Feature Story

FISCAL VS. FITNESS
By Steven Michael

By driving around the local gyms or even obtaining a precious membership at one of the obviously successful fitness facilities in the valley, it would be hard pressed to see how the economy’s demise has affected people’s passion to workout. With six years of employment under my work belt at World Gym in Palm Springs, I feel very secure in giving my opinion and thoughts about how people struggling financially will go without some other things to keep or acquire their gym memberships. I’m on loan from “Steven Spills” for PULP magazine and I’m thrilled to be part of our big sister publication, <I>The BottomLine<I>, for this issue
Magazines are based solely on it. Television glamorizes and exposes it while broadcasting it constantly. People obsess religiously over it. The ever-growing, never-ceasing fitness business has only escalated over the course of past decades and we the people buy into the brainwashed need to be bigger, stronger, thinner, leaner, prettier, and so on, for fear of looking different or not being included. Yours truly, included. Growing up thin without much natural athletic muscle didn’t give my pubescent self much in the department of confidence and security. So when I hear the words, “Oh, you’ve lost weight,” even though meant well, the formerly scrawny boy inside my current brawny man’s exterior silently screams, “I’m shrinking!” and off I run to do the dips and pull-ups that I could never do as that skinny teenager before gulping down a protein shake. Body dysmorphia? Nah… Well, mild compared to others.
I see many people spend countless hours clocked-in to their fitness regime, arriving like clockwork and dedicated beyond description. Some repeatedly visit the gym throughout the day, cardio in the morning, weights in the afternoon. I give them serious applause because I cannot be that dedicated and crazy about it. Some take only classes and some feet never hit the gym floor. If I can bust out a good forty-minute workout, iPod in place, then I’m good to go. The escape from their homes, lives, jobs, and who know what else is available at a gym and for that reasoning, I’m able to sell the gym as an experience and environment instead of a place to grunt and slam weights around. From social reasoning to vanity and narcissism, why someone is a member of a gym varies from Muscle Mary to Cardio Cate but stems from one specific thing inside us all… becoming happier with what we see inside our mirrors and accepted for being physically fit by our social peers. Or, why would we bother?!
There are applications for your Smartphone to help you fine tune your workouts and websites with trainers to steer your physicality in the best direction. There’s reality programming showing you how to become a big weight loser and countless workout videos produced to motivate you. But people continually flock to the local gym for the actual production of following through with a responsibility they are paying for, some easier than others. Not everyone feels it necessary to go for broke to attend a gym frequently as a fulltime member and studies show, not to mention common knowledge, that many signup for a gym membership and rarely, if never, use it.
So it’s in these days and times during a weak economy, gyms must get inventive with promotion to lure the new memberships and introduce the opportunity to change lives at their gym. For instance, at World Gym we’ve been running a special throughout the summer where someone can sign up with a friend or partner, and the second year/person is half off. Plus it’s giving current members a chance to renew for two years at a considerable discount. This has been the busiest August I’ve ever seen working there. When the financial climate changes, businesses are smart to evolve with their thinking. I called around to a few of the other fitness establishments, Gold’s Gym and Power of Fitness, and it seemed they were also offering enrollment specials to try and compete for the vote. The choice is yours to make.
The bottom line, pun intended, is people will always want to get in shape and the gym business will always thrive if it moves with the times. When a place or situation offers what someone truly wants, regardless of price, it’s there they’ll be. The local valley gyms offer their members something different in each facility and until someone checks them all out, it would be hard to realize what’s most important without knowing what’s available. Most gyms offer some type of trial period. We offer locals a free two-week pass to test drive the gym and make an informed decision. Your money is something you should treat with brains when deciding what to do about your brawn.