Food, Home and Style
Frugal Fitness
Maybe you’re finding it hard to justify your expensive gym membership. Or maybe, like me, you’ve lost your sweet corporate discount on said expensive gym membership.
Either way, lots of us are looking for less expensive ways to work out. There are some obvious options, like walking or running outside, doing crunches in front of the television, and taking the stairs. But if they were so effective, you probably wouldn’t have joined a gym in the first place, would you?
To help, we’ve found several ways to get your yoga/cardio/muscle-building fix on the cheap. Our promise: None involve using soup cans for bicep curls.
Download
Some people swear by Jivamukti, others can’t live with out their Bikram classes. I’m a devotee of the 20-minute yoga podcasts available from Yogadownload.com (also on iTunes). The quickie classes are free, and there are dozens to choose from, including Yoga for Cyclists, Detox Yoga, and sessions for working on the hips, shoulders, or heart. There are plenty of other exercise podcasts out there, just search Google or iTunes.
Buy a Book
At $75, the fitness and yoga Passbooks published by American Health and Fitness Alliance can seem pricey. But you need to use just a handful of the coupons, which give you free access to classes, gyms, and sports centers, to make them worthwhile. They’re available for New York, Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles. The only downside is, you may be working out at a different place every day.
Get Recreational
City rec centers can be an excellent alternative to private gyms. In Denver, the parks department has pools, racquetball courts, weight machines, and more; annual membership is just $150 and gets you into any of the 29 (!!) locations. (“In contrast, the private Denver Athletic Club only has two locations, you have to be referred my another member to join and the cost is … unattainable in these interesting economic times,” says our local source, graphic designer Kelli Parker.) In New York, fit publicist Stephen Larkin swears by the new Chelsea Recreation Center on West 25th Street. Membership is $75 a year, “and it has a great pool!”
Go Antiquing
We know you use your Bowflex religiously, but it may shock you to learn that other people are looking to sell barely-used clothes racks fitness equipment for low, low prices. Friends who live in upstate New York kitted out their home gym at garage sales, snapping up a stationary bike, NordicTrack, weights and other gear for practically nothing.
Win Your Workouts
Contests for fitness memberships are everywhere, though if you register you will likely be on the receiving end of a sales pitch from the gym. SocialWorkout, a new website about…well, working out…just launched its April Body of Work Challenge. Exercise 26 times in the next month (and submit 26 blog posts about it) and you could get a free membership at Crunch, among other prizes.
Visit the Library
A free source of fitness DVDs, if you’re comfortable working out at home. (I usually end up working my way over to the sofa.)
Take Community Classes
Many yoga studios offer cheap or free community classes, on a regular or occasional basis. Yoga to the People in New York and Berkeley has a suggested donation policy. Other studios have special discounts for the unemployed.
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Here’s another tip: start your own (free) fitness club. I know a group of women who, after a year of taking a Fitness Boot Camp, got sick of the teacher and realized that they had learned enough on their own to teach the class themselves. So instead of renewing for another session (and these classes are NOT cheap!) banded together and started meeting after work for their own Boot Camp. They would run the same laps, do the same resistance exercises (using park benches or whatever was available in public parks) and replicate the same workout for free.
Another good website to check out is http://www.exercisetv.tv
They sell videos and downloads, but also have a decent selection of short workouts you can stream for free. Click on “Workout Videos” and then select “Free Full-Length.”
My membership at a luxury gym is ending next month, and I know I probably will regret shelling out the money for renewal if I end up cash strapped, which I will be if I don’t find a job soon.
However, my gym is very important to me. Its not just about exercising, but clearing my mind, being around others and effectively working my muscles with varied options.
I find that being at my expensive gym, working out as I look at the water, away from home, is purely therapeutic.
I need to pay that high price for my mental health, and pray for a miracle concerning my finances.
There’s always the $100 home gym plan from US News & World Report’s website.
http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-fitness/2009/3/20/how-to-get-a-cheap-workout-8-ideas-for-building-a-100-home-gym.html
What about negotiating with your gym for a lower rate? I would think that they are hurting for members now and might give deals to keep people.
[...] «RecessionWire» has some brilliant suggestions for getting fit on the cheap, no gym required. And no, I’m not talking about parking far away at the grocery store, or running more outside. As the article points out, if that worked for you, you probably wouldn’t have joined a gym in the first place, right? [...]
[...] “RecessionWire” has some brilliant suggestions for getting fit on the cheap, no gym required. And no, I’m not talking about parking far away at the grocery store, or running more outside. As the article points out, if that worked for you, you probably wouldn’t have joined a gym in the first place, right? [...]
[...] “RecessionWire” has some brilliant suggestions for getting fit on the cheap, no gym required. And no, I’m not talking about parking far away at the grocery store, or running more outside. As the article points out, if that worked for you, you probably wouldn’t have joined a gym in the first place, right? [...]
I think the best way to get fit is to go out and play. As a broke college student, i don’t even want to pay $20 per month for any membership. The one advise i would follow is the library, its free. Another is to go out and take a walk, swim, play some hoops, play soccer, tennis or badminton. Sometimes buying the equipment for sports is cheaper than a few months membership for any gym.
When we started having problems with our local paper being delivered on time if at all and the job was listed for hire – I decided to take the job – I now get my morning walk in 6 days a week and get paid for doing it. I can’t make excuses, people are expecting me and so far I’ve lost 10 pounds. This is a win-win situation.