From: spr@prism.gatech.EDU (Stefan Roth)
Newsgroups: misc.fitness
Subject: Re: Bodybuilding Trainer
Date: 9 Apr 92 22:20:52 GMT
Organization: Georgia Institute of Technology

In article <92097.154734ICKMC@ASUACAD.BITNET> ICKMC@ASUACAD.BITNET (Keith M. Campbell) writes:
>Does anyone have any tips on getting started into bodybuilding? I have checked
>out several gyms and it seems everyone of them has a program that seems to
>contradict the other (and they seem mostly concerned with getting me to sign
>large, several year long contracts). 
> [ ... ]
>Any suggestions would be appreciated. You may email me at ICKMC@ASUACAD.
>
>Thanks.

Let me address the issue of gyms here in the newsgroup. You are right to
worry about long term contracts. These days, I either (1) sign up for a
month-by-month membership that has a short minimum (a few months) or I (2)
sign up for a one year or less contract where the fee is usually paid up
front.
	Both have their risks. With (1), you usually have to give them the
right to make automatic withdrawals from your checking account. There is no
guarantee that they will stop when they are supposed to. Getting your bank
to stop is a hassle and costs money. With (2), you can lose some money if
they go out of business before your time is up. Therefore choose the gym
carefully. I prefer (2) since I don't want to let them at my checking
account.

	The other type of membership (3) is generally a long term, such as 3
years.  I had the following experience several times, the last time at GymX
(not their real name). The membership fee was:
   $1400 initiation fee
   $37/month for 3 years.
 Quite high, right? Except that they wave the monthly fees, so you owe
'only' $1400 up front. There was a discount of $200 and another for $100. I
can't remember the reasons, but they are meaningless anyway. So now we are
at $1100 for 3 years. No one has $1100 sitting around and those who do
wouldn't pay it up front. GymX will finance the $1100 for you for $36/month
for 3 years. You fill out a loan application and they may actually do a
credit check.  Basically, you now pay $36 per month for 3 years for a nice
gym. The catch is the word 'finance'. You owe them the initiation fee up
front.  Everything else after that is basically free use of the gym for you.
If you stop using the gym, you still owe for the rest of the 3 years.
Frequently, GymX will sell the loan to a finance company that gives them
about $1100 in return for the loan. Now, if GymX goes out of business, you
must still pay the loan off!!!


Good rules of thumb for membership contracts are:
  o the shorter the contract document the better
  o gym does not have the right to assign your payments
  o must have a clause letting you out of your payments upon reduction or
    termination of their service
  o must have a clause letting you terminate your membership obligation if you
    move away
  o no mention of financing, loan, credit check, etc.

Some states now require certain disclaimers on all gym contracts regarding
termination of service. This doesn't protect you. It just tells you that you
can lose money if they close down.

---
Stefan Roth
Georgia Tech Research Institute, Atlanta Georgia, 30332  USA
Internet: spr@prism.gatech.edu