A member based service you sign up for annually (paying a very low annual fee, like $25) in order to rent time on cardio equipment (treadmills, ellipticals, and stationery bikes) in gyms all over the city and in different cities nationwide. It would work very much like how zipcar does, you reserve time online, renting equipment by the hour.

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How it works:
You can search for machines online near work, near home, or near wherever you happened to be stationed that week and for $5/hour, rent exercise time. Participating gyms (normal commerical gyms, gyms within condo buildings, etc) would designate one or two machines to the program, which would be brightly colored to separate them from the other equipment. When you got to the machine, you would check in and unlock the machine with a small card that would attach to your keychain. You would be billed either with each use or monthly based on your preferences.

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Why it should exist:
How many of you have failed miserably at your “get fit” resolution by signing up for a gym membership that you end up NEVER going to—because you moved, you left your job, the subway is shit this month, the weather is too gross to warrant the 45 minute commute, etc—and each month you have to foot the $85 bill because of your year commitment? It’s horrible right? Makes you feel like such a putz for signing up in the first place. Yet, at the end of the year, you just find yourself a new gym that is temporarily more convenient and go through the same process all over again because “at least you’re trying”. We all know that only crazy people ENJOY working out (like really enjoy it, not just enjoy the benefits of it or the i’m-so-tired-and-laying-on-the-ground-in-air-conditioning-has-never-felt-more-awesome feeling), but we all also know that exercising is important and that none of us do enough of it.

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This service would be for those that can’t commit to normal year long gym memberships. If you used the service often (4 hours a week) it would cost you about as much as a normal gym membership per month, but you would have the flexibility of being able to adjust your workout locations. One day, it might be more convenient for you to work out during a lunch break near work, the next it might be easier for you to work out near your kid’s school before you pick them up, another it might be easiest near home. If this service existed, it would be like you had gym memberships in every neighborhood in your city. You wouldn’t have the excuse of “well it’s my day off today and I don’t feel like going into town” etc. It would be especially good for people that travel a lot. You could rent time in any city you traveled to.

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Why only cardio equipment?
While it is easy to buy a set of hand-weights and do toning exercises at home (I know there are people out there that do this, I am not one of them), getting a good cardio-vascular workout is much harder, especially if you live in a city. You might live in a neighborhood where you don’t feel safe running or walking at night alone, or you might just not have the knees to take pounding the pavement. Cardio equipment is expensive and we city dwellers don’t usually have the space for an adult-sized bed let alone a giant elliptical trainer. Also, some people don’t want to work out for total-body toning, they just want to sweat once in a while to purge some work toxins and not feel like such a lazy piece of shit.

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Someone please make this happen, I will be your first subscriber.
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Steal My Idea is a new addition to my blog in which I share ideas I have that I am unable to bring to life on my own. Some will be silly, some will be for the greater good, all are free for the taking if you have the desire and means to execute them.
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