same thing... that I have) to see which gyms take it. And then you might need to call the various franchises and see which would accept a traveling membership.

With mine, I use Curves (but not for showers... just for work-outs), but I have to choose a location and can change it by the month.

[dougbaty]

For the last 2 years I have pre-paid for a year of gym membership with my credit card. However, this last year my gym (California Family fitness) refused to accept pre-payment and insisted on direct access to my bank account. That is called ACH pull. I find ACH push, where I use a computer to tell my bank which bills to pay, very convenient. However, giving someone else control over my accounts is scary. My bank, without asking me, simply hands over money to whomever sends them an ACH form - Month after month indefinitely for any amount whatsoever. No checks or balances. No limits.

Planet Fitness said they also would not accept annual pre-payment and insisted that I give them ACH access to my accounts. So far I haven't found any gym that will accept annual prepayment. Yeah, I suppose I could write a letter to management and try to bypass the membership director, but I shouldn't have to.

DougB, gymless

[Phoebe3]

Originally Posted by dougbaty

For the last 2 years I have pre-paid for a year of gym membership with my credit card. However, this last year my gym (California Family fitness) refused to accept pre-payment and insisted on direct access to my bank account. That is called ACH pull. I find ACH push, where I use a computer to tell my bank which bills to pay, very convenient. However, giving someone else control over my accounts is scary. My bank, without asking me, simply hands over money to whomever sends them an ACH form - Month after month indefinitely for any amount whatsoever. No checks or balances. No limits.

Planet Fitness said they also would not accept annual pre-payment and insisted that I give them ACH access to my accounts. So far I haven't found any gym that will accept annual prepayment. Yeah, I suppose I could write a letter to management and try to bypass the membership director, but I shouldn't have to.

DougB, gymless

Agree that this is unacceptable. We actually have a separate credit card for those places that accept CC auto payments. We used to use the same credit card for everything, but our cable company raised the rates by 50% and it took us three months to notice. Now that all the bills are separated from the daily CC use, it is easier to see that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, having a separate bank account that contains limited funds for the ACH is expensive since banks want to charge you for not having a high minimum balance. We briefly allowed ACH, but then thought better of it and use checks or CC auto-pay to pay most bills. We don't have overdraft protection because if we did, someone could empty both the checking AND savings accounts.

The FDIC and NCUA only protect your money if the bank or credit union fails, not if someone hacks into Family Fitness and steals your account information.

Of course, that would NEVER happen.

[avanti]

Don't think that personal checks are an overly safe alternative, either:

https://www.nextadvisor.com/blog/201...fe-way-to-pay/

As far as I can see, by FAR the safest payment option is Apple Pay (or its equivalent competitors), since (a) they are backed by credit cards, which are themselves pretty safe, and (b) the transaction is mediated via a one-time token (similar to "chip card" transactions), so nobody every gets your account information. Not yet readily usable for bill-paying, but I suspect it won't be long now.

[mlts22]

Originally Posted by dougbaty

For the last 2 years I have pre-paid for a year of gym membership with my credit card. However, this last year my gym (California Family fitness) refused to accept pre-payment and insisted on direct access to my bank account. That is called ACH pull. I find ACH push, where I use a computer to tell my bank which bills to pay, very convenient. However, giving someone else control over my accounts is scary. My bank, without asking me, simply hands over money to whomever sends them an ACH form - Month after month indefinitely for any amount whatsoever. No checks or balances. No limits.

Planet Fitness said they also would not accept annual pre-payment and insisted that I give them ACH access to my accounts. So far I haven't found any gym that will accept annual prepayment. Yeah, I suppose I could write a letter to management and try to bypass the membership director, but I shouldn't have to.

DougB, gymless

Yep, had the exact thing happen with PF. I don't want to use them for that reason, as I want zero ACH pulls on my accounts. I got burned by a company pulling ACH withdrawls of far greater amounts than was agreed on, and finding out that they there is zero recourse to this, other than an explicit stop payment on the account.

I have been happy with 24 Hour Fitness... but no locations are near me, so I dropped my subscription with them.

[Sehc]

Yes. The new model is "sign up for a year, and we make it next to impossible to quit, forever". We can call that the Hotel California Plan.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by Sehc

Yes. The new model is "sign up for a year, and we make it next to impossible to quit, forever". We can call that the Hotel California Plan.

Not completely new. Reminds me of how paper-based magazine subscriptions used to work.

[Davydd]

I just quit Anytime Fitness last month. It was easy. I just turned in my fob and signed a paper. My wife remains a member. No contract.

[SiennaGuy]

Originally Posted by mumkin

I would check with Silversneakers (or Silver and Fit - same thing... that I have) to see which gyms take it. And then you might need to call the various franchises and see which would accept a traveling membership.

For those who aren't familiar with Silversneakers or Silver and Fit: These are part of some health insurance plans and they cover gym membership. It’s not just deluxe health plans. I have the absolute cheapest health insurance plan I could find (a Kaiser plan). I found out that Silversneakers is included with it long after I signed up. They probably figure that people who exercise are generally healthier and use healthcare less.

Check with your insurance agent or the health plan member services office to see if you have this hidden benefit. It may take some digging, but a free or heavily discounted traveling gym membership is worth the effort.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by Davydd

I just quit Anytime Fitness last month. It was easy. I just turned in my fob and signed a paper. My wife remains a member. No contract.

Update: I joined Snap Fitness because of proximity as I stated before. I was paying full price because my supplemental insurance to Medicare didn't cover it. They now have a change of heart and I don't pay anything at all. My wife decided to join Lifetime Fitness because they have pools for water aerobics and lap swimming. She competed as a synchronized swimmer in college. If I can help it, I don't go near the water. I walk down a trail a half mile. She drives 2-1/2 miles.

There are lots of Snap Fitnesses around our house as its headquarters are near by. However, they are not as frequently found on the road as Anytime Fitness. At least that is my observation so far.

A former workmate and friend of mine is now the Director of Architecture at Lifetime Fitness. They are building huge lifestyle complexes around the country and they are not just a gym anymore.

[Pam G]

I belonged to Planet Fitness for 3 years and never had a problem with the ACH payments. Wasn't any issue when I cancelled it either.

I've banked at a credit union for years. There isn't a minimum balance requirement for a checking account, so that would be an option if someone wants to use a separate bank account for making ACH payments.

[RossWilliams]

We have a YMCA membership and most of them are included in a nationwide sharing program. We have used them for showers and they are just about everywhere.