Sometimes you have to make sacrifices in order to be responsible. A big sacrifice for me has been giving up my gym membership. I wouldn't call myself a gym rat or anything like that but I did take comfort in the fact that I had an entire gym at my disposal whenever I wanted it. Now I don't have that to fall back on. If I want to workout I have to get creative.
The reason I chose to forgo the gym membership was purely for financial reasons. I didn't want to pay for a membership when I still wasn't sure if I could even cover all my bills. Also, a gym membership is a luxury.
Now I've had to rely on myself to get my workouts in and it has been interesting. Here are some ways to save money by forgoing the membership but am still be able to get those good workouts in:
1. Use nature as your gym
I love to jog outside- so much so that I didn't always get my money's worth at my gym because I would go for a nice long jog instead. There are so many great trails and different routes that you can take that will help you avoid the bored feeling you get while running on a treadmill. You can also use parks to do yoga, find stairs to run in your neighbourhood and do interval and hill workouts anywhere.
2. Find a friend for motivation
A workout buddy is one of my go-to solutions for getting off my butt. When you have someone to help push you out the door, it becomes a whole lot easier to get those workouts in. They also push you to work harder.
3. Invest in a couple of workout videos
The biggest downfall of not having a gym is being limited by the weather. If it's raining, snowing, or icy you're probably not going to be able to go for an enjoyable jog. Instead of letting your motivation go to waste pop in a workout dvd. Jillian Michaels has a bunch of amazing ones. Check out her 30 Day Shred DVD. So good!
4. Have fun with it
Have you ever seen those workout challenges online that correspond to certain movies? I know there are some for movies like Twilight and there are some for different tv shows as well. Each time someone does something you do 10 crunches, 50 pushups, and things like that. This way you can watch a movie while working out!
5. Create workout challenges with your friends
There are tons of different challenges out there. There are squat challenges, crunch challenges, pushup challenges...you name it! Make it a competition with a friend. Try having each of you put 5 dollars in a jar and say that the first person to skip a day owes the other person 5 dollars. You'll get your workout in and possibly win 5 bucks!
The best way to make sure that you keep working out is to change it up. Keep it fun and interesting and there's no reason you'll ever need to pay for a gym again.
From the desk of:
Taylor Brown
Jogging Enthusiast, User of Nature's Gym
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