Gym memberships

How much do you all pay for your gym memberships? I'm looking for a reasonable price to pay for the months during the winter... thought I'd see what you all pay and compare to what I'm finding around here.

 Thanks!

Once apon a time I paid $300 for six months.
Would never do it again, after three months they closed for renos.
Buy it by the month to start with.  Call around to different gyms and ask what they charge, what they offer, hours, promos, lots of other questions as well.

Well, I live in a semi-big city, so I was surprised by the prices myself. Luckily, I signed up with my roommate and got myself a discount, so I'll be paying around in the 40's.  Normally, it' around 50 or 60 per month around here, and that's only in Wisconsin (Madison).  I do find that I enjoy going to a spiffy gym, so that motivates me.

Hey there... I don't know if you have one where you live but I go to Planet Fitness.  I live in New Jersey and I think there are only three or four here.  I personally cannot afford some expensive gym so this one was great.  I only had to pay a one time start up fee of 100 and then 10 bucks a month thereafter...there is no contract...Its got all the cardio, ellipticals, crosstrainers, three diff kinds of bikes, treadmills, and stairmasters... then of course all the weight machines and free weights and such.  Anyway...I know the start fee varies depending on the area and I think offer changed for mine but i don't think it changed drastically. If you don't have one near you, see if they are going to be opening one...there list of coming soon is a decent size....

Oh before this gym...I paid 260 for 6 months...now im going to end up paying 220 for a yr...how amazing is that...

I'm with ridergrad. I paid a $29.00 start up fee and now pay 10$ a month. I love Planet Fitness.

Edited to add:  Link to MI Planet Fitness Locations http://www.planetfitness.com/loc.asp?s=mi&nbs p;

I work out at home now.

The investment in home equipment, for me, made a whole lot more sense.   I don't have all the fancy schmancy stuff that a good gym has, but I have more than enough to wear myself out five nights a week. 

Good ROI.  Everything is paid for and it gets used because it's so accessible.  

I pay $60 per month for my YMCA membership. And there are tons of kids running amok there.

Wait... why do I go there again?? ;)

 I'm with T_K - I do my workouts at home as well. My single best investment in exercise equipment has been buying a doorway chinup bar :)

 Machines are generally not that great anyway. In the real world you almost never use your muscles in isolation, so training them that way using machines isn't exactly ideal for building functional muscles.

 But trainers can't sell you expensive gym memberships if they tell you that a chinup bar and some free weights are all you need, now can they :)

 Another issue that can be more of a selling point to joining a gym is - can you keep the motivation up over time without the added incentive that paying for the gym membership is? If you think you might get into the habit of skipping workouts when doing them at home, joining a gym might make more sense. Just stay away from the machines!

I go to the YMCA, but it also happends to be one of the best gyms around. $43/month for a single membership. However, if you have a family, it's only $60/month for up to 2 adults and like 4-6 kids.

In Dallas, LA Fitness seems to be a good deal.  The general rate is $150 initiation and $30 per month after that.  There is no contract, it's pay as you go.  They run specials all the time and I bought mine for $100 initiation for my whole family.  That saved a ton.  I also understand that you can find coupons on eBay pretty regularly.

I go to Golds Gym and I pay $31 per month not counting $15 of unlimited child care for all the kids in your family.  I do have a 12 month contract though.

I go to a local gym here in Portland, OR. It's nice to support a non-chain style gym and the people are as a result more relaxed and come in all shapes and sizes. I pay $34/month. It includes all fitness classes (yoga, pilates, strength training, spinning). It is a smallish gym but it does have a sauna and all brand new machines.

I go to the Y and for a family membership we pay $60.00/month with up to two hours of child care a day included.  But that does not include any classes, the classes run about $30-50 for 6 weeks.   I am very pleased with it, it has a more quiet area if you dont want to work out with everyone else...and then the main area with a bunch of machines and what not.  

LA Fitness London - On a yearly contract i pay £90 a month (think thats about $180 US) plus a £45 joining fee. Oh i hate converting to dollars i always feel like ive been screwed, usually because i have been

I belong to the Y.  I pay about 45.00 per month, no contract, 100.00 initiation fee.  has all the machines, track, huge pool, volleyball, basketball, and many other sports, friendly staff, exercise classes, free parking, sauna, whirl pool, probably left something out.  Some people have left to join another large one in town, that has cheaper rates, but they always come back it seems.  

I belong to an Espota gym, which costs me £55 per month. They wanted £100 joining fee but I said I wasn't paying that so they reduced it to just a £20 admin fee. Included in the price is 3 initial sessions with a trainer, gym access, pool access, spa access and all classes. I worked out that I need to go at least 3 times a week to be cost effective, otherwise it's just a waste of money.

Wow-£90 in london! Im a member of LA fitness in Oxford. Im paying £19.99/month - thats off peak (9-4:30 m-t + all day fri,sat,sun).