Gym For The Win

As you will all know, I've been using my local gym A LOT! I was lucky to get a good deal by combining a January deal with a corporate membership that I get by virtue of being part of the local running club and it's worked out really well. Being a bit of a geek I actually kept a spreadsheet tracking how much I spent on membership (and parking) against how much I would have spent as a non-member. It's all too easy to sign up to a gym with good intentions and not bother going, especially if you're not actually training for something specific, and this works out expensive!

I've just had to cancel my membership at my local sports centre (sob - I adore my centre) as I'm moving to a new area at the end of the month and need to find a new gym. But it just so happens that MoneySupermarket.com are offering bloggers the opportunity to try out their local gym for a whole month for free, in order to see whether or not it's worth the money and whether they'd be interested in keeping it up after the thirty days are over - in return for writing about their experiences! This is a perfect opportunity for me and it's also open to other bloggers.

So if you want to get involved, then click the image above or simply email competitions@moneysupermarket.com - it's dead easy, and the window to sign up lasts all the way through May. The first 200 people are guaranteed to get their month's membership paid for - so don't delay!

If you're not a blogger I'd encourage you to still get involved by making use of some of the guest pass and summer offers at the gyms at the moment and posting comments about your experiences here. Lots of gyms do rolling monthly contracts and let you switch to cheaper tariffs if you find you get on with it. Or maybe take the opportunity to join that local running club, dance class or ramblers group you've been meaning to. If nothing else I'll try to write some interesting and useful posts in relation to the campaign for you.

I'm joining my local Harpers gym for the month to see if it's worth the money. It'll be a good test as some of my membership will be during the tail end of my training and some while I'm not training.

For now, let me leave you with some food for thought from Emma Walker, Head of Protection at MoneySupermarket.com - "The health benefits of joining and using a gym can help with the cost of life insurance premiums. It's worth bearing in mind there are life insurance and critical illness policies that reward a healthy lifestyle by offering discounted gym membership."