These are tight economic times, so odds are you're trying to reduce your expenses. And there are certainly lots of opportunities for free exercise. But -- believe it or not -- this might be the best time of all to join a gym.

Sure, gyms care about how fit your bottom is, but they are also businesses and so they definitely care about the fitness of their bottom lines. So far, it's hard to say how the recession is affecting the health-club industry; a survey by the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association found some respondents saying business was up and others reporting a slump. Regardless, when times are tough, many gyms are likely to sweeten the deals to entice new clients to sign up.

This is a good time to join -- bikinis and shorts are getting ready to leap from the recesses of your closet. If you've been considering joining a gym, why not look around and see if you can take advantage of a current promotion? Some great deals to get you started:

• Bally Total Fitness. Until March 9th, Bally Total Fitness is offering a $0 enrollment fee and $29.99 per month.
• Gold's Gym. Many Gold's Gym locations are offering enrollment for only $1 right now. Check with the location near you for details.
• 24 Hour Fitness. If you're a first time-guest, you can get a free seven-day pass to try out a 24 Hour Fitness near you. And many locations are offering a reduced initiation fee and $29.99 monthly fees -- but you have to hurry ... that offer expires on March 5th.
• Crunch. Want a little less commitment? Until March 31st, Crunch is letting you sign up for a month-to-month plan with a $49 enrollment. Plus, they're throwing in two complimentary training sessions.
  

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Having a personal trainer can be a real boon to your workout routine. A properly trained professional can help you decide what exercises are best for your fitness goals as well as motivating and encouraging you.

However, there are no federal or state requirements for personal trainers. Case and point -- a friend of mine lost his corporate (completely non-fitness related) job a few years ago. He went to his gym, asked if they were looking for more trainers and was hired right away even though he had no experience, no training and no qualifications other than being familiar with the gym's equipment. (My friend is a hard worker, however, and he immediately sought professional training and now holds multiple certifications.)

So how do you know if you can trust your trainer?

• Do your research. Ask the gym what their hiring practices are and if their trainers are qualified. Also, ask other people for personal trainer recommendations.
• Check for certifications. You wouldn't go to a doctor who didn't have a medical license, so why not check into the certifications your potential personal trainer has. Some reputable organizations that certify trainers are the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) and ACE Fitness. Your trainer may also have received a related college degree.
  
• Ask for referrals. Trainers worth their salt will have a number of clients who are willing to talk to you and give you a referral.
• Trust your instincts. It's a trainer's job to push you and encourage you, but good trainers will not push anyone beyond safe limits. If your gut instinct is telling you something is wrong, trust that.

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So you know which fork is for salad and which is for your main meal. Guys, you know to open doors for women. And you never let a thank you card sit unwritten. But do you know proper gym etiquette?

Even if you're a gym etiquette dummy, never fear. Dummies.com has tips for mastering gym etiquette. For example:

• Don't rest on weight equipment between sets. The equipment is for everyone, and your little break could be holding someone else up.
  
• Manage your own sweat. Bring a towel with you and wipe off equipment when you're done. It's just plain nasty to go to a machine and find someone's sweat waiting for you.
  
• Use the lockers. So great, you have a gym bag. But please don't tote it around from machine to machine. Stow it in a locker ... that's what they're for.
  

For more tips on gym etiquette, see the full article on Dummies.com.

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Two Lubbock, Texas business owners are being charged with fraud after selling memberships to a non-existent gym.

Shon and Desiree Perez sold more than 800 pre-paid memberships to the gym -- to the tune of more than $40,000. Members were told that the gym equipment was supposed to arrive on March 1st. When it didn't, the owners stated the shipment was delayed and it would arrive by April 1st. Court documents now show that the Perezes had never ordered any gym equipment at all. Due to nonpayment of rent the landlord for the gym's property changed the locks on April 11th.

Let's take this as a lesson learned. There are many things you should look for when picking a gym. But first and foremost... make sure the gym actually exists.

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Sometimes, we're our own worst enemies. We can come up with hundreds of excuses to not exercise. "It's raining outside." "Gyms are too expensive." "I don't want to buy/don't have room for fitness equipment." The list of excuses can go on and on. But there is one reason to exercise that totally trumps any excuse you can come up with: your well-being. Exercise will improve your health, boost your energy, help achieve/maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of many chronic conditions, and manage your stress level.

Lauren from laurensfitness.com gives us a list of 20 exercises you can do -- without equipment, without a gym membership, and without weights. She walks you through different varieties of squats, lunges, push ups, and dips. Though Lauren admits it's not the ideal workout, it will do in a pinch. So even if you're busy or whatever other I-can't-exercise reasons you can come up with, this is a workout you can do... no excuses.

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In even the smallest of towns, you're sure to find a health club, personal training facility, or gym. Many bigger cities even offer fitness centers that are open 24 hours. Hell, you can even get a gym workout in at some airports these days!! But, knowing which is the best place for you to start doling out your hard earned cash involve some steps.

• First, be honest with yourself about your level of commitment. If you're a first-time exerciser and not quite sure if a gym workout is really for you, seek out the most inexpensive fitness center you can find (but make sure they still provide you with more than enough fitness options -- i.e. weights, cardio machines, classes, etc.). There's no sense in spending a fortune on a gym membership you never use.

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According to Men'sHealth, there are 30 great gyms in this country. I'm sure there are more. These are just this magazine's top picks. Six of them happen to be in my state -- Florida. There are also six in California, three in Arizona, one in Nevada, a few scattered through Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and well, take a peek here to locate the rest of them. Just scroll over the yellow dots in your state of choice and the name of a top-notch gym will appear.

While visiting this site, stop by here and try out the Men'sHealth gymfinder, a comprehensive database of fitness clubs, gyms, health centers, and sports groups.

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The gym at which I work out is an anomaly. It's part of a national chain of gyms, it doesn't show any signs of closing its doors, and the monthly membership is extremely reasonable. On top of all that, there are never more than thirty people in it at any given time, so I hardly ever have to wait to use any equipment.

Consumer Reports recently surveyed a group of 3,400 people who had canceled their gym memberships in the past three years. The survey showed, among other things, that most people were dissatisfied with national gym chains, while private yoga, pilates, gyms, community centers, and YMCAs received the highest marks.

National chains were criticized for being exorbitantly priced, having long waits for gym equipment, problems with payment contracts, and demonstrating little care for cleanliness. Local gyms and health clubs, by contrast, fared much better in all regards.

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You'd think gyms and fitness centers would help minimize the growing problem of obesity. But they don't.

A new UK study shows that if current obesity levels continue, about a quarter of all children in the UK will be obese by the year 2050. Sixty percent of men and 40 percent of women will fall prey to the same problem by this target date. These statistics hold true in spite of the whole fitness industry. Why? There are three reasons, says Dr. Jennifer Smith Maguire, author of the report Fit for Consumption: Sociology and the Business of Fitness.

Gyms are geared toward people with spare cash, people who can afford the monthly payments but are the most likely to be inactive and obese, Maguire says. Another problem is that gyms and fitness centers are generally presented as locations of leisure.

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Gyms are a popular place to get fit, but they certainly aren't the only place. If you can afford the membership fees and have a location near your work or home, then a gym or fitness center may just fit perfectly into your life. But what if you don't have either of those things? Working out at home is not only a great alternative, you might just find that you prefer it. You don't need fancy machines and a room full of equipment to get in shape, and exercising in the comfort of your own home lets you control your environment to get an optimum workout. Looking for more reasons to stay home? Check out this list of ten more reasons why home workouts rock. What about you? Where do you prefer to exercise?

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As a rule, hotel fitness centers stink, and I don't mean that they smell bad (even thought they do.) Just go inside most hotel 'gyms' and you'll find only a few pieces of equipment and a dumbbell or two ... usually crammed into an airless storage closet. Not to mention, if you attempt to get on one of the cardio machine, you'll be lucky if your head doesn't touch the ceiling.

Fortunately, some larger hotel chains are bulking up their 'so-called' facilities to attract loyal, health conscious travelers--and some are testing travelers to see if they enjoy having treadmills and other fitness equipment in their very own room.

To give us the heads up on who's doing what, 'Women's Health' magazine has rated a few of the better hotels giving each a dumbbell from 1 to 5. So before you head out on vacation check out their ratings before you check in. 5 Dumbbells = Fitness bliss.

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So maybe the thought of joining a regular old spinning or Pilates class at the gym just doesn't trip your trigger. Maybe you're looking for something more interesting and different than that? Well then maybe, if you're lucky, one of these unique classes are located near you:

• In the Los Angeles area at the Crunch gym try the Rocket Workout. You'll get to use a new machine that is rapidly catching on in gyms all over called the Orbital 360, and the workout includes everything from strength training to stretching to Pilates.
• In Boston at Healthworks try the class called Burn. You'll alternate between walking and running on and off a treadmill for up to 50 minutes. Feel the burn!
  
• The Miami David Barton Gym has a class called Barton Biking where you'll alternate between biking and arm strengthening moves to burn over 500 calories in an hour.
• Chicago's Equinox is home to Chaos, where you'll get to do intervals of strength training and cardio, but with an element of make-believe mixed in.
• And finally, at the New York Health and Racquet Club in New York City you can opt for the Bin Zhou class where you'll meditate and do tai chi, qi gong, and isometrics.

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