One of the things that stop many people from exercising is costly annual gym memberships. However, a new service has been launched in the UK that provides an index of Pay As U Go Gyms.
Just launched this month, January 2011, is a new company that arranges pay as you go gym passes for a range of gyms and health clubs in and around London.
All you have to do is purchase an ePass online and then you can attend a gym near you, no membership required. Please note that this is a UK business operating only in the London region at the moment, but they are planning to expand across the whole of the UK. There are already gyms outside London that are on the scheme. You can use their gym search top find them.
Who Are Pay As U Go Gym?
payasUgym was founded by three friends Neil Harmsworth, Michael Blake and Jamie Ward and was launched in January 2011. Their aim is to provide a way for more people to exercise within the safety of a professional gym without having to agree to a lengthy contract.
There are no membership or subscription fees to use payasUgym. We provide a free service for customers to find a gym and buy an ‘ePass’ to visit that gym in a flexible and affordable way. This means payasUgym customers will only ever pay for their actual gym use! All you need to do is find the gym you want to go to using payasUgym.com, then create your free payasUgym account.
They also have an iPhone application that allows you to easily locate a gym near you and book a place.
What Facilities Are On Offer At The Gyms?
It depends on the gyms. You can search for specific facilities though, for example you can filter for gyms that have free weights, saunas, steam rooms, jacuzzi, swimming pool or creche.
If you want a creche option please check with the gym first, as these often have limited places and require booking in advance. They may give preference to gym members. Will will try to get more information on this soon.
To register and get started just head over to their website, www.payasugym.com.
The Future
It will be interesting to see how this develops. About 20 years ago there were many “walk in” gyms around the country, but these have mostly all been replaced by the expensive corporate style health clubs that set annual contracts for members.
The only option for many years now has been to use the local council facilities, which are often lacking in good quality weight training equipment or the more luxury services, or buy your own equipment. PayAsUGym provides a solution.
This is a great service. Although there are still a few traditional weight lifting gyms around that have day passes, they are few and far between these days. The big corporate brands have really taken over the fitness industry in the last decade, and this is a return to how things really should be. So a big thumbs up from MotleyHealth!