Gym Plan Fines Members For Skipping Out on Exercise
Monday, 24 January 2011 | by Pat's Picks

If this idea catches on, I’m going to owe my gym a fortune. The Boston Globe says some Harvard graduates have come up with an idea to get people to exercise more frequently: fine them when they skip the gym. The text-message based plan is being given a tryout at several sports clubs, where quite a few people have signed a pledge to pay anywhere from $5 to $10 every time they skip a session at the gym.
A password that changes every 60 seconds is displayed on a screen at the gym. Those on the plan are expected to text the password when they arrive and then again when they leave. Those who don’t have a fee added to their monthly bill. The creators of Gym-Pact say they were inspired by the success of Groupon.