Save Money on Your Gym Membership – 11 Insider Tips From a Gym Owner

We live in a world where it seems everything goes up in price. Fuel, houses, energy, food, clothing. To arrest this, I’m going to give you 11 ways to save money on your gym membership.

Why? Because I’m nice.

I’m well qualified to give these tips for a couple of reasons. The first is because I’ve worked my entire career in the fitness industry. I spent the years from 2005 – 2011 running both independent and chain gyms.

The second reason is that since 2020, I’ve owned my own gym… MyGym. I know this world better than most, so these tips aren’t an opinion, they’re legit, insider tips to help you save money on your gym membership.

So now I’ve (hopefully) got your trust, let’s look at how I can help you save money on your gym membership.

Tip #1 – Wiggle Out of the Joining Fee

A ‘joining fee’ is just another term for ‘cash grab’. They’ll claim you have to a pay a joining fee because that pays for admin time to process you on the system. It’s nonsense. It’s also more-often-than-not easy to get away from.

Now the bigger chains are offering no joining fee deals, you’ve got examples of rival gyms you could threaten to join if they insist on a joining fee.

Additionally, most gym sales staff are instructed that they can ‘drop close’ for gym memberships. It basically means they can reduce or even drop the joining fee if it secures the sale for them. Gyms want members, so use it to your advantage.

Tip #2 – Time it Right to Save Money on Your Gym Membership

A gym will often have sales targets for its staff, so depending on how well they’ve done you might find great deals available. If they’re desperate to hit target, they may get a little more generous with the offers they’ll give you.

Aim to join the gym near the end of the month – on the last couple of days they’ll likely be struggling to hit sales numbers, so you’ll often get a great deal. Just make sure you pick the months wisely. As a rule of thumb, April, September and Decembers are often quieter months for gyms.

January and November will often see gyms run a sale anyway, either for New Year or Black Friday.

Tip #3 – Go For Independent Gyms

When you take out a membership at an independent gym, they’re not going to be governed by head office in terms of their pricing. This means they’re likely to be more flexible and willing/able to adjust their price models.

The other thing is that an independent gym will likely appreciate your business far more than a faceless corporate, so will make more of an effort to win the sale.

In an independent gym you’re often more likely to speak to the owner when you sign up, and building a relationship with him or her will be a big asset to you. It’ll likely help you save money on your gym membership.

Tip #4 – Speak To Your Employer

Lots of companies, especially big businesses have a discount scheme with a gym chain. It could save you money on your gym membership, because corporate rates are often 10% cheaper than a standard subscription cost.

If you work for a large business, speak to your HR department about whether or not they have a gym partner, because if you use it, you’ll save hundreds potentially over the lifetime of your membership. If the company could pay for you, even better!

If your company doesn’t have a corporate gym partnership, maybe you could propose it to them. In some cases, your employer might even pay for you – double winner!

Tip #5 – See If You Can Pay Annually

If you can afford it, one way to save money on your gym membership is to pay for the whole year up front. The annual membership fee is often lower than the monthly one, and it means you’ve got no ongoing bills – it’s paid for in one hit.

At MyGym we offer anyone who pays up front the equivalent of our cheapest monthly membership price, which would normally only be reserved for people who are working with one of our personal trainers. It saves the member £84 per year (around $110 per year at current exchange rates).

Tip #6 – Wait For Deals to Save Money on Your Gym Membership

There are predictable times of the year that a gym will offer deals which can save you money on your gym membership. The obvious one is January – with the promise of New Year’s resolutions, almost all gyms will offer a discount, or a ‘no joining fee’ kind of a deal.

You can be selective here, because very few gyms won’t be offering you some kind of incentive to join. They might not always be financial – in some cases they may offer free personal training, or a gift bag etc. It’s up to you to decide which is more valuable to you.

The other time that a gym will offer a discount is Black Friday. It wasn’t a huge thing here in the UK until the last 10 years, but now it has become the ‘other’ big sale event, after the Boxing Day/January sales event that most retailers have.

Tip #7 – Ask About Off-Peak Membership

This one is dying out nowadays, but some gyms will still offer a discount for ‘off-peak’ membership. This is typically where if you’re only using the gym between certain hours (usually 10.00 – 17.00), you’ll qualify for cheaper membership.

As I said, this is generally dying out now, but it’s worth asking just in case it’s still an option. You’ll usually find that council leisure centres, or some independents are the most likely to offer it. Don’t be surprised if it isn’t offered though, very few do now.

Of course only go for this if you’re only going to train in the off-peak hours, otherwise you’ll end up paying the same amount as all of the other members.

Tip #8 – Seek a Family Discount

If you buy anything in bulk, you’re likely to get a discount. Gym membership is no different. If you have a partner and/or kids who will join at the same time, you’re likely to get a discount. Any gym would be happy to reward you with money off if you’re bring 2, 3, 4 or even more members with you.

Given lots of couples and families train together, it’s a superb way to save money on your gym membership. You also benefit from a training partner too, if you’re training with someone you’re often more likely to push yourself.

Not only will you save money, you’ll work harder as a result!

Tip #9 – Ask For Blue Light Discounts

Lots of gyms will offer a reduced price for emergency services workers, and members of the armed forces. We do it at MyGym, and I know lots of others do it too. Some people even extend this discount to teachers, so don’t be afraid to chance your arm even if you’re a teacher!

We offer a 10% discount for blue light workers, which can save our members £36 (almost $50) per year, so it’s not to be sniffed at. It’s certainly worth asking if you can qualify for reduced fees at your gym through your work.

Tip #10 – Offer a Services Swap

This one will probably only work with independent gyms, where you will likely deal directly with an owner. If you offer a product or service that the gym will need, you might be able to save money on your gym membership by offering a services swap.

I’ll give you a couple of examples that I’m aware of. At a gym I worked at when I started my career, a local fruit and veg salesman used to provide us with free fruit every day, and in return he could train for free. A man who owned a laundrette offered to wash our gym towels for free, in return for free gym membership.

If you offer a service that might be useful to a gym, see if they’re open to a deal. Be realistic though – if you offer dog grooming, or you’re a make up artist, it’s unlikely that you’re going to be much use to a gym!

Tip #11 – Join In Person to Save Money on Your Gym Membership

In a world where everything can be done online, it pays to join in person. There’s a few reasons for this – the first one is you can ask about discounts to the staff member’s face, rather than doing it by email. Companies might not give you all of the discount information online.

The second one is if you ask for a discount, it’s much harder to be rejected face to face! Asking in person is far more likely to be successful than asking online, where you’ve got no rapport with the sales staff. Finally, if you visit a gym in person the sale feels more ‘immediate’, so the staff member is more likely to want to close the deal there and then.

Joining in person is a cheat code for saving you money on your gym membership.