When the new year rolls around, you will get tons of solicitations in your mailbox from health clubs. Health clubs come in two basic flavors. The first have contracts, commissioned salespeople and don’t care a hoot about you. The other kind does not have contracts and the people there actually encourage you to work out because they’re interested in your well-being. With the first kind of club, the salespeople know that most members stop working out within six months of joining a club. And that is what they hope happens. They have to sell tons of memberships to meet their quota, and they don’t care about what happens to you once you’ve signed the contract. They then sell your contract to a finance company, which also gets part of the cut. They are not interested in providing service; they just want to move people through the process and hope that they stop coming so they don’t have to deal with you. The good gyms care that you work out and that their facility is in working order. They don’t require a contract and instead sell month to month memberships. They want to please you so that you will continue to come back and work out. There is no reason why a health club should have a contract. So, join one that cares about you and not your wallet.