Freedom and fitness

As the New York Times reports, traditional full-service gyms, whose business model relies on large numbers of members paying monthly fees for classes they may or may not take, lots of equipment, and perks like towel service and steam rooms, are not doing as well as they used to. Instead, consumers are turning to alternatives at both ends of the price spectrum -- no-frills, no-trainer gyms that offer nothing but standard cardio equipment and weights, and that charge a correspondingly low price; and a la carte, small group classes that can add up to more money per month than a traditional gym membership, but that offer a greater sense of community and support when working out.

I'm an example of this trend. I had a membership at New York Sports Clubs, a local big-box gym conglomerate, for years. I finally quit in September, once my husband and I moved into an apartment building with a small gym in the basement. It doesn't offer any classes, nor does it have a TV built into every cardio machine, but it has everything I need for the kind of workout I do, so it's no longer worth $80 a month to me to be a gym member. On the other hand, I've just finished Foundations training at CrossFit South Brooklyn, and although working out there twice a week is going to cost me nearly twice as much per month as I used to pay for unlimited workouts at NYSC, I consider it money well spent because I'm going to be learning skills that will make me stronger, with plenty of attention from coaches throughout the process.

Now here's where I make this a post about health care, and not just about fitness: Isn't it a beautiful thing that we who like to work out have so many options? If all I need is a treadmill and some free weights, I can join a cheap gym like Steel, an NYC no-frills gym. If I want classes with an engaged (and engaging) teacher, I can choose from CrossFit, yoga, Core Fusion, Pilates, martial arts, and any number of other options. Or I can join a big-box gym like NYSC, if I like having access to a wide variety of classes and a number of locations across the city.

Why isn't health care like that? Why am I stuck with a choice of only three very similar health insurance plans chosen by my company, rather than being able to decide between a myriad of options -- from low-cost insurance, if all I want is to be protected in the event of a serious medical emergency, to high-premium, comprehensive policies?

The answer is that fitness remains far freer of government regulations and taxes than medicine. Without regulations dictating what kind of services a gym has to offer in order to open its doors, or whom it has to grant membership to, or what kind of prices it can charge, voila! You get customers with all different kinds of demands -- and entrepreneurs who find creative ways to deliver what the market is asking for.