JANUARY 23 ― A couple weeks ago, a friend told me he performed an “anti-resolution” for 2024 i.e. he cancelled his gym membership.
We chatted a bit, and it appears he preferred a fitness centre which allowed walk-ins (but had trouble finding one).
My friend is based in London but it got me wondering if his situation was a familiar one in the Klang Valley?
I made a few calls to at least half a dozen gyms and fitness centres in KL/PJ the other day (just think of some popular names and they’ll probably be included).
I asked how much they charged for walk-in use. Guess what? Very, very few (I recall one or two in Cheras, one in SS2 and one in Ara Damansara, all of them independent outlets) provide that option.
Ergo, most gyms today require you to sign up as a member. Walk-ins are an increasingly rare alternative.
Is this option important when it comes to fitness?
This isn’t an easy question to answer.
At one establishment, when I asked about walk-in fees the person at the counter politely told me her gym doesn’t do walk-ins and she also asked why I wanted that option instead of signing up, wouldn’t I prefer to work out regularly, etc.
Now that’s interesting.
I can understand from a business point of view why such centres would prefer people signing up. I mean, who wouldn’t? Much better to get a lock-in “subscription” to your service than for people to come and go (and pay) as they please.
Perhaps from a fitness perspective the membership route is better, too. If I’ve paid, say, RM200 a month (plus maybe a one-month deposit which likely can’t be refunded unless I give two months’ notice of membership cancellation, see Note 1), that should be enough motivation for me to work out at least twice a week.
However, that’s a big assumption because — and this is purely anecdotal and based on conversations with friends — I reckon the chances of people fully utilising their paid gym membership is akin to MBA and PhD students completing their courses i.e. about 30 per cent.
Also, just ask any gym about membership cancellations. I’m sure they won’t have comfortable answers for you.
But if locking in membership payment doesn’t motivate people to visit the gym regularly, what about deciding to just walk into the gym on any given random Tuesday or, uh, Friday? Is that better for most people?
Sadly, I think that is even rarer.
If walk-ins were more frequent (and thus more profitable) than pre-paid membership subscriptions, it’s unlikely so many fitness franchises will have removed them.
Intuitively it probably also doesn’t add up. A person who has the discipline to walk in to gyms two or three times a week would probably benefit from just paying for a membership, right? (see note 2)
Fitness sans fitness centres?
I could be wrong, but I think fitness centres remain on the margins of Malaysian culture. I mean, sure, people frequent gyms but those who do remain a relatively rare breed.
This could be both good news in the sense that it’s a market with huge potential or tough news in that fitness centres and Malaysians can’t get beyond the courtship stage.
Ironically, this doesn’t mean that Malaysians do not care about fitness. Our record-setting national obesity rate aside, it’s simply undeniable that many Malaysians take exercise seriously.
We’d be surprised at the number of people walking and working out in parks and condominium recreation floors on any given evening or weekend.
Having said that, I guess it surely doesn’t hurt if more Malaysians visit gyms and fitness centres more regularly. That said, the question is how to pull more of us into those places without breaking the bank or requiring a heavy restructuring of our lifestyle?
Note 1: I also suspect that gym membership “subscriptions” are nowhere near as open and opt-out generous as apps like Spotify where you can simply decide to cancel your monthly payment just like that. Malaysian fitness centres simply cannot be run like a music app.
Note 2: I try to visit a gym in Ara Damansara about twice a week. I’ve thought about membership but so far have stuck to the walk-in option. The fee is RM10 per entry.
* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.
