or be at Bannatines somewhere down south!

That's pretty much what happens in the gyms I used in Delhi.

David Lloyd are wanting something like £77 per month. Some new gyms in London are about £15 a month on offer (usually £25) but I want to go near home. Seems to be about £31 at our local sports centre but I think that's a bit steep.

I go to Exercise4Less in Hull, although there ain't a lot of them around. They are brilliant value imo. I pay £10pm has about 12 benches which is a lot compared to some gyms that are lucky to have a handful. Plenty of free weights and smith machines. A crossfit section and group activities area. Spinning class section. Loads of treadmills and cross trainers, half a dozen rowers plus more and even a boxing ring. The only thing it doesn't have is swimming pool/jacuzzi or saunas. But that's why it's so cheap. Brilliant gym without heavy costs. Saying that I would go to David lloyds if it was close to where I live or on route to work but I also refuse to pay roughly £60pm for it.

I train at a little backstreet gym and I know a few other members also go to xercise4less for the convenience, heard it's pretty good when it's quiet but that's a rarity with the massive membership base they have.

Why?

Yeah you're right it has shed loads of members, but I work shifts so I go first thing in a morning or straight after work at 2 o'clock. I wouldn't even attempt going after four as it'll be hectic.

Getting old. Thought I'd try to top up a bit of fitness while I, hopefully, still can.

There's a really good exercise culture here in SA, and things happen earlier in the morning - e.g. more people work 8-4 than work 9-5. There are two major gym chains: Virgin Active (was an SA company, went into admin and bought by VA) and Planet Fitness (nothing to do with the US PF)
Both charge around 40 pounds a month for membership for there. The gyms have a pool, couple of studios, cardio machine area, weight machine area and free weights area - typically couple of squat racks, 3 BP benches 3 incline benches, 8-10 adjustable benches, DBs 2-60kg, Olympic bars for all benches and racks, and fixed bars (straight and EZ) up to 60kg. They're open 04:00 until 22:00. Both chains also have a more upmarket gym that charges twice as much, but has less free weights kit.

As I mentioned earlier, things are earlier in the morning. I leave home at six and see people out running and cycling. I train from 6:30 until 7:30 at a VA gym near work, getting into town ahead of the traffic. It's busy at that time but I rarely have to wait for a squat rack of BP bench. I can do that and be in work soon after eight. The times I have trained in the evening, it's been busy but less so. Being a chain gym means I can use another VA near home at weekends....5 minutes drive rather than the 15 minutes to the city gym.

Get a dog and walk, best free exercise you'll find and far less boring than plodding along on a treadmill in front of Sky News or MTV.