In honor of my monthly challenge to exercise 30 minutes daily, this is health and finance month on Frugal in the Fruitlands.

Five years ago, I had just graduated from college and was living in Haverhill, working part-time at an auto supply. I had the afternoons free, and it seemed to be a great opportunity to get in shape. Near my job there was a Workout World, and I decided to walk in one day and check it out.

That was my first mistake.

The Hard Sell. When I inquired about a membership, I was greeted by a chipper employee and given a tour of the facilities. It wasn’t until after this tour that I sat down with the bleach-blond, over-tanned owner and was shown a contract and a schedule of fees. The monthly fee was $19.99, but together with the sign-up costs, the membership would cost me over $400 in the first year.

I was hesitant.

She promptly lowered the sign-up fees by $50.

I was still uncertain: “You know what?” I said, “Let me think about this and come back tomorrow.” She lowered the fee again, and said they weren’t sure the monthly rate was going to stay at $19.99 a month for long, but if I paid them $10 today, they would hold the rate for me for a week.

… yeah, that was a big lie. If you’re at all familiar with Workout World, you know that’s their gimmick: $19.99 a month. It’s right on their sign. It’s still $19.99 a month, five years later. No way in hell were they going to raise the rates.

But I was an idiot. I paid the fee, and came back the next day and signed up (admittedly, at a greatly reduced sign-up fee. I hate to think what would happen if I didn’t try to exit my seat as quickly as possible).

In retrospect, I realize that from the moment I walked in, they had me. They showed me the gym first, so I would see all the nice features. Then they put me in a position from which I could not politely extract myself. Their goal, of course, is to get you to buy right now. They know if they get you out of their sight, you’re not going to come back. They let me “get away” with the $10 fee with the logic that if I pay them $10 today, I’m likely to come back, thanks to our friend the sunk cost fallacy.

The Contract: Another kick in the pants was the fact that I was locked in a two-year contract, and would have to pay a several-hundred dollar fee to break it. This kind of business is, unfortunately, ubiquitous these days; “pay as you go” seems to be a dying model. Both gyms and cell phone companies make their money not on your monthly fees, but on the fact that you simply can’t change your mind. Another psychological element is at play here: while we may save money in the long term by discontinuing our cell phone service/gym membership/lease/etc, humans are prone to prefer smaller rewards immediately over greater rewards long-term.

New Year’s Resolution Syndrome. When you walk into a gym, maybe it’s January 2nd. You’re hung over, but at some point in the last week you decided you would turn your life around. The first step: getting in shape.

Unfortunately, we rarely live up to the unrealistic expectations we set for ourselves. I went to the gym maybe ten times in the first three months and then never again. With a gym membership, we have to keep paying for our best intentions, not for our actual usage. If I go to the gym everyday, $20 a month is a good deal; but if I don’t end up going at all? Then I might as well be flushing that money down the toilet. Oh, and don’t think that paying that monthly fee will inspire you to go more often: all it will inspire is guilt.

This phenomenon extends to home gym equipment. Buying these things new is silly, because almost everyone I know has a treadmill gathering laundry or a set of hand weights gathering dust. Asking for exercise equipment on Freecycle will get you several replies from people anxious to drop their treadmill on your doorstep faster than a bushel of zucchini in July.

Why Can’t I Quit You? Since I, predictably, did not renew my two-year contract, I was surprised that that $20 fee kept appearing on my bill monthly. Finally I called up corporate and asked to cancel my account. “Oh, you have to send us a signed affidavit to cancel your account.” Excuse me?

At this point I was so unhappy I wasted no time faxing them such a thing.

The fee went away, and my painful relationship with Workout World ended. I frankly don’t know how much money I gave them over 2+ years, but I’m sure it’s a lot. I’ve since learned that a lot of people have had these problems, which leads me to believe their asshat-itude is corporate policy rather than the whims of any one manager.

I’d like to believe not all gyms are this bad - but why try to show that, when -

Everything you can do at a gym, you can do at home.

That’s a bit of a radical statement, isn’t it? But think of this: exercise is applying movement and resistance to your muscles. We already have tons of things in our own homes and neighborhoods that can do this. If you don’t have hand weights, you can lift cans of kidney beans. If you don’t have a Stairmaster, you can climb your stairs. You can walk down to the playground and do chin-ups on the monkey bars. You can push a lawnmower. You can borrow exercise videos from the library and do them in your own living room.

As a counterpoint to this, later this month, in fact, I’ll put together a list of my favorite inexpensive exercise resources.