A Gym Membership, or a Psychological Test?
Last year I joined my first real gym — or rather "fitness club." I’ve never needed one as I always had access to the gyms of the various universities I attended. So I had no idea that getting a gym membership was like passing a serious of psychological tests. I realize that fitness clubs today rely heavily on psychological warfare to get you to sign an outrageously expensive contract and, of course, to keep you at their club for the rest of your life. I found all of this entertaining because the so-called ‘fitness tests’ and ‘analyses’ they give are obviously meant for people who’ve never worked out seriously before. The ultimate aim of such tests is to make you feel incredibly bad about your body, your level of health, and your eating habits. At the same time they are supposed to show you a gleaming pathway beyond all of this misery: namely, their gym and all of its amazing facilities. The more ‘problems’ they can identify, the more ’solutions’ they can offer you — all with a price tag.
I could go on and on, but I’ll leave you with one particularly funny scenario. After a series of questions the girl finally gets me to do a ‘fat’ analysis by having an ‘electric current’ run through my body to detect body fat percentage. It said I have 15% body fat. (I swear the thing is meant to give you a higher rating, just so you break down and ask for their help). I told her I was surprised that it came up so high and she asked me if I was ‘happy’ about it. I said I didn’t care about the percentage. "As long as I can see an eight-pack in the mirror I’m happy."
November 12, 2008 at 9:18 am
I found that the bodyfat-via-electric-current method had measurements that varied wildly. Once I joined my gym I would just slide into their office when I was done working out and use the machine. The readings were all over the place!
November 14, 2008 at 11:42 am
MY TRICK TO GET AROUND THE SALES SWAT TEAM WAS TO JOIN THE SHITTIEST GYM I COULD COULD FIND. IT IS 100% NO FRILLS AND THEY KNOW IT. THEREFORE THEY NEED ME MORE THEN I NEED THEM. IT’S 25 BUCKS A MONTH AND OPEN 365 DAYS AND 24 HOURS A DAY……IT WORKS……AND I DIDN’T GET ZAPPED EITHER.