Gym memberships popular way to treat mom, dad or a grad

• By COLETTE DEAN
• Advocate Marketing Staff
• Published: May 2, 2009

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Giving a gift of a gym membership might be tricky. If it’s something the recipient wants or was thinking about, great. If it’s not, they might be insulted.

But there is a good way to go about things and plenty of local establishments from which to choose.

If you are thinking about giving a gym membership gift, it might be best to do a little sleuthing. It’s also important to determine what type of fitness program to purchase.

Would mom prefer to be with all women? Does dad like to swim? The new grad might not have time to spare, so a program that could be squeezed into a tight schedule might be best. The facility should be close enough to work or home to make it easy to visit and have convenient operating hours.

Local fitness center managers say gift memberships are becoming more popular to give and they even offer creative ways to package the gift.

Jennifer Barrett, manager of Foxy’s Fitness for Women, said fitness memberships are a popular gift for Mother’s Day.

“A lot of people give gym memberships for Christmas, but Mother’s Day is also popular. Women are getting ready for summer, and husbands will call in wanting to know what we have available,” she said. “Usually the woman has been talking about wanting to get in shape or wanting to get into swimming or cycling. The women also enjoy the social aspect of group exercise classes.”

Members at Foxy’s Fitness for Women are also members of all the co-ed facilities Foxy’s is connected with in town. The co-ed facilities offer fitness gift certificates as well, making it a gift option for dad or the new grad. New fitness members at Foxy’s receive a workout bag, a T-shirt, water bottle and coupons for merchandise. They also receive three meetings with a trainer, who will help design an exercise program.

Pete Hicks, executive director of the Paula G. Manship YMCA, said the Y offers gift certificates for memberships or for swimming lessons, tennis lessons or personal training sessions.

A YMCA membership allows access to the other YMCA clubs in the city, including access to the indoor and outdoor pools and tennis courts. Hicks said at the Manship location there are more than 50 coed classes ranging from aerobic conditioning to yoga. All YMCA locations offer family memberships, which would work for moms, dads and grads.

Cheryl Kratochvil, owner of Curves for Women on Coursey Boulevard, said the Curves program is designed so that it can work for women of all ages.

“If someone was looking for a gift for their mom, grandmother, aunt or sister, they could give them each a gift certificate to Curves, and it would be a perfect fit for any of them,” she said.

Members can even have their daughters join, as long as the child is taller than 5 feet and has a certain maturity to be able to use the machines, she said. Kratochvil said that the program is also beneficial for women who are strapped for time, as the workouts last 30 minutes.