​If you’ve committed to getting in shape, you’ll probably consider gym memberships. Signing up for a gym membership is often the first step in your fitness journey, but it can also be the most crucial. In recent years, there has been growing concern over the sneaky and often unethical ways gyms lock you into legally binding contracts. They make it nearly impossible to exit the gym membership, even if you decide to go to another gym or move cities. This article helps you identify red flags, avoid gym memberships with legally binding contracts, and find a flexible gym membership.

Red flags of an inflexible, shady, or unethical gym membership.

Long legally binding contracts.

Several gyms get you to sign long, legally binding agreements or contracts without carefully inspecting their contents. The salesperson may tell you that it’s a standard contract, or they may try to override your caution by offering a free month or discounts. If you’re going to sign a contract, you should carefully read the fine print to avoid getting stuck in a contract you don’t want. Better yet, you should avoid a gym membership with legally binding contracts. Most of these gyms lock your commitment for a specific period. For example, you may pay for a complete year’s membership, even if you only use the gym for three months. You should instead opt for no-contract gym memberships, like SWEAT440.

Difficult gym membership cancelation policies.

Many popular gyms make it almost impossible to get out of gym memberships even after the lock-in period. Some of them require you to send a 30-day notice, some require you to send a FAX, and others create numerous hurdles and multi-step processes that discourage you from exiting the gym membership. Before joining a gym, you should carefully research their membership cancelation process to ensure you can exit easily.

Inflexible gym membership fees.

You should also avoid gyms that only provide inflexible membership fees. Committing to a monthly membership fee makes sense because you don’t have to worry about the payments regularly, which motivates you to keep going. However, you should see if the gym also provides other flexible membership fees. For example, SWEAT440 also allows you to pay for a single individual session or a specific number of sessions without legally binding contracts.

Hefty initiation fee.

You should also avoid gym memberships with a heavy initiation fee. Some of them are pretty affordable, costing just around $10, but some of them can go over $50 as well. Try to generally look for a gym membership that doesn’t have any such strings and initiation fees. SWEAT440, for example, allows you to sign up for a specific number of classes or periods without a hefty initiation fee.

SWEAT440: No Contracts and Low Membership Fees

SWEAT440 is a group fitness gym focused on fitness, including strength training, resistance training, high-intensity interval training, suspension training, core training, cross-training, and conditioning. We provide a wide range of exercises and movements that address all components of fitness and target all major muscle groups to ensure you achieve holistic full-body development. Our 40-minute group fitness classes take you through a wide range of movements with clockwork precision. Furthermore, our classes are structured such that a new group can join the class every ten minutes, so you’re never late for a session.

We believe fitness should be liberating, not constrictive. We don’t tie you down with confusing legally binding contracts or make it a nightmare to quit our membership. We want you to want to be a part of our fitness family — you have the freedom to quit whenever you want; it’s our job to make sure you have no reason to quit. We amp up our efforts to make sure you thoroughly enjoy your fitness journey. Our group fitness classes are also helmed by certified fitness experts who motivate you, keep you going, and help you personalize the training program to your fitness goals. As such, our group fitness classes also provide the benefits of personal training without paying for individual personal trainers, which can be insanely costly.

The following is an overview of our different gym membership fees:

• Drop-in Rate: You can simply show up at our gym and pay for an individual session for a drop-in rate.

• 10-Pack: You can purchase 10 sessions with a specific expiration date. You can utilize those sessions whenever you want, and there’s no obligation to renew the pack.

• No-Contract Unlimited Memberships: You can also get unlimited monthly memberships, a suitable option for those who want to train regularly. However, we don’t trap you with legally binding contracts, and you can choose not to extend the contract after the expiration.

Besides the aforementioned membership fees, SWEAT440 also provides a free trial session for all first-timers. You can simply show up and claim your free sweat session — no payments, contracts, or obligations. SWEAT440 gyms are in the US— find your nearest SWEAT440 gym and claim your sweat session today.