Financial Obstacles to CrossFit in the Philippines

CrossFit is expensive.

I always find myself hesitating whenever I look at the cost.

To give you a better illustration of how CrossFit may impact one’s finances, here are examples of expenses that costs about the same as a monthly CrossFit membership.

• It’s the equivalent of one month of public transportation costs to and from the office. I live in Parañaque and work in Makati.
• It’s a month worth of budget for buying lunch and snacks at the office.
• It’s a month worth of bedspace in Makati.
• It’s two months worth of my electric and water bill at home.
• It’s a month worth of groceries should I choose to cook for myself at home.
• It’s the cost my cellphone and internet bill combined.
• It’s worth about two or three dates or attending social events.

Every now and then, I find myself thinking of an alternative.

Maybe I could gather other people who wanted to exercise with me and run in the park and do push ups or something like that and maybe form a small community.

I actually tried this.

The first couple of people who agreed stopped seeing me after I had them do five pushups, ten sit-ups and fifteen squats for twenty minutes and the second person who agreed eventually flaked out after a couple of workouts due to schedule conflicts.

I also find that switching venues are also inconvenient and had prevented me from pushing forward.

At the time of this writing I only earn about $500 to $600 a month and the monthly fee of CrossFit is roughly $100 wherever you look.

I’m deflated by the thought of a DIY solution to fitness and even more deflated when I think of paying $100 to go to a gym when I’m used to paying only $2 a session to use gym equipment.

Then again, if you had to give your friend fitness lessons, use your home gym equipment, turn on the air conditioning and encourage them for an hour then let them use the hot shower five or six days a week, you’d probably ask them to pay you the same amount or maybe more.

I would for the hassle. 


If you have the discipline to do a high intensity workout five to six days a week and you have good fitness foundations then by all means go do pushups and run in the park. 
 But if you’re like me who keeps saying I need to lose weight and come up with lies and excuses why I missed all the days of the year that I said I was going to work out then CrossFit can save you from drowning in your own bullshit.

It’s not all that bad though.

Despite all my hate for the CrossFit pricing, here are some positive points:

The pricing is designed to incentivize you to work out more often.

**Two key factors. Unlimited monthly and six month to yearly contracts. **

CrossFit is expensive on it’s own. If you think in terms of cost per session you can get billed Php 700 to Php 1,000 for a session.

If you pay monthly, you get unlimited sessions and only pay a fixed monthly rate.

If the monthly rate is Php 4,500 you get cheaper per session rates the more sessions you attend per week.

If you go thrice a week you only pay Php 375 per session.

If you go four times a week, you only pay Php 281 per session.

If you go five times a week, you only pay Php Php 225 per session.

If you go six times a week you only pay Php 187.5 per session.

At this point you can get more bang for the buck when you go more times per week.

It doesn’t end there, CrossFit boxes also offer lower rates for longer commitments.

Usually they cut off Php 500 to Php 1,000 for longer commitment contracts like six months to a year.

Because I signed up for a six month contract at a newly opened CrossFit box and I go five times a week, I spend about Php 150 per session.

On top of these, there are also lifestyle adjustments that you can do to help you assign more money to your fitness budget.

After looking at how I spent my money, I made a list of all the activities that I spend on, cost me money and time but doesn’t bring me joy or long term benefit.

Here’s how I got to afford CrossFit:

1. Stop going to bars and drinking with your buddies.

If you’re male, you are expected to spend P500 to 1000 a week for a single trip to the bar.

2. Temporarily said no to out of town trips.

Whenever I say yes to a road trip, a beach outing or a hiking session, I end up spending Php 1,000 to Php That’s about 2000 a trip if you go once a month.

3. Just say no to invitation to eat out where you expect to spend P500 or so.

Reject four to six and you probably have enough to cover most of the monthly fee.

4. Stop smoking.

Five sticks a day and a little extra during weekend drinking sessions is P1,000 a month.

Just saying.

Conclusion

Many of the activities I suggested you postpone or ditch completely don’t contribute to your happiness as much as being able to double or triple your strength and fitness capacity every few months.

Bonus tip to cut CrossFit related expenses:

If you pick a CrossFit box near your work or home so you don’t spend extra on commute.

That’s what I have at the top of my head.

If you have some questions or tips feel free to send me a message.

I work out at PR City CrossFit in BF Homes Parañaque.

Written on July 6th, 2017 by Kevin Olega