7 Affordable Fitness Solutions Beyond the Traditional Gym for Your New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year! It's the season for setting goals to improve our financial savvy and physical fitness, along with other aspirations.

While the allure of enrolling in an expensive gym is strong at the start of the year, come January, these fitness centers are often crowded with enthusiastic new members committed to annual memberships.

However, by March, these gyms frequently become much quieter. Let's explore some cost-effective and sustainable alternatives to traditional gym memberships that align with your New Year's fitness resolutions.

Fortunately, there are ways to become more physically and financiaKlly fit in the new year.

Here are seven ways to work out for less.

YouTube

YouTube is a treasure trove of fitness workouts for every ability and every type of workout.

If you want to start slowly and have no equipment, try Yoga with Adriene. Her 30-day yoga challenge will keep you interested and challenge you to continue.

By the end of the month, you’ll have enough yoga experience to try different routines, like Yoga for Flexibility, Yoga for Weight Loss or the ever-popular Yoga for When You Are Feeling Unmotivated.

If you want something a little faster than yoga, you can try a low impact workout, high-intensity interval training, cardio or a dance workout.

There’s something for everyone on YouTube, with many free workouts that require no equipment.

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Walk or Run

Walking and running are great forms of exercise that require very little expenditure, other than the purchase of a good pair of sneakers.

If you’re new to exercise, start with walking, and increase your speed and/or distance as you become more fit.

Walking can be a great social activity too, and walking with others can help you stay accountable to your fitness goals.

Find someone in your neighborhood who walks at about the same pace and has similar goals and agree on a certain number of days when you’ll meet to walk.

Or start a walking club with multiple members who meet for regular walks. Having more members means fewer excuses to back out if one person can’t make it on a given day.

If running is your ultimate goal but you’re not there yet, try Couch to 5K.

It’s a fitness plan that will get you off the couch and train you to run a 5K race in just 9 weeks.

You start by walking a bit, then running a very short distance, then walking again. As you continue, you run for longer and longer periods until you can run a 5K race.

You can run outdoors or indoors on a treadmill, and there are apps that you can use on your smartphone or fitness tracker.

Local School Athletic Facilities

Some public schools and colleges allow local residents to use their track or other facilities when school is not in session or the facilities aren’t being used.

Be sure to check with someone in authority at the school to make sure it’s OK before you start. But once you get the green light, you can typically walk or jog for free.

Local Community Center or YMCA

Many community centers offer fitness classes or have a fitness center you can use, often at low or no cost. Group classes may be offered on a per-class basis, so you only pay for the classes you actually attend.

A nearby YMCA is typically a reasonably priced alternative to an expensive gym.

You can join the Y to use their facilities and take fitness classes, or you can sign up for classes as a non-member.

The cost to join the Y can be considerably cheaper than the cost of a high-end gym membership and you get most of the same amenities.

Buy Used Home Gym Equipment

If you want to work out at home and think it will help to have a treadmill, stationary bike or rowing machine, check out yard sales, Facebook Marketplace or your local ‘buy nothing’ group.

You may find a good selection of barely used equipment that was purchased new last January.

Make (or Find) Your Own Gym Equipment

The big gyms not only have industrial-strength workout machines, but they also have racks of weights, resistance bands, kettlebells and more.

But you can use many household items to substitute for gym equipment.

Cans of soup or vegetables can be used as one-pound weights if you don’t want to invest in dumbbells.

Or fill water or soda bottles to the exact weight you want. Use milk jugs filled with sand for heavier weights.

Instead of a kettlebell, use a bottle of laundry detergent that has a handle.

Some exercises you do at the gym with a personal trainer can be done at home using your household furniture.

A folding chair will work for triceps dips, and you can do squats or bicycle crunches with a couch cushion.

There’s no need to pay for a gym membership to use the stair climber if you have actual stairs.

Running up and down the stairs in your house will give you the same strength and cardio workout at no cost whatsoever.

No yoga mat? A beach towel will do nicely, and a firm pillow or a second rolled up towel can substitute for blocks during your workout.

Work Out Virtually

Virtual reality headsets can make working out at home seem like you’re at a high-end fitness club.

Try Dance Central to get moving with fun dance moves; check out VRWorkout for four levels of calisthenics synched to your custom playlist; or play indoor tennis, bowling and more with Sports Scramble.

For a workout that feels more like a game, try OhShape, Beat Saber or PowerBeatsVR.

Purchasing one or more of these games plus an Oculus or other VR headset will probably set you back less than an annual gym membership, and they’re a lot more fun.

The Takeaway

Since these workout options cost very little money, or, in some cases, nothing at all, you can mix it up to keep things interesting.

Take a walk when the weather is good and do a virtual workout when it’s not. Find a yoga video one day, and a high-intensity interval training routine the next.

No matter what you choose, these low cost fitness options will do your body and your wallet good.

Source: yahoo

The opinions shared in the GymNation blog articles are solely those of the respective authors and may not represent the perspectives of GymNation or any member of the GymNation team.