By Oliver Truong on Feb 11th, 2023

Active and Fit Direct

Did you know that you can use your health insurance to save on your gym membership?

You want to check if your health insurance providers offers something called Active and Fit Direct (AFD). This program allows you to pay one monthly payment to gain access to multiple gyms and you can avoid paying the annual and enrollment fees that a gym would typically charge. By switching over to AFD I was able to save $229 a year compared to when I was enrolled with only LA Fitness!

What Is It?

The Active and Fit Direct program is a network of gyms that you can enroll in once you have an AFD membership. You can sign up for multiple gyms that include LA Fitness, Planet Fitness, YMCA, and other local gyms. This can be great for someone who travels for work or someone who likes having options when working out. Even if you don’t want to sign up for multiple gyms the fact that you can avoid paying the annual and enrollment fee could be enough reason to consider AFD. Also, another great benefit is that you are able to cancel your AFD membership after two months so no more sending in a physical letters to cancel your gym membership. Note: I do want to point out that you can only sign up for this program if your health insurance provides it.

How Do I Sign Up?

Go to your health insurance’s website:

1. I will note that checking if your health insurance provides this program can be a little tricky. For example, I have Cigna and it took me clicking around the website for a few minutes to find the AFD link.

2. I clicked on the “Wellness” dropdown and then selected “Exercise”

3. Then under the “Healthy Rewards” section I saw the link to sign up for AFD.

4.Select the “Become a Gym Member” to go to the AFD website.

5. Select the “Join Now” option to start creating your account.

6. I want to reiterate that you must use the link provided on your health insurance’s website.

7. If you try to google AFD it will bring you to a website that looks similar to AFD but you will not have the ability to create an account.

If you have a different provider the process should be similar and on the benefits section of your health insurance’s website. I would recommend checking on your health insurance’s website for best results.

For example, I have a friend who has Anthem as their health insurance and they were not able to find the link to AFD on their app but they were able to find it on the website.

If you are not able to find it on the website then I would recommend calling your health insurance provider to see if they participate in AFD.

How Do I Add a Gym to my AFD Account?

Once you have an AFD account select the “Find Your Gym” option to search by zip code. This will allow you to see which gyms you can sign up for.

Once you add the gym to your cart then you will need to pay the first two months for AFD plus the enrollment fee of $25 dollars.

As of writing this article AFD is waiving the enrollment fee so the cost to sign up will be $50 and then one monthly payment of $25 after the initial month.

Starting April 1st they are increasing the monthly price to $28.

You can see here since I am already an AFD member that by adding another gym it will not be any additional costs.

Enrolling in a Gym

Once you are signed up for AFD and have added your gym to your AFD account then you are ready to go! Go to your local gym and let them know that you will signing up through AFD.

They will ask you for your “Fitness ID” which can be found in your profile. They might ask you to sign an agreement but it should be at no cost to you.

Once you complete the signup process then they should provide you with a keychain or you can download the gym’s app.

Takeaway

AFD is a great way to gain access to multiple gyms while also saving you money.

When I switched to AFD not only was I able to access more gyms but I was also able to save $229 compared to my LA Fitness membership. Even if you only go to one gym you can still save money through AFD by not having to pay the annual and enrollment fee.

If you have any questions please feel free to reach out to us at DealsforDays8@gmail.com!