It’s common for people to cancel their gym membership in the summer, because the weather is nice enough to exercise outdoors, and do outdoor water sports.
In the summer, you can go hiking, do beach workouts, swim, cycle, do water aerobics, and water sports such as kayaking. It’s also nicer weather to go for a walk or a run, as well.
However, just because it’s easier to get exercise outside of your gym in the summer months, doesn’t mean you should necessarily cancel your gym membership. It could suit you best to have a mix of outdoor workouts and gym workouts this summer.
Below are some reasons why you might want to consider keeping your gym membership this summer:
1. Protect Yourself From Excessive Sun Exposure
Yes, some sun exposure (vitamin D) is good for you. However, excessive sun exposure could be detrimental to your health. Sometimes it’s easier to head to your local gym, rather than slather yourself with sunscreen and grab sunglasses and a hat to workout outside. From skin aging to skin cancer, too much sun exposure could be harmful to your health, and that’s where keeping your gym membership comes in handy.
2. Stay Cool and Avoid Heat Exhaustion
Although there are precautions you can take to exercise safely in the summer heat, it’s not always easy to avoid heat exhaustion (or even heat stroke) from exercising in the heat. At your air conditioned gym, you can ensure you don’t get sick from the heat. By staying cool at the gym, you’re better able to stay focused on your workout.
You can also safely work out for longer when you’re protected from the heat in your gym.
3. Less Wait Times for Your Favorite Exercise Equipment
In the summer months, your gym will be much less busy. With most people at the beach, on a hike, or at the pool, your favorite gym equipment won’t have those same wait times. It’s also nice to exercise in a quiet or almost empty gym. You’ll be able to have a more productive workout if all of the best exercise equipment isn’t taken by other patrons.
4. Get Better Strength Training Results
A lot of the most popular outdoor summer workouts such as hiking, cycling and playing beach volleyball won’t always produce the same muscle strengthening results as a gym workout. At the gym, with all of the weightlifting equipment at your hands, you can get muscle tone and muscle strength easier than you can by exercising outside.
Sure, you can do push-ups, squats, and other strength training workouts outside, but you might prefer to use weightlifting equipment. If you do, you’re likely to get better strength training results if you keep your gym membership this summer.
5. Gym Amenities
Some gyms have great amenities such as a pool, sauna or steam room. When it comes to detoxifying and the associated skin and health benefits, it’s nice to have a sauna or steam room. If you find these gym amenities comforting or relaxing, this could be enough of a reason to keep your gym membership.
6. You’ll Be Able to Exercise During Extreme Weather Conditions
Extreme weather conditions such as a heat wave could ruin your outdoor workout plans. Similarly, a hike being closed due to dangerous terrain conditions could leave you looking for a backup plan to get some physical activity. Having a gym membership is great for times when your plans fall through.
7. Less Distractions
The gym is a more fitness-focused environment for the most part. In the summer, you could get distracted by people drinking, seeing friends out and about, and you could even get distracted by unpredictable weather or terrain conditions. At the gym, you’re more likely to focus on your workout, work a bit harder, and be a little more productive with less risk of random distractions.
Keeping Your Gym Membership in the Summer: The Bottom Line
It’s true that there are more options for physical activity in the summer months, so if you need to save money, it’s understandable to consider canceling your gym membership. However, before you cancel, find out if your gym offers summer savings or summer promotions. Since many gyms lose clientele in the summer, it’s common for gyms to offer a deal to those willing to stay. And finally, before canceling your gym membership this summer, consider the above points about the benefits of keeping it.
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