I can't join a gym and jogging/running bores me. What are some other good fitness options?

[Anonymous]

I work at a nonprofit, so my disposable income is low and all the gyms around me are pricey and inflexible (such as startup fees that you have to repay if you take a month off).

I hike some, do stairstep routines and do yoga via DVD. What are some other fun and affordable options? I don't live in a major city, so there aren't tons of classes and stuff that I'm aware of.

[saccharose]

Well girl, this is 21st century, you have internet and some space to do your workout then you don't have to go anywhere. There are number of different cardio based workouts for home which are sort of fun but needs ones own motivation. For example few which I know are "Insanity by Shaun T", "T-focus by Shaun T", "P90X", number of different episodes of "Bodycombat (they are fun to do)" and lastly you can go on YouTube and check out bodyrocktv, they have their workouts on YouTube completely free. I hope you will enjoy them. Goodluck :)

[Asker]

Thanks for the tips! Sometimes the sheer volume of info on the net can make it hard to know what's worth trying.

[BertMacklinFBI]

do you have a Costco near you and can you afford $350 for 2 years? cause if you say yes to both of those then you can go to Costco and purchase a $350 value of 24 Hour Fitness membership. that's all you pay and you're good to go. its a steal.

[Asker]

Sounds enticing, but the closest 24 hr fitness is at least 40 minutes away. Do they have similar offers with any other gyms, do you know?

[BertMacklinFBI]

ahhh wow 40 minutes is long. I only know of the 24 Hour Fitness deal. if you have a Fitness 19 gym near you then that one is really cheap too. I think it was like $9/month? or something really low. its a smaller chain, not even really a chain hahaha.

[Asker]

I wish! There's a Y, Curves, plus old school "health clubs" and that's it aside from a few Crossfit and martial arts places. Well, I lie... There is one cheap chain but I had an issue with the head trainer/juicehead flipping out on me one night for not wanting to go home with him, so it's out too. Damn smallish towns!!

[BertMacklinFBI]

hahaha okay well if you want to workout for free you can do your own bodyweight exercises and HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training).

[Asker]

I've heard some about that. Is there a video series or something you'd recommend to a newbie?

[BertMacklinFBI]

mm well actually for HIIT, i would recommend sprinting uphill. if you're new to sprinting then start slow, only work at like 80% of your maximum but when you get good you want to be sprinting at around 95% of your maximum power uphill for a good 15-20 seconds then walk downhill to cooldown and repeat that like 10 times. do like 4 uphill 65% power warm ups and stretch real good. look up proper technique on how to do uphill sprints. technique is very important. i could try to describe it here but ill link a good post instead. https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/staley14.htm

you can basically do HIIT for many things, like swimming, when i do HIIT for my swimming, i do 30 consistent laps at a fast pace and every 3 lap i swim 3x as fast. no breaks.

HIIT will get your metabolism burning like a furnace throughout the entire day and after and it will build lean muscle all around your body because when you do the sprints you use every part of your body at near maximum capacity. goodluck:D

[Asker]

Thanks!

[BertMacklinFBI]

You're very welcome and good luck! I love Fitness:D and I hope for the best for you!

[Anonymous]

you could try a fitness app for your smart phone... I've never tried it but I think some have workout routines on it and stuff that you can follow in your home.

[GrowStrong]

take up a hobby like tennis, soccer, badminton, any kind of sport can be fun and great exercise

[Asker]

I've always wanted to learn tennis. Maybe I could dig up a partner somewhere. :)

[GrowStrong]

yeah tennis is awsome, i used to play like 6hours a day

[GrowStrong]

if you can't find anybody maybe you could find a club somewhere

[Theguyoverthere]

Well you can try to get some cheap at-home equipment.

Or I would recommend getting creative and making some bodyweight workout routines for yourself and maybe throw in some nice music to amp you up while you workout.

[jswag]

Fo you like dancing at all? I've seen a lot of fitness dancing DVDs offers on tv that are fairly cheap in price. Or you can try some sort of sport that involves little running