75% off your monthly local club gym membership fees

As a Vitality member, you can get 75% off a local club membership at Planet Fitness or Virgin Active every month, or 50% off a national club membership.

To enjoy the maximum discount on a qualifying local club membership, you need to complete at least 36 gym workouts in a rolling 12-month period. If you complete fewer than 36 gym workouts, your monthly saving reduces from 75% to 50% until you meet the requirement again.

Qualifying gym workouts can also earn 100 Vitality fitness points a day when you exercise for 30 minutes or more, helping you increase your Vitality status and unlock additional rewards through the programme.

Earn Vitality points for exercising

Regular exercise can improve your health, but it can also help you earn Vitality points and progress towards a higher Vitality Health status. Qualifying fitness activities, including gym workouts, fitness facility visits and heart rate-tracked exercise, earn points that contribute towards your annual status level. A qualifying gym or fitness facility workout can earn 100 Vitality points a day, while a qualifying heart rate-tracked workout can earn up to 300 Vitality points a day.

To earn points for tracked exercise, link a compatible device, such as an Apple Watch, Garmin or Samsung device, to your Vitality profile. Once linked, qualifying workouts can sync automatically and contribute towards your daily fitness points.

As your points accumulate, you can progress through the Vitality Health status levels, from Blue to Diamond. While exercise can make a significant contribution to your status level, your gym discount and device-related benefits are determined by their own qualifying criteria, such as gym visit frequency, assessments and participation requirements.

What is your Vitality cardio fitness level, and why does it matter?

As well as rewarding exercise with Vitality points, Vitality also measures improvements in your fitness through your Vitality Cardio Fitness Level. Based on your VO₂ max, your Cardio Fitness Level helps you track changes in your fitness over time and can earn you up to 10,000 Vitality points a year.

Your Cardio Fitness Level is calculated using the average of your last five VO_₂ max estimates from a compatible Apple, Garmin or Samsung device, or from a Vitality Fitness Assessment.

VO_₂ max measures how efficiently your body uses oxygen during exercise and is widely recognised as an indicator of cardiorespiratory fitness. Research shows that higher cardiorespiratory fitness is associated with lower risks of cardiovascular disease, heart failure and early death.

Discovery's research also shows that members with higher Cardio Fitness Levels tend to exercise more consistently and have lower rates of health risks and in-hospital claims than those with lower fitness levels.

Ways to train at a facility with or without a gym contract

Want more flexibility than a traditional gym contract? The Vitality Fitness platform lets you book classes and access passes at fitness facilities through the Discovery app.

Depending on your Vitality Health status, you can get up to eight free workouts a month through Vitality Fitness. From boxing to Pilates, yoga and CrossFit, you can choose from a wide range of fitness experiences across South Africa.

To book on Vitality Fitness, you need to be the primary accountholder on a qualifying Discovery Bank account with Vitality Pay and Vitality Money active, 18 years or older. If you don't already bank with Discovery Bank, the Điscovery Account, which has zero monthly fees, qualifies. Earn 100 Vitality points for a qualifying workout of at least 30 minutes by scanning the facility's QR code on arrival and departure, or up to 300 points by tracking a heart-rate workout on a linked device.

What does Vitality do for the kit you train in?

Vitality Active Gear is a Vitality benefit that rewards you for the qualifying sports gear, equipment and fitness devices you buy at Sportsmans Warehouse or Totalsports to support your training, separate from your gym membership or the points you earn for working out. It covers more than one category of active gear, each with its own discount and its own spend limit, so it's worth knowing which applies to what you're buying.

On qualifying sports gear and equipment, you get up to 25% off, up to a spend of R1,000 a month.

On qualifying Nike performance footwear and apparel specifically, you also get up to 25% off, but the limit works differently: it's up to a spend of R4,000 over the year, not a monthly cap, so you can save it up for a bigger purchase or use it across several smaller ones.

You can also fully fund an Apple Watch device by achieving your Vitality Active Rewards goals over 24 months, using a qualifying Discovery Bank credit card or suite account. Rather than a discount at the till, consistent training effectively pays for the watch over time.