I do get where both of you are coming from. While it is true that not everyone can afford a gym membership, and like what @Alexi has mentioned, a gym membership will not mean that you will be able to improve on your fitness and health, there are also people who have benefited from joining a gym. Which is the reason why we have written this post. Hope this explains.

but i do acknowledge your point of achieving fitness without getting a gym membership. if anyone is interested in going to the gym just because you want to hit the treadmill or weights, you can just go to the gyms at CC or sports stadium. Access is per entry if you don’t want to commit to a long-term membership. Even simple rope skipping at the neighbourhood park helps. I think lessons at cc and sports stadium are quite good and affordable. Not everyone can afford a gym membership at those atas gyms. I sure am one of them.

The only real reason to own a gym membership should be access to weights and implements that are costly and bulky to store.

1. Body Composition: When conducting a body composition analysis, one doesn’t need a personal trainer. There are multiple websites that will teach you how to do one accurately with nothing more than a weighing scale and a tape measure. Most gyms are equipped with bioelectrical impedance scales, the most accurate of which is notoriously inaccurate. Measuring your body composition using a tape measure is a lot more accurate. If you want 100% accuracy, go for a DEXA scan at NUHS.

2. Personal Trainers: While there are some really good personal trainers, there are many more who unfortunately succumb to consumer demands of less pain, less effort. There are also many who also succumb to using machines, which are far less effective than using free weights, and body weight movements. Unfortunately; for true long term body composition changes, only the tough and painful regiments which are designed and have been proven to have an impact on building muscle and burning fat are the way to go. Zumba, PX90, dance classes have very very little impact on changing body composition. Jogging? Long term jogging (whether in the open or on machines) have been proven to burn muscle and retain fat, leading to the ugly outcome known as skinny-fat, where individuals look lean but are carry very little lean mass and lots of fat under their skin.

3. Unlimited classes: Again, if we are all so busy, why do we want to add one more scheduled item to our daily lives? Can’t we learn how to workout properly and stop being tied to classes? Learn how to lift dumbbell, barbells, swing a kettlebell, toss a sandbag around. Save yourself the stress of running to the gym to meet a 8pm class. Afraid of the weights? Do things like push-ups, chin-ups, squats, leg raises – any time spent on these basic compound movements will have a greater impact towards your health, than the hours and hours of muscle degrading steady-state cardio.

Despite conventional wisdom, women will find it immensely difficult if not impossible to end up with hulk-like muscularity or bulky like bodybuilders. Ladies simply do not have sufficient testosterone to end up bulky. Women bodybuilders? They have a regimented diet, training programme, supplementation, and have spent lots of blood and sweat to end up like that. Lift some weights, you’d sooner end up looking like Scarlett Johansson than She-Hulk.

A gym membership and hours of mind-numb cardio won’t make people fitter or looking any better. That requires studying and understanding fitness and strength training.

Don’t mistake the misconception that any time spent in the gym is time-well-spent.

I used to be close to 20% body fat, almost touching 70kgs. After strength training, and changing my diet, I’ve gotten down to 59kgs and 13% body fat, and I’ve not spent a single minute on a mind-numbing treadmill or elliptical trainer. I eat like a monster, and other than fast food and highly processed foods and carbohydrates, I have not given up any food, and that includes the fatty tasty stuff. All by just spending under 3 hours a week working out at home or outside, without a gym membership.

Fitness and the desire to improve is a choice. A gym membership can contribute towards that outcome, but is completely unnecessary.