CREDIT: MELISSA NOVACASKA
Gym memberships are a great way to have a quality workout, while taking advantage of the many things a gym has to offer, including a student friendly budget.

With school, homework, work and a social life, sometimes it can be hard to balance it all without getting too stressed. On top of that, it can be hard to stay healthy and in shape.

However, gym memberships are a good way to manage all those stressors and make sure you stay active, even on a busy schedule.

There are a variety of gyms in London including GoodLife Fitness, LA Fitness and Planet Fitness to name a few for a variety of prices, plus there's one on campus as well.

At the campus fitness centre, Fitness 101, a membership costs roughly $30 per semester, or $78 plus tax for the entire year, with the exception of certain programs or classes. This price is not included within tuition, unless you are in a specific program like police foundations.

Karen Nixon- Carroll, Fanshawe's fitness program manager said memberships and their prices can vary, but on campus, they include a free body assessment, orientation to the fitness centre itself and the equipment, personalized programs to reach their goals, group classes, as well as the usual weight room, access to the Carling Heights swimming pool, treadmills, bikes, exercise balls and TRX Suspension Trainers to name a few things. The school also provides wellness classes.

Nixon-Carroll said memberships are a great way to motivate someone to actually workout, and to be social with friends.

“If you have a lot of will power and determination, you go for it and do your own workout at home, [but] most of the population does not have that [kind of willpower] and so they need a gym membership to help kick them into gear,” Nixon-Carroll said.

“Once you're there and you get going and you get warmed up and get all those endorphins going, then you find, ‘Okay, I needed that and it felt really good',” she said.

According to Nixon-Carroll, with friends [exercising] is a good time to be social if you want in a class setting or just working out.

Anique Daley, a Fanshawe student and varsity athlete, said gym memberships are great to have, if one can afford it.

“On campus, [a] membership is awesome and very convenient, it makes it easy to access it,' Daley said.

She also said having a workout buddy helps if you have a membership but don't like doing it alone.

“If you don't [have a workout buddy] you can always ask a staff member to assist you if you need help doing a certain exercise,” Daley said.

Daley personally has a membership as well, and loves it since she works out often in the campus gym when she is not in season [for basketball], and does so almost every day throughout the summer.

“It's very convenient, the equipment is really good and it's an easy workout,” Daley said.

Daley said compared to other gym facilities, the membership pricing is great.

“What you'd be paying [for] a monthly fee [at Fanshawe], is what it is for four months [at the college].

Jon Deschamps, a paralegal studies student at Fanshawe, said he likes the idea of memberships as well.

“Gym memberships are coming down in price, depending on where you go,” Deschamps said. “These are certainly not a scam [for your wallet].”

Deschamps agreed that there are other benefits to a gym membership such as motivation, assistance, trainers and usage of other physiotherapy devices such as massage chairs and water massage, while the cost itself of paying per month for a membership can be a motivating factor in getting people into a healthier lifestyle.

Deschamps said he pays roughly $10 a month for his membership, which he said acceptable even with his student budget.

“When I first began my lifestyle transformation and decided to get into shape, I first looked into purchasing a treadmill or an elliptical. After realizing that a decent elliptical costs somewhere between $900- $1,000, and a gym membership costs $10 a month for unlimited usage of good quality (depending on the gym) machines and weights. This equates to roughly 10 years of usage out of these machines at a gym, for the same price as purchasing one yourself which may not even last 10 years.”

Deschamps did say however, that if some people are not interested in cardio, and are only looking for light exercise, then perhaps purchasing dumbbells would be better than a membership.