fitness expenses

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
fitness expenses
8
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 10:10am

don't feel obligated to answer if you don't feel comfortable talking about money, but if it doesn't bother you - how much do you think you spend on fitness and what do you spend it on primarily? how do you decide how much to spend?


one of my biggest fitness expenses is my yoga and pilates classes. it's a lot to pay, especially when this semester i've missed a lot for trips and illness/injury. and i know i'm going to miss at least two next semester when we go to hawaii. so i had to decide whether to sign up for next semester. the classes are at such bad times! i decided to sign up for yoga at a better time, even though the class is farther away, and see how that works (if it doesn't, i can transfer back to my bad time/good location class).


but i decided not to take pilates this semester. i can still do some drop in classes if i want, but i think i'm going to try to do pilates on my own several days a week rather than once a week in class and then never finding the time to practice outside of class. i ordered a really good book and video for $30 total, which is a lot cheaper than the $130 for the class, and hopefully it will motivate me to practice several times a week.


beyond that, i spend about $60 a month for the gym and about $60 every few months on sneaks, and that's about it. i don't really spend much on clothes or buy fitness clothes very often. i do want to get a bag for my yoga mat though.


fitness is something i'm willing to spend money on, but i always like to make sure i'm spending wisely and not wasting money. in general, i'm always looking for ways to reduce spending on things that aren't as important to me, to have more for things that are. so, any money i can save on classes or fitness clothes, without reducing my fitness level or enjoyment level, that's more i have to spend on travel or other fun stuff.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-15-2004
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 10:25am
Presently, I'm not spending anything on a gym membership or any outside classes. I just purchased a 10 lb medicine ball and some spri bands and that was $65. I'll be acquiring more equipment now that I'm probably going to be doing some in-home training for a few clients (not to mention, working out on my own at home). My biggest expense is probably shoes. Seeing as how I live in my shoes, I can easily justify buying new pairs. I'm pretty hard on them so they wear out pretty fast. I won't usually spend more than $70 on shoes.
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 11:59am

My biggest expense is music. It is a shame I bought so much since I hardly teach/sub now. I even want to give up the one regular class I am teaching now because I am not "clicking" with the director. If you don't teach exactly like her, you don't teach right and the members are too "soft" for my taste. They don't like a challenge.

I do spend a lot on shoes and clothes, but they are lasting longer now that I don't do high impact anymore. I am glad I belong to the instructor discount plans for Reebok, Avia, and Ryka...it really helps.

I don't have a gym membership since most of the gyms I sub at don't mind me coming in to work out. But, now that we invested in an elliptical, I don't have to worry about that anymore either. I really like to go and take classes as much as possible.

OH, of course I spend money on continueing education. That can get expensive!

Grace

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 12:06pm
oh yes, i forgot about that! i get all my CECs at DCAC, and it's a couple hundred dollars.
Avatar for tkd_jo
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 12:21pm

I probably spend the most money on my yoga classes as well. I am lucky that my studio sells chits so that you can use them for any class and over a 6 month period. If the class is full of regular registrants then you could run into a problem because they get first priority but it works well when I am too busy to commit to one class. It is more expensive to buy chits though per class so it adds up. I am lucky that I have a lifetime membership for taekwondo. The equipment is expensive but you only need to replace some pieces every 3-4 years. I don't buy a lot of clothes since it is only yoga and the gym that I need it for. Having a gi to wear every tkd class comes in handy that way.

I tend to consider these expenses as necessary though and not frivolous since staying active is a necessary element of my life.

Jody

iVillage Member
Registered: 05-01-2003
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 12:50pm
I spend $89/month for a family membership at my gym, about $50 on shoes once or twice a year, a few bucks on socks, about $60 for bras once a year, and that's about it. I refuse to pay for classes at a gym that I'm a member at. Either the gym offers classes to its members or it doesn't. I don't like having to pay again for other classes, even though some of the classes look really good like Sarge's bootcamp.
iVillage Member
Registered: 06-23-2003
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 1:30pm

I pay a monthly gym fee of $34 (maybe more now that I'm thinking about upgrading my membership), and that is my only regular fitness expense. Other than that, recently I've spent about $50 for a new workout outfit, $60 for a heart rate monitor, $10 for a Pilates DVD. I plan to buy a new pair of shoes and maybe another outfit soon, so that will be another $110-ish expense.

I consider these expenses more of an investment in my overall well-being and sanity, so they don't really seem like expenses at all.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-11-2004
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 1:41pm

i wouldn't pay for classes at the gym either. well, i paid for swimming lessons last year, but that's different.


i'm willing to pay for yoga and pilates classes at the yoga studio, because... well because you all know what i think of gym yoga and pilates classes, free or not.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-20-2003
Wed, 03-23-2005 - 3:31pm
Good question!