How To Stay Gym Fit Without A Gym Membership

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Hands up to those who are a member of a gym but would openly admit to not going as often as you should?! I’m waving at you right now behind my screen… I am one of those people! If you are thinking of cancelling and are on hunt for other ways to stay fit without going to the gym, this might help. Regularly going to the gym (or not going to the gym!) can cost quite a bit of money and might be one of your single biggest monthly expenses. 

While you may not want to stop going to the gym forever, one temporary cost-cutting measure is to try and keep fit from home. Here are a few exercise ideas and tips on how to give your home workout program a running start! 

Cycling For Fitness

If you’ve got a bike then it’s pretty easy to keep fit – just head out for a ride! You can even bring the kids along too! If you usually use an static exercise bike at the gym then this is a great alternative and can be much more fun too. You get to set your own route, so you can see what you want to see as you get your exercise. You can even vary your route to keep things interesting. Just don’t forget your cycling glasses especially in the summer!

Fitness Bench

If you’ve got a bit of spare cash you can buy a bench and weights for a home workout. We invested in a quite a bit of fitness gear when we first got a house (pre-children!) .. we ended up selling a lot when the kids came along! You can pick these up pretty cheap though probably for the same price as a single month of gym membership, maybe even less if you check out your local Facebook Marketplace! With these you can do nearly all of the exercises that your gym weights machines do, without paying a single penny more than it cost to buy them. Not only that, but you can use them any time you want – not just during gym opening times!

Yoga

One of the cheapest forms of exercise to do from home is yoga. Although yoga isn’t for everyone, it’s incredibly popular and is a great way to stay healthy both mentally and physical when done properly! To do yoga you really need nothing more than your body, but you might want to get a yoga mat too and just Google ‘best online Yoga lesson’. That’s pretty much all you’ll need to start doing your own home yoga program! There’s no reason to spend loads of money on yoga classes if you haven’t got the cash!

Exercise with no equipment

The most obvious kind of exercise that requires no equipment is running. However, there are a variety of other exercises that are easy to do with nothing besides your own body. Press-ups and sit-ups are classic examples and are something my 8 year old loves to do too! Using exercises like these it’s possible to cover nearly every muscle in your body with one workout!

It’s also possible to use makeshift equipment in place of the “real” thing. For example, you don’t actually need dumbbells to do weights. All you need are heavy objects that are easy to lift. For light aerobic training, you can just use food tins like baked beans. For heavier weights, try using large bottles of water (just don’t drop them on yiour toes!). Both are just as good as real weights but cost nothing extra than your shopping bill!

Tips on Motivation

If the gym forms a central part of your social life, then stopping your regular gym attendance might not seem like much of an option. But it is possible to get your gym buddies to come and train with you from home, so don’t rule it out altogether.

Staying motivated during home workouts is one of the toughest things! I’m with you 100% especially when the dog tries to jump up at you and hump you just want to give up! It’s not worth the effort!

However, there are loads of ways to keep your motivation up. One of the best ways is to find buddies to work out with from home – go for a run with a school mum or get a friend over for a yoga session. 

Another great way to stay motivated is to reward yourself for every workout. You can do this with food (careful not to undo all your hard work with this one though) or with small gifts. My Fitbit or Apple Watch used to make me feel rewarded by setting a target and it beeping back at me when I met it!

Exercising from home also means that, if you’ve got music or a TV on hand, it’s your choice what to watch or listen to as you exercise. Be that Loose Women or This Morning! Together, these things should be able to keep you motivated and maintain your fitness even without heading to the gym regularly. I used to work out when Hollyoaks was on.. that way I knew I had just got at least 25 minutes in and once the program had finished, I was done!

Hope this helps.. feel free to Pin to read again later!