Move your body · Keep your money · Australia & Norway
We really don't want your money.
Commit to moving. Put $10 a session on the line. Show up, snap a photo, pay $0. Skip — and a charity you chose has a brilliant month instead.
Your gym is wherever you are.
Start with a stakeAlready have skin in the game? Sign in.
A MONTH, FOR EXAMPLE
Photos are private, forever. We trust you.
Four taps to skin in the game
How Skin In The Gym works
Skin In The Gym is an accountability app live in Australia and Norway: commit to one to four sessions a month with $10 staked on each. Show up and pay $0. Skip, and $8 of that $10 goes to the charity you chose.
Pick your sessions
With Skin In The Gym you pick one to four sessions a month, $10 staked on each — never more than $40 on the line.
Write your checklist
Your plan, your words — or paste from the sheet your PT gave you. We never suggest exercises.
Show up & snap
Tick an item, snap a proof photo. It stays private, forever. We trust you.
Pay $0
Complete your sessions and the month costs nothing. That's the whole idea.
Two happy endings. No bad outcome.
When you ghost your gym, the gym gets paid. When you ghost a session here, your charity does.
You moved
You pay nothing. Keep your money, keep your streak, go enjoy your life.
You didn't
$8 goes to the charity you picked. Someone still had a great month.
Where every dollar goes
Of the $2 we keep per $10, card fees on the whole charge and our taxes come out first — about $1.35 actually reaches us.
All amounts on Skin In The Gym are Australian dollars (AUD).
- 1stWe holdfor last month's missed sessions
- 5thWe collect & donateunless you tapped “I regret” — it ends up in your charity's own account, never ours to keep
- 25thWe warn“you've got $X on the line — go move!”
Tell a friend
Everyone has a friend that could use a bit of motivation. Not you, of course. You should tell that 'friend' about us.
The card we hope we never charge.
$40 cap
The most you can ever have at stake in a month.
One-tap cancel
“I give up — let me off the hook.” Instant. No maze.
Warned first
Always, before any charge. Every single time.
Injured? Pause.
One tap freezes everything. We never push through pain.
Fair questions
Frequently asked questions
What if I just… disappear?
We check on you. Four weeks without a visit and we email to ask if you're ok. Eight weeks, one more honest nudge. At twelve weeks we pause your stakes automatically — we don't charge people who aren't even visiting. Coming back is one tap, whenever.
Can I cheat?
Yes. The photo is a nudge, not a police report — only you ever see it. If you cheat, you're mostly cheating your streak.
Where does my money go?
$8 of every $10 goes into your chosen charity's own account — exactly $8, to the cent; card fees never touch their share. We keep $2, and Stripe's fees on the whole $10 plus our taxes come out of it, so about $1.35 actually reaches us.
Is it tax-deductible?
We make no deductibility promises. Donations go direct to the charity; any receipts are theirs to issue.
What if I'm injured?
Tap pause. Stakes and nudges freeze instantly. We never push anyone through pain.
How do I cancel?
One tap: “I give up — let me off the hook.” No maze, no guilt-trip. Gone.
What's the most I can lose?
$40 a month — four sessions at $10. Set it lower any time — the change applies from next month; the month you're in stays exactly as you promised it.
Is Skin In The Gym legit?
Yes. Skin In The Gym is run by App Fjord AS (org 915565476), a company registered in Norway, serving Australia and Norway. Payments run through Stripe — we never see or store your card number. Our fee split is public: $8 of every $10 goes to your chosen charity, $2 to us. And until our first charity partner is live, stakes are dormant — nobody is charged a cent.
How is Skin In The Gym different from StickK or Beeminder?
Same family — commitment devices, money on the line. The differences: on Skin In The Gym your forfeit never funds an "anti-charity" and is never ours to keep — $8 of every $10 goes to a registered charity you picked, straight into their own account. Proof is a private photo we trust you on, there's a regret window (the 1st to the 5th) before any money moves, the cap is $40 a month, and we never prescribe exercises.
Which charities can I pick?
Registered charities that pass two gates: Stripe's identity checks, then a human review by us. Your $8 lands in the charity's own account — there's no free-text payee, ever. The list grows as partners join, and you can invite your favourite charity from inside the app.
Does putting money on the line actually work?
There's real research behind commitment devices. Gym-goers who staked their own money kept exercising at higher rates long after the incentive ended (Royer, Stehr & Sydnor, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 2015), and smokers offered a money-at-stake contract were more likely to quit (Giné, Karlan & Zinman, 2010). We didn't invent the idea — we just made the losing half of it joyful.