Exercise Free At Home And Ditch The Gym Membership

Getting and staying in shape is one of the best moves you can make, both physically and financially.  Not only will you feel better and live longer, but you’ll also save a bundle on future healthcare costs.  Over your lifetime, the price of not being in shape can be literally tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.  That said, gyms can be expensive.  Not only do you pay pay upfront initiation fee, you pay a monthly fee whether you work out or not.  If you’re like most people, that’s probably not very often.  But here’s something the gym commercials won’t tell you: you don’t need them.  You can get every bit as good a workout at home as in the gym.  In fact, you can probably do better since free-weights and outdoor aerobic activity tend to be much more efficient than any of those expensive machines at the gym.

Cardiovascular On The Cheap

Treadmills and elliptical machines are nice and can make workouts more bearable for some, but in reality they are very inefficient calorie-burners compared to running outdoors.  For starters, they’re flat.  Sure you can set them on an incline, but you still only get the resistence along a single plane.  Running outdoors, by contrast, means uneven terrain which constantly challenges your muscles in a different way.  As a result, all your various stabilizer muscles get a workout rather than just the main ones.  More work means more calories.  To get a comparable workout on the treadmill, you’d have to do your entire run at a 1% incline*.

Other cardiovascular exercises you can do at or around home for free include:

• Jumping Jacks
• Basketball or Flag Football at the park with friends
• Walking up and down the stairs
• Hiking at a state park

Not only will you save money, but you’ll probably find it easier to stay motivated because every workout is different.  For more running, cycling, and walking resources, check out Runners World.  I use Runners World as a reference for everything from proper diet to training templates.  I have personally used their Smart Coach feature as a guide for both 10K’s and half marathons over the years.

Home Strength Training

Just as with outdoor running, weight-lifting with free weights is far, far more effective at building and toning muscle than any expensive machine, and much for the same reason: it works the stabilizers.

WARNING:  Proper form is especially important when working with free weights to avoid injury.  Never use more weight than you can comfortable lift with slowly and with good form.  If in doubt, decrease weight and do reps very slow and deliberately.  Your workout will be just as effective but you’ll avoid energy and have better form.

All you need for proper strength training are a set of inexpensive dumbbells from Wal-Mart and a little knowledge.  For a complete full-body workout using nothing more but dumbbells, check out building-muscle101’s Dumbbell Workout Routine.  This will take no more than 30-45 minutes three days per week and will build muscle every bit as well as any expensive session with a personal trainer.  For a much more intense full-body dumbbell workout, try out this dumbbell routine instead.

Calisthenics

If you just want to tone up but not build huge muscles, you should try calisthenics instead.  You can find a calisthenics exercise for just about every muscle group over at My Fit.  The main advantage of calisthenics is you can do them anywhere and there is generally very little chance of injuring yourself since there’s not as much weight involved and the movements are all pretty natural.

Disclaimer:  I am not a doctor and the information in this post is for entertainment purposes only.  Please consult with your doctor before beginning any exercise program.  If you don’t, you could end up hurting yourself and nobody wants that.

*Journal of Sports Science, 1996 Aug ;14(4):321-7.