Skip to main content

9 Ways I Exercise without the Gym



I don’t know about you but I just don’t find sharing my sweat with a hundred other people all that inviting. I also am not a great fan of the floor to ceiling mirrors that most gyms seem to have, presuming that people like to check themselves out while exercising (is that a thing? As in does it somehow improve your exercise?). So as you can probably tell I’m not a fan of the gym unless of course I wake up feeling the need to be alone and self-conscious in a sea of people. Ummm no thanks!

But having an aversion to the gym (and their fees) doesn’t mean I have an aversion to staying fit. Here are some of the frugal ways I like to exercise ……..

1.      Bushwalking or hiking – my absolute favourite and one you can enjoy with the whole family. Tip – if you have kids who are not yet seasoned hikers it’s a good idea to let them choose the paths you take(as long as you’re not getting lost). If you just follow them instead of trying to lead them it becomes more of an adventure for them as they are the ones doing the discovering.  Don’t rush things with kids or make it success driven. Just go slowly and let them appreciate nature.


2.      Take your dog for a walk – the majority of the population don’t walk their dogs enough. I’ve known people who spend hours at the gym while their doggies sit at home in tiny backyards alone. Walking your dog is not only good for you but it is really good for your dog’s physical and mental health. And if you’ve ever had a crazy puppy you’ll know how significant your dog’s mental health can be to your own mental health.


3.      Go for a walk with a friend – rather than catch up for a coffee and cake go for a walk instead. Most of the time if you are walking with a friend you are more inclined to walk for longer as most of the time you just have a whole lot more to say (or maybe that’s just me J).


4.      There is an app for that! – Whatever exercise you like you can be guaranteed there is an app for it. My personal favourite is Simply Yoga, where I can do 20, 40 or 60 minute session that are easy or intermediate. I paid $4 for the app which wouldn’t even cover my petrol to the $20 yoga class I used to attend.


5.      Go for a swim in the ocean or the river – yes before $100,000 pools became the norm in a lot of Australian backyards people used to (and still do) go for a swim in the ocean or the river.


6.      There is a YouTube channel for that – again, whatever exercise you like you can be guaranteed there is someone offering classes on YouTube.  I like to get recommendations from friends so that I don’t get stuck searching only to end up watching funny cat videos for hours in my active wear (now that’s just sad!)


7.      Play tennis – most tennis clubs are obliged to offer free tennis court facilities so there is no shortage of courts to play on. So grab some friends who like a hit and hone your skills.


8.      Go for a bike ride – once again a great one to do with the family. There are so many hidden bike tracks out there to be discovered!


9.      Do It Yourself – do your own gardening, car washing, house cleaning. Instead of paying someone else to do it, save your money and get some exercise at the same time. Win win.
What sort of gym-free exercise do you enjoy?


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Simplest and Best Chicken Broth

INGREDIENTS 1 whole chicken (free range or organic preferred) 2 carrots, chopped 4 celery stalks, chopped 1 zucchini, chopped 1 onion, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, chopped half a bunch of parsley, chopped 1 tbsp Sea Salt or Pink River Salt Pepper Olive oil METHOD Heat oil in a large saucepan and boil a full kettle. Sauté carrots, celery, zucchini, onion and garlic until lightly brown. Add chicken, parsley stalks and salt to the pan and lightly brown. Pour boiling water in the pan. When the saucepan begins to boil turn the heat down low and put lid on. Simmer for 2-3 hours then remove bones from the chicken. The best way to do this is by pulling the whole carcass out and putting in a large bowl. Then use tongs to take meat off the bone. If you want just broth then leave the chicken out and add the rest of your parsley. If you want to make chicken soup, add the chicken back to the broth. If you’re going the soup option you can add more veggies and ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lessons learned from Sovereign Hill

In an effort to gift our children with experiences over stuff we recently took our kids on holiday to Ballarat to visit Sovereign Hill. Instead of getting a 10 th birthday present my son got to choose where we went on holiday this year, so off to Ballarat we went last weekend. Taking your kids on a holiday isn’t exactly more frugal than buying them a birthday present, however we were looking for somewhere to go for a few nights getaway and Sammy got to make the choice. And we are so grateful that he chose Sovereign Hill! So we drove 7 hours in our Honda Civic which costs a total $60 for petrol to get there and packed our own lunch, snacks and drinks. Pretty cheap way to get to another state! We also stayed in a cabin that wasn’t super cheap (say compared to camping) but allowed us to make our own meals. The cabin also had the added benefits of heating (it was 8 degrees!) and it was a 300 metre walk to Sovereign Hill. For those of you that don’t know what Sovereign...
Post a Comment
Read more

How to find more time and money

Recently I have been involved in helping a friend of mine move house. This particular friend has had to move house for financial reasons and will still be in considerable debt despite the “downsizing”. Something I have noticed in the move is that my friend just simply has too much stuff. Half of the furniture she had was cheap storage furniture to house half of the stuff she no longer used. It took a lot of time to move a lot of things that ended up in the massive rubbish pile in the end. This made me sad because it just seemed like such a massive waste of time and money. But then I thought “He is not alone. He is one of many. This is now considered normal”. Yes it is now normal to just keep buying stuff such as books, dvds, nail polish, shopkins, vases, candles, statues of meerkats and the latest cushions, towels, wall art and hair pins. And then it becomes “essential” to acquire storage for all this stuff. So not only is buying the “stuff” a waste of the earth’s resources an...
Post a Comment
Read more