12 February 2019
Avi Petrucci
How would you like to spend more money paying for fitness classes that you could practically take for free?
More UCCS students should buy a FitPass from the Gallogly Recreation and Wellness Center instead of purchasing a monthly membership to another local gym; this way, a student can truly reap all the benefits our campus rec center has to offer.
Buying at FitPass from the rec center helps further fund our university, the improvements they can make and the projects they can take on. This means that students are not only paying less than market value for a variety of different classes, but they may also get more out of their school investment (including new classes and equipment) than just getting in shape like you would with a traditional gym membership.
Even with that being said, most college students aren’t typically thrilled at the prospect of handing even more money over to the institution they attend, but that might change their outlook when they realize the cost of competing gym memberships.
According to yelp.com, some of the most popular gyms in Colorado Springs are 24 Hour Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness and Lifetime Fitness. Both 24 Hour Fitness and Lifetime Fitness offer unlimited classes with certain types of memberships, but they both cost upwards of 30 dollars per month, whereas a FitPass only costs 20 dollars for an entire semester of classes. Orangetheory Fitness also offers unlimited classes with their most expensive membership, 159 dollars per month with a six-month commitment contract.
In further detail, say you only take one class a week at the rec center (a membership cost of 20 dollars) for the rest of spring semester (a total of 13 weeks or approximately 4 months), each class would only cost $1.50. Comparatively, say you only take one class a week at Orangetheory Fitness for the rest of the semester (a membership cost of 636 dollars for all four months), each class would cost approximately 49 dollars.
The Gallogly Recreation and Wellness Center is also arguably closer to most UCCS students than other local gyms, which only increases the chance of students being able to get to a fitness class in time and actually attend the sessions they’re paying for.
Due to its location, there is an increased likelihood that you could also attend classes with friends or family members, since it may be more convenient to meet on campus than elsewhere.
A FitPass also grants you access to every class offered, including Barre, Vinyasa Flow Yoga, Cardio Kickboxing, Cycle45, Zumba, Hip Hop and Peak Strength, making it easy for you to attend a variety of classes and find what you enjoy at a time that works for you.
No matter how you look at it, the benefits of buying a FitPass from the rec center far outweigh the benefits of paying much more for a membership to a local gym that might not offer as much.