When I walk through the streets of New York, I pass strange rooms where people are doing strange things.

Some folks are attached to madly spinning wheels. Others are straining to keep metal bars from crushing them. Still others jump around in unison as someone yells at them.

It all looks like something out of Dante's Inferno. And the most amazing thing is that people are paying to endure these trials.

The strange rooms are gyms, and I've been an on-again, off-again member of the cult over the years. My wife, Clarissa, and I have also purchased some of these machines of torture for home use.

I did a back-of-the-envelope calculation for our spending on gyms and fitness equipment over the past 27 years. It came to $8,500. Pretty big money considering there have been numerous years when we spent nothing.

Clarissa drove me nuts back in 1982 when she purchased a $79 six-month membership at a gym and went exactly three times before it expired. She explained to me that she didn't feel comfortable going to the gym until she got in better shape.

Isn't that the point of working out? 'Women will understand,' she told me the other day.

Some 41 million Americans are health club members, more than twice as many as in the late 1980s, according to the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. Historically, 12% of memberships are signed in January, the most of any month, as Americans vow to knock off their holiday flab.

I've come full circle on the gym question during my life. They're worth it if you use them. But you can keep in good shape spending a lot less money.

I lifted weights for a while during high school. But growing up in California, I mostly kept fit by biking, bodysurfing and playing endless pickup games of basketball and touch football with neighborhood kids.

At the age of 23, I got my first job at a daily newspaper in the California desert. The mind-numbing heat made outside exercise an ordeal. I remember standing in line at some farming banquet and passing by a mirror. I took a look at my growing paunch. I joined a gym.

Since then, I've alternated between going to a gym and working out at home. I've usually looked for grungy gyms -- the sort of places where the weight-lifting equipment is in good shape but there isn't a whole lot else.

From 1989 to 1995, I covered the auto industry for the Journal. I lifted weights twice a week at a delightfully unpretentious place called Muscle's Gym, just outside Detroit. I paid as little as $200 per year.

I called the gym recently. It now charges $250 a year. 'We're as far from the contracts and fancy gym as you can get,' said owner Jerry Cuppetelli as weights clanged in the background.

You can't find these gyms in every city anymore. Too often, it's a fancy gym with lots of bells and whistles. If you ask how much it costs, the person at the front desk often won't know. Instead, he'll want you to meet with a 'fitness consultant,' who will pressure you to sign a contract. It's a bit like buying a car. You may end up feeling like you need a shower -- before you even work out.

Working out at home has its problems, too. We've all heard horror stories of people buying stuff they didn't use. I have one. In the late 1990s, I attended a spinning class and thought it was one of the best workouts I had ever had.

So I bought a $700 spinning bike for home use. I tried a few workouts and found the position reaggravated a neck problem. End of spinning workouts. The $700 bike leads a lonely existence in our basement.

Now I'm back to the cheapo approach to fitness. I walk a lot. And I do Pilates or calisthenics on my living room floor most mornings. Total cost: $60 for an exercise mat. It's not exactly Dante's Inferno, but I'm working on it.

我走在纽约的大街上，会路过一些奇怪的屋子，里面的人在做一些奇怪的事。

一些人紧贴着疯狂旋转的单车轮。一些人使足吃奶的力气免得铁棍把自己压扁。还有些人步调一致地跳来跳去，旁边还有个人对着他们大喊大叫。

所有这一切看起来就像是但丁《神曲》中的《地狱篇》。最有意思的是这些人是在花钱买罪受。

这些怪屋是健身房，多年来我都是它们时断时续的会员。我和妻子克拉丽莎（Clarissa）还买了一些这样的"刑具"放在家里折磨自己。

我粗略地计算了一下过去27年来我们在健身会员卡和健身器械上的花费。总共是8,500美元。考虑到其中有好多年我们分文未花，这个数字可是笔不小的开支。

1982年克拉丽莎花72美元买了张健身俱乐部的半年卡，但一共只去过三次，这简直要把我气疯了。她向我解释说，她感觉在身材改善前去健身房不自在。

改善体形难道不正是健身的目的所在吗？那天她对我说，女人才会明白。

据国际健康及运动俱乐部协会（International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association）的数据，美国大约有4,100万人参加了健身俱乐部，数量是上世纪80年代末的两倍多。历史数据显示，有12%的健身会员卡是在 每年的1月份办理的，是所有月份中最多的，原因是1月里美国人都发誓要减掉节日里长出来的肥膘。

我这辈子在健身房的问题上绕了一大圈，又回到了起点。如果你充分利用健身房的话，办张卡就是值得的。不过不必花那么多钱，你也可以拥有魔鬼身材。

我上中学的时候曾经有段时间练杠铃。但是由于我是在加州长大的，我的大部分锻炼都是骑车、冲浪、在篮球场上不停地拣球、和邻居小孩玩橄榄球。

23岁的时候，我得到了自己的第一份工作，是在加州沙漠中的一家日报社。让人头脑发昏的炎热天气使户外锻炼成了一种折磨。我还记得有次在农场晚宴上排队的时候，路过一面镜子。我看了看镜子里自己日渐发福的肚腩，决定加入健身俱乐部。

此后，我有时去健身房有时在家健身。我通常找那些条件不怎么样的健身房，那里举重器械很不错，不过没有太多其他的设施。

从1989年到1995年，我负责《华尔街日报》汽车业的报导。我每周会到底特律市外一个叫Muscle's Gym的健身房练两次举重，这个地方毫不矫揉造作，让我很高兴。当时我每年只要交200美元的会费。

最近我给这家健身房打了个电话。现在的会费是每年250美元。健身房的老板杰瑞？库普泰利（Jerry Cuppetelli）说，我们可不是那些价格贵的要命、花哨的健身房。电话里还隐约有杠铃的当当声。

如今你已经无法在每个城市都找到这样的健身房了。很多健身房都很花哨，装备齐全。如果你问年费是多少，前台的人常常不知道。相反，他会让你见一见"健身顾问",那个人会说服你签份合同。这有点像买车。甚至在你还没有开始健身之前，你已经是大汗淋漓，想冲个澡了。

在家健身也有在家健身的问题。我们都听说过有人买东西却不用的恐怖故事。我就有一个。上世纪90年代末，我参加了一个动感单车班，当时我认为这是我做过的最棒的健身项目之一。

所以，我花700美元买了一辆动感单车放在家里用。我曾试过几次，但是发现运动的姿势让我的颈部问题复发加重了。动感单车就此告终。现在这辆700美元的车孤独地呆在我们的地下室里。

如今，我又回到低价健身法。我经常走路。很多个早晨，我在自家起居室的地板上做普拉提或是健美操。总成本是：一个练习垫60美元。家里还没有到但丁的《地狱篇》的地步，不过我在努力。