Gym memberships can be costly. So can personal trainers, expensive workout equipment, and expense that make it cost efficient to avoid exercise. But the truth is a better body can be built on a budget if you follow certain golden rules.
Simple workouts with zero equipment and getting the benefits of a trainer for free by clicking on a mouse make it easy to stay in shape and save money. Fitness experts have shared advice on how to get fit without spending a single penny. This guide serves to capture the essence of their tips on budget fitness fundas to help you become toned and svelte.
Budget Fitness Fundas
#1 Scheduling Workouts
When a membership is secured at a high-tech gym or a standing appointment is carried out with a personal trainer, this means you have to shell out big bucks. Now you can get the best fitness workouts without shelling a single penny of your hard earned cash. All you need to do is schedule your workouts at home. This means making specific time for when the workout will be carried out and ensuring all interruptions are blocked.
Switching off the phone, ensuring your pet’s needs are taken care of, and family members do not come in the way may be the best thing for your workout regimen. Remind yourself about the workout so that you do not skip out on the sessions. Create a playlist of the best songs that energize and motivate you. This can serve as a powerful reminder to tune into your workout daily.
#2 Choose Home Friendly Workouts
When the workout program commences, it is important to figure out which exercises are being carried out, if you lack the budget to use personal trainers or costly equipment. You just need to ensure that a few basic guidelines are followed.
- Your major muscle groups need to be targeted at least once each week and no more than three times in a week.
- The program has to include 30-60 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic exercise 3-5 times in a week.
- Stretching at the start of the exercise helps with strength and flexibility.
Workouts need to begin with a few simple stretches and also end with 2-3 minute stretching sessions. - Basic no equipment requiring exercises are needed to get you started.
Squats
Photo By: Kahmal89/ CC BYThis involves no exercise equipment. Yet this is one of the most challenging workouts. Standing upright, the feet need to be wider than shoulder width apart. Your arms need to bend forward, and your hands can also be on your hips. Now balance your body and squat down. Push the knees outwards as you descend till the thighs are parallel to the floor. Continue moving the knee outwards while you squat. This offers a complete workout for your body at next to no cost.
Partial Body Push Ups
This involves pushups with your knees to the floor.
Modified Jumping Jacks
Instead of moving the arms over the head, these need to be done to press the palms of the hand at chest level. The elbows need to be held out to make a straight long line.
Chair Dips
Chair dips make use of the chair, a popular home equipment which can work wonders for your fitness. Here’s how. Place the hands on the chair’s side and wrap fingers around the edge. Move forward till your behind is on the edge of the chair. Arms should be completely extended with feet 3 inches apart with legs extended.
Knees are at a 150-degree angle with heels grounded. The elbows are pointing backward and tucked alongside the body. You need to dip your body in the ensuing space 15-20 times staying down for around three seconds and moving up for an additional one second. Chest position should point upwards, and shoulders should be pointing backward.
Chair Crunches
These are another popular exercise which does not involve straining the budget. Sit on a chair with the hands under your glutes, arms straightened and abs lowered. Keep the knees bent at a 90-degree angle and lifted the feet off the floor. Tuck in the knees towards the chest. Your upper body should be bent slightly towards the knee. Do this till you cannot perform even a single more repetition. A more challenging yet cost efficient exercise will be hard to find.
#4 Turn Home Furniture Into Gym Equipment
There’s a lot of items inside the confine of your home which can double up as exercise equipment. Household objects can be a perfect substitute for professional fitness equipment.
Using soup cans as weights
This is the first step forward. You can perform triceps or biceps workouts using cans of soup, much like dumbbells at gyms. For properly gauging the weight, you don’t need to follow the ounces on the can. Remember that is liquid weight. The overall can will weigh much more.
Using Jugs For Weighted Squats
Filling a household bucket or jug with water, rock salt, sand or powdered detergents and securing the same with a duct tape can work wonders. Lifting this up and down as you perform squats can work really well for toning your body.
Try Paper Plates For Body Sculpting
Use the plates to help your body slide on a carpet or floor. This would act like a regular equipment for toning your body. Use the paper plate under one foot and lunge forward, performing the sliding lunge. Try using skates to work the butt and the thighs and attach the late to your feet with bands and slide on these. Another variation can be to put the plates under the hand and work the chest by sliding arms back and forward.
Countertop as a Pushup Bench
In most homes, at least the kitchen or the bath has a countertop which can be used for a pushup. The hands need to be placed on the countertop, extending the legs behind at an angle leaning into the counter and pushing back up.
Suspenders as Resistance Band
An old pair of tights or suspenders can work as a resistance band. Loop a pair of tights around your feet and full back with both hands sitting on the floor with your legs straight, and you will have your very own rowing machine.
#5 Use Online Workout Lessons to Motivate and Guide You
Work out with someone charting the course for you, when you log online and follow a free training session. The online free apps and fitness tracking apps that provide the guidance you need can help you out too. Numerous online websites offer exercise tracking tools and spreadsheets. Using them to create a training regimen helps you to track progress and share the lessons online with friends, family members and those exercising. Many sites have fitness slideshows that contain workout and abs exercises.
YouTube is just one of the many video sites where fitness coaches and trainers share their online videos and knowledge. Some of them come with a wealth of qualifications and experience, making it easy to workout without spending a single dollar. Check that the instructor is qualified and from a reputable fitness organization.
#6, Check Out Exercise Options During a Commercial Break!
No excuses no expense workouts are now easy. Commercial breaks can be the perfect time to do a couple of push-ups or planks. Opt for a different activity for each commercial till the show comes back on. In one commercial break, there are so many exercises you can try out.
#7 Create a Home Gym
If you are of modest means, spend the cash wisely to get the maximum benefits of a home workout. Try opting for refurbished equipment and visit a second hand or garage sales market for the best bargains and deals. A dumbbell represents a realistic range of what is required for lifting weights for women of around 5-30 pounds and 10-50 pounds for men.
Some other equipment which cost less and can be used for a long time include resistance bands, stability balls, and jump rope. Even a flight of stairs can be the perfect venue for a workout. Stairs are an amazing training tool.
Using smartphones or wearables, you can even track your own heart beat and other fitness indications through free apps.
#8 Use Your Bodyweight
Photo By: Hannah Wells/ CC BYWeights, balls, and bands are all useful when it comes to exercising. But at the end of the day, bodyweight is the best bet. It’s free and easy to use your bodyweight to challenge and push yourself. Resistance training from using bodyweight can be as effective as free weight or machine based workouts.
#9 Join a Fitness Community
Many online forums and communities are filled with ideas for getting free workouts at extremely low costs. Community centers, for example, are a great place to workout. Classes, indoor tracks or even equipment can be used at cheap rates as against local mega fitness centers. Local recreation departments or town hall initiatives could also work. Many educational institutions such as schools, colleges and universities have a fitness center open to community members. Local pools let you swim laps for a nominal fee.
Ultimately, exercise has to be enjoyable for it to be repeated. Outdoor recreation options such as hiking, jogging and bike baths or even ice skating can prove beneficial for keeping you fit.
#10 Take Advantage of Opportunities
Special equipment or gyms are not needed for an aerobic workout. A Little foresight and a lot of activity can ensure that the fitness routine is not taken for granted. From making a brisk walk to taking the stairs instead of the lift can work wonders. Making housework a work out can help too. From mowing the lawn to raking the leaves or some snow shoveling, the option for taking your activity levels a notch higher with household chores is unlimited. Indoor activities such as vacuums and scrubbing count as a workout if the heart rate has to be raised.
#11 Medicine Balls Bring A New Level of Challenge
A fitness, stability or medicine ball can be really challenging. The fitness ball looks like a massive beach ball. Many core exercises can be done such as abdominal crunches, flexibility, balance and posture-boosting exercises, using a BOSU ball or a fitness ball with a flat and stable foundation. Medicine balls are weighted and made of rubber or leather. These balls are available in many sizes. Exercises can be carried out with a medicine ball covering a wide range including core exercises and calisthenics.
Kettle balls are round weights with a handle towards the top. The ball can be used for strength training and enhancing the power of your grip. Kettle balls are available in a wide number of sizes. Skipping ropes can also work out for a cardiovascular boost. Resistance tubing is yet another effective workout where you use the tubes to build strength in your body and tone it, using varying degrees of resistance.
Conclusion
Exercising can be made easy and 100% free using these tips and tricks. So, don’t make the lack of cash for pricey gym memberships an excuse for your lack of exercise. Grab a chair, climb a stair or just get rolling on a BOSU ball as you kickstart your new routine and stay fit, even if you cannot afford the protein shakes and costly training equipment. From balancing your diet to exercising well, there are a whole lot of ways to stay healthy on a budget. Check out on more budget fitness tips at EmergeFitnessUSA.com.