After long nights of homework and tough exams, high schoolers are looking for healthy avenues to blow off steam. Gym memberships have become an attractive way to gain access to places where students can hang out, exercise, and fall into routine.
With a wide range of spending habits and incomes, many students lean towards using their income for tangible items like food and clothing, while some focus on social and recreational experiences. A growing portion of those students are deciding to invest their earnings in memberships, particularly for gyms that somehow magnetically attract young teens who whip out their wallets and dedicate money to a renewing cost each month.
Gym memberships aren’t all that different from other memberships–teenagers commit partial time to a service and consistently put it to use. Outside the physical impact, gym memberships may also be a step toward developing financial literacy, a major part of a maturing student’s skill set.
“[My gym membership] helps me with dedication,” junior Andrew Diaz said. “And it makes me know to push myself to my limits.”
This motivation is where Gen-Z gets their nickname: “Generation Active.” Funny enough, while adults criticize Gen Z’s immaturity, “Generation Active” is a fitting name as this generation makes up for nearly 80% of gym goers, fueling the fitness industry.
“[My membership] makes it a worthy purchase,” sophomore Collins Fullerton said. “I have made new friends there, and it keeps me healthy and with time to relax when I’m not studying.”
For most students, prioritizing gym visits and even alternatively online classes often contributes to mental clarity and emerging positive self-images. During the school year and especially over the summer, Gen-Z has solidified hanging out with friends at the gym as a social activity many now use as day or nighttime plans.
For those who are looking to pay for their own memberships or even discuss the decision with their guardians, a common 50/30/20 rule can come in handy when thinking about making the initial purchase. As a general financial guide, 50% of spending should directly flow toward individual needs, then 30% should account for discretionary wants–where a gym membership might fall–and finally the remaining 20% is recommended to be reserved as savings.
“It is a pretty good commitment because I go almost every day of the week,” Fullerton said. “So you have to be committed to get your money’s worth.”
The value of starting a membership will be found by comparing multiple locations; plenty of gyms hold lower starting costs like lower initiation fees and less long-term stipulations that might make canceling a membership more challenging later on. Commercial gyms like Planet Fitness, LA Fitness, Crunch Fitness, and Onelife might be better places to begin for high schoolers, considering bigger gyms offer friendly costs, convenience, and equipment variety. Larger gyms also offer samples of experiences often found within boutique gyms like yoga, pilates, HIIT training, and other specialized programs that help customers with different fitness goals.
For some, these memberships are too heavy of an obligation, while others seek the devotion, and this depends solely on the risk-or-reward aspect. Its risk is held down simply by the financial charge and how worthy the gym is, when students are occupied with several other liable budgets. Alternatively, teenagers can view this as a step for developing healthy practices; it always comes down to the purchase’s benefits outweighing the cons, making proper spending and time-management a skill.
“I have many other payments I have to make including working towards a car and all the things that go along with it like insurance and gas,” sophomore Tala Samman said. “Working for all of this as well can be overwhelming sometimes, but it makes you feel much older knowing you have so many more responsibilities and payments.”
For Gen-Z, accelerating to juggle another financial habit can be one of the main ways to uplift physical health but even a healthier spirit. Whether it’s a risk or reward to some students, there’s a plethora of options that vary for teens to appraise. Even if students have their hands full with other responsibilities to take on, gym memberships provide open opportunities for relief and further involvement in self-care and a motivated lifestyle.
