4 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Cancel Your Gym Membership

Speaking of a cheapo move…why is everyone so quick to include gym membership as a cut-out budget item?  Sure, when you're considering where to save money, anything not absolutely necessary goes on the table.  Toilet paper, not on the table!  Cable television, on the table.  Beer, so not on the table.  Your wife's Vitamin water, on the table!  Okay, I kid around.  My point is that people have choices and preferences when it comes to crafting a money tight budget.  Or do they?

The thing is…most of your cut-back item choices have already been made for you.  The majority of you are just following a budgeting script set about by thousands of personal finance bloggers and writers.  Let me show you.  Go to Google right now and type: "Should I cancel my gym membership."  You can also try a derivation of this query: "Should I keep my gym membership."  Go ahead, just be sure to come back to this post…………………………processing……………………….

What did you find?  A slew of reasons why you should quit, cancel, ditch, Not keep, your gym membership, correct?  It's only when you make a slight change in your wording.  For example, "Reasons to keep my gym membership" that you actually find a competing argument for keeping your gym membership.  I'd like to personally recognize: 14thand1st AND Reddebtedstepchild for not falling for the conventional wisdom given out by middle-class mindset individuals.

Now, I'm not saying there aren't good reasons for canceling a gym membership.  The main reason should be that you just don't exercise.  Point blank.  You hate moving around and breaking a sweat.  In this case, stop paying for a membership.  Now, if you do like to exercise and are simply considering cancellation because you're looking to save $20-$50 a month, then you are thinking like a poor person.  It is better to find a better membership deal at a smaller gym perhaps, then outright kill the gym routine.  Why?  Let me give you my insight:

1) The gym is where I do some of my best thinking.  I'm in and out in one hour, by the way.  But in that hour I'm focused on both my body and ideas.  Some of my best investing and business ideas were generated at the gym!

2) Networking.  I've met many smart and interesting people at the gym.  Most of the time they're exercising next to me and I spark-up a conversation.  I don't care if they have their headphones on.  I will "get" if they want to talk or not within the first few seconds.  If they do, great!  I get a new contact.

3) Health savings.  I've been going to the gym since high school.  I got my first gym membership right out of college in 2001 and have been with the same gym franchise since this time.  I'm at the gym 4-5 times a week.  It helps me relieve stress.  It helps me stay in shape.  Most importantly, it keeps me healthy!  Why are people shelling out hundreds or thousands of dollars each year on medical expenses?  Because they're not healthy!  You will save money over the course of your life, more than you will ever spend on a membership, by investing in your health.  When you're geriatric at 65, instead of still vibrant and firm, you will come to recognize the importance of having kept-up the gym routine.

4) I don't have a weight room at home.  I could buy equipment and make my garage into a weight room if I wanted, and this would be an okay substitution, but not doing weight bearing exercises is out of the question.  Hear this, you need to do weight bearing exercises!  Cardio isn't enough.  You will lose muscle mass as you age, and be unable to get up off the floor if you should fall, or more easily break a bone.  I also happen to believe lifting weights (and body building) keeps me looking young.  Not sure if this is scientifically backed, however.

The rich don't cancel things they like to do.  If you want to keep your membership, think like a rich person would.  Ask yourself, How can I continue to afford my gym membership?  The answer to the rich is always obvious.  Make more money!  "Make more," should be your mantra.  Not, "save more."  Until next time!  Thanks for reading.  Don't forget to subscribe to CCM blog for more out-of-the-box insights.