Blue Monday may be a fun press release that got way out of hand, but the third Monday in January does feel like it should be the single most depressing day of the year. It is a bleak time – the weather is bad, Christmas is long over, and it’s dark for what feels like 20 hours a day.
Fitness First is hoping to lift the gloom around Blue Monday, which falls on 16th January in 2023, by offering free workouts to all with Red Monday (opens in new tab), something the chain has been doing since 2014. This year there’s an added incentive to visit one of the 39 participating clubs, because anyone – member or not – who visits the gym on the day will be entered into a draw to get a month’s gas and electricity paid for.
The Burn Off Your Bills bonus will dish out £300 to five lucky winners to pay for their January energy bills (or anything you want, the T&Cs (opens in new tab) suggest it just drops in your bank account), and hopefully be enough of an encouragement to prompt more people to hit the gym for a free workout on Red Monday.
To take part in Red Monday you can either book yourself in for an exercise class at participating gyms or just turn up on the day and get your free pass. What you choose to do in the gym is entirely up to you – you can jump in the pool, lift some weights, move the run on your marathon training plan into the warm or just lounge in the sauna.
If you’re unsure of how to make use of your free pass, our recommendation is to join an exercise class. A guided workout will help ensure your time in the gym is used effectively, and training with other people will be more enjoyable than flying solo. You can also guarantee a spot, whereas we can imagine open areas will be heaving with people enticed by a £300 bonus for working out.
If you don’t fancy a class then we’d urge you to try something new in the gym to spark some workout motivation that will last well beyond Blue Monday into the year ahead. Maybe tackle a HIIT workout, or use a new piece of equipment, following one of these assault bike workouts or SkiErg workouts. Above all, have fun, then go home and cross your fingers until the prize draw on 31st January.
