I've had both and I personally prefer month-to-month as a student, but also understand that contracts allow owners/instructors to guarantee some income and act as a barrier for folks who will quit when it gets hard. I think gyms that offer different payment options (such as month-to-month at X, 3 month contract at Y, 1 year contract at Z) end up having the best of both worlds in that they offer both the flexibility if the student needs it and the guaranteed income for the instructor (with a discount for the student) when that makes sense for the student.

Our gym has a Month to Month option or a 6-month commitment that goes month to month when its completed. The 6 months is cheaper and it's what people usually go with. I think its important to have a month-to-month option for those who want it but I don't see contracts as inherently wrong.

I think Drew did a good job explaining why contracts can be important!

Agreed, I'm definitely not against contracts, the few gyms ive been at in the past all had 6 month contracts, the gym im at now is month to month only. I just thought a 3 year commitment at the one gym was just insane to me though.

Obviously month-to-month is better for students and contracts are generally better for the business. And I respect that gym owners gotta eat and need an idea of what kind of income they're looking at for the near future.

That said, when I've talked to other students about why they don't train at some other gyms in the area, the #1 reason they give is contracts / high-pressure sales tactics.

I have never used contracts at my gym, I don't like them. As a school owner myself, I can understand it gives some financial stability as it's nice to be more certain about income staying regular, but I prefer to be more flexible. My membership fees are monthly, normally standing order, but some people just do a bank transfer each month.

Due to that, I've also been able to benefit from people travelling through Bristol who are only going to be there for a few months. That's meant I've had some cool people on the mats, like this chap who works in the film industry and has trained all over the place. He's only ever in one spot for a few months at a time working on a film, so if he'd only had the option of training at gyms with a contract, he wouldn't have been able to get on the mats (or he'd have had to spend a buttload of money on training he couldn't use).

Monthly fee + a membership fee every year. It's still very, very cheap.