I saw this on Gawker today, and it reminded me of something I’ve wanted to write about for awhile.

Columbia Law student Julia Neyman is at the center of a building media frenzy over her blog stunt, to work out on free gym passes for a full year. Cue the requisite book deal in three… two…

If you live in NYC (or another major city), there are gyms that are BEGGING you to join. While some of them come with a pretty steep price tag (Equinox, Sports Club LA), most of them will give you a free pass to try things out.

I love New York Sports Club, but I’ve been having a bit of a roving eye lately. Crunch seems like it would have fun classes; Equinox is just pretty. (My physical therapy is in an Equinox location, and let’s just say I want to go to there.)

While I don’t think I’d ever be quite so shameless to do something like this for a full year, a few free passes at least seems like a good way to add some variety into your gym routine.