You don’t have to spend extortionate amounts of money on getting fit in 2015. Here’s our guide to fitness for less and ways you can save money but still stay fit and healthy.
Get fit at home or in the great outdoors
Every week hundreds of new fitness videos are added to YouTube and fitness DVDs are released in their bucket loads, so, instead of paying for the gym, if you are committed enough, you can work out at home. Working out at home obviously requires good self-control as it is often too tempting to sit there watching tv instead, but if you persist, it’s worth it. You can work out without any equipment or you could set yourself up with the basics such as resistance bands, dumbbells and a yoga mat. It’s a great way to save time to because you won’t be commuting to the gym and back.
Go local
Instead of hitting an expensive high street gym chain to take part it fitness classes, see what’s on offer locally. With a drive from the government encouraging people to get fit there are loads of classes popping up at local community centres and sports halls at a fraction of the cost of gym fitness classes. You can pay around £4 for a wide variety of classes including Zumba, Legs, Bums and Tums and Circuit Training. For classes in your local area it’s often a good idea to check your community shop or advertising boards. Also, you can check the comprehensive listing for your area at http://www.classfinder.org.uk/.
Hire out your local pool with your mates
We’re not talking about hiring out your local Olympic sized pool but a smaller local pool. Often communities will have 25 metre pools which you can hire on an hourly basis. If you split it with your mates it can work out as a pretty efficient form of fitness. Swimming is a great all over workout and it’s brilliant for de-stressing. You can find pools by visiting http://www.swimming.org/poolfinder or if you ask in your local community, there might be a school which hires out their pool for extra income.
Get on yer bike
If you’ve got a bike gathering dust in your garage or hallway, and want to get fit for less, what are you waiting for? Give it a little TLC and develop a new healthy addiction. Getting out and about on your bike is effectively free apart from re-fuelling with food! You can enjoy the great outdoors and burn shed loads of calories while you’re at it. Plus, you get a good top up of vitamin D which is great during the darker winter months.
The Great Outdoor Gym Company
The concept of the outdoor gym has been popular in warmer climes for years, and despite the weather, the good news is there are now loads of community spaces with newly installed gym equipment in the UK. The Great Outdoor Gym Company allows you to search your local outdoor gym which you can use for free. There are some great bits of kit. If you gather a group of you together, you could hire a personal training instructor as a one-off who could show you how to use all the bits of kit and write you some workout plans, then you’re away!
Open water swimming
Aside from being free, open water swimming has a multitude of benefits; excellent for burning calories, great for releasing endorphins and reducing stress and excellent for circulation. There’s something pretty invigorating about swimming in the great outdoors; if you are near the coast and it’s safe to do so, head out for a swim at your local beach, otherwise, if you are based in a town or city, get in touch with your local open water swimming club who will be able to advise you on the best places to go. A great resource is the Outdoor Swimming Society website which shows loads of locations and is an online meeting place for outdoor swimmers.
No more gym memberships
Each year 1000s of people set themselves a New Year’s resolution to join the gym, get fit and hit the weights at least three times a week. By mid-February the novelty often wears off but the payments continue to leave the bank account. If this sounds like you, then cancel your membership. Unless you make a seriously concerted effort and give it another try, you could be wasting around £500 per year. This equates to a decent holiday or to four months food shopping for one person which is certainly not to be sniffed at. If you really can’t survive without your gym fix, there are budget options popping up across the nation from as little as £10 per month – give up a couple of take away coffees per month and that’s your membership paid for! Money Saving Expert has a list of options for you to try.
So, getting fit in 2015 doesn’t have to be as expensive as you think…
As you can see it doesn’t have to cost the earth to keep yourself in shape. It’s about how much effort you are willing to put in and whether you are determined to change your existing habits to really make a difference to your fitness.
Tell us how you like to keep fit and whether you spend a little or a lot on staying in shape.Email info@tonyprycesports.co.uk.