Bad Economy? You Can't Afford To Quit The Gym

A couple of Sundays ago, my local newspaper ran a story about whether the economy was affecting gym memberships. You can read it here ==> Sweating through tough times
Resolutions to stay healthier keep clients rolling in to fitness centers, but will the economy let them stay?

In response, I wrote a Letter to the Editor, which they ran this Sunday, after I edited it by half. Here's the full version:

"If exercise could be packed into a pill, it would be the single most widely prescribed and beneficial medicine in the nation."

That’s not marketing hype; that’s a quote from Robert N. Butler, M.D. former director of the National Institute on Aging.

Although I own a fitness center in Lancaster, I certainly know that you don’t need to belong to a health club to exercise. That being said, through the years I have discovered that many people find they maintain a consistent routine better in a gym setting.

Are people really considering dropping their health club memberships to save a few dollars? What will it take for Americans to fully understand the physical, mental and financial value of regular physical activity? Frequent exercisers enjoy better health and lower medical costs, which is even more important in challenging economic times. Employees are paying an ever increasing percentage of their health care costs and many of these expenses are associated with treating diseases that are primarily caused by our lifestyles. Regular exercise is preventative medicine.

If you think times are tough now, what if you get sick and can’t work for a while?

Layoffs are a fact of life. Hopefully, you won’t lose your job but if you do and you’re overweight, your search for a new one could take longer. Like it or not, employers often discriminate against those who are obese. Fairly or unfairly, they assume that overweight workers are less productive, will miss more work due to illness, and will incur higher insurance costs than leaner applicants. On top of that, studies show that overweight people, especially overweight white women, make less money than those of normal weight.

I’m totally confused by some people’s priorities. Healthy, fresh food is “too expensive” but they eat out multiple times a week. A $20 - $40 gym membership gets the ax but they continue to pay over $100 for cable TV. People are absolutely entitled to spend their money any way they see fit but shouldn’t health take precedence?

Getting and staying fit should not even be close to the top of the list of budget cuts. I was happy to read that few people were actually dropping their memberships at the gyms in your article. That’s a good sign because we all need to take more control of our health.

You can’t afford not to, in any economy.

Mickey Glick
Owner, Body & Soul Fitness Studio
Lancaster, PA