In Taiwan, just a few months ago, one of the major sports center chains, called Alexander’s Gym closed suddenly. Their membership was over 200,000 and they had over 25 gyms including some very prestigious locations in several large cities.
Of course, when you join a club like that you typically have to pay a deposit and a monthly fee to use the equipment. The bills add up quite quickly. I estimated that my wife and I in our two year membership of another club easily spent over NT$100,000. Initially we did use the club quite a lot, but at the end we didn’t have the time to go. Really.
Perhaps a more cost effective solution would be buying your favorite piece of equipment and installing it at home. I always liked the treadmills, and would spend a good 40% to 50% of my workout on those. At over US$1,000 per unit and up, it wouldn’t be cheap, but then you’d have a machine you could use whenever you need it.
Going out for a walk would be even more cost effective, though.