Mad Marshy: The fatter you are, the more you save

I love my gym.

I'm about as passionate about my gym as you can get.

I look forward to it more than I do going home. The gym is my highlight of my day. I love the atmosphere, the people, the classes, the vibrance, the energy, the common theme of getting everyone enjoying being active.

ENJOYing being active. When I joined, I felt as if the gym didn't try to target anyone in particular. Fat, thin, unfit, superfit, whatever. I felt that the gym wanted you to feel good about yourself, and that an active lifestyle would do that. And thus, being part of a community of people with that common mindset, inclusive of everyone.

Which is why I am absolutely devastated, shocked, and REPULSED by the latest marketing promotion by Les Mills.

Nearly every month, Les Mills run a promotional campaign to get people to join the gym. They've given away pairs of Nike Shoes, Nike Gym Packs, a free month upon joining (which is the promotion that I joined on), an $170 discount and being in the draw to win a trip to Tahiti and by far, the most memorable campaign was that of the wall-sit campaign.

It was a 'sit and save' campaign, where for every second that you could wall-sit, you saved $1 off your membership. It was capped at $200, but there were sub categories that you could enter in, so it didn't matter if you were an existing member or someone who was just joining. Pip will remember this campaign fondly.

It didn't take off as much at Les Mills New Lynn, my local gym - but the competition was a massive hit in the Les Mills Auckland Central branch. I would enjoy going into the gym and looking at the list of the times of the wall-sits that people had done, and how the names would change as people tried to improve on their times. It was just brilliant.

None of the promotions have gotten under my skin before like this most recent one has - entitled, "Weigh more, pay less."

The gist of it. "Offer is $2 per kilo of members' bodyweight. Minimum of $100 discount applies, with no maximum limit."

Is this Les Mills's way to encourage fat people to come into the gym? "Come on, fatties, join our gym! The fatter the better! You save more money that way!"

The amount of bias, oh my god. If you're a male, if you're a body builder, you can save more off your membership. But if you're female, a teenager, or god forbid, of Asian or Middle Eastern heritage? You ain't saving nothing!

Above all of that, this promotion is just plain... well... weird.

I love you, Les Mills, but this time, you failed miserably. Stick with the free drink bottle next time.