About seven months ago I discovered that my health plan (Oxford/UnitedHealthcare) gives members a $200 reimbursement towards gym membership fees every 6 months. All you have to do is have proof of 50 visits in a 6 month period, a copy of your bill, and a brochure for the facility. So six months ago I printed out the form from the Oxford website (members: login, click Forms and Materials > Exercise Facility Reimbursement Form), kept it on my desk and faithfully recorded my visits. I got a little behind towards the end with travel and the holidays so now I have to go every day this week to squeeze all my 50 visits in before my 6 month window is up, but for some reason this added motivation is all I need to get myself across the street to NYSC. Money’s funny that way. If you offered me $4 to go to the gym on any given day I’d probably turn you down if I didn’t feel like going, but the promise of $200 every 6 months ($400 a year!) feels like so much more. Fifty visits in 6 months is roughly 2 visits a week so there’s really no reason it’s not do-able even with a few weeks off for nice weather or vacations. To make the whole record-keeping easier, the NYSC website also allows me to request a record of my scanned visits so there can be no contesting my record (hopefully). I should probably mention that my gym membership sets me back $995.88 a year, but having my [mostly otherwise useless] health insurance pay for 40% of my membership is a pleasant bonus.