4 Challenging Ways to Exercise Without Joining a Gym

4 Challenging Ways to Exercise Without Joining a Gym

After letting your fitness slip a bit and spending too much time on the couch, you are more than ready to get into a regular exercise routine and get back into shape.

While you don’t really mind working out — in fact, on many days you truly enjoy it — you do mind exercising at a big and noisy gym. From pushy salespeople who want you to purchase pricey memberships to having to wait in line to use the equipment, you would rather exercise pretty much anywhere else.

Sound familiar? Good news, intrepid fitness enthusiast — there are plenty of ways to do challenging fitness routines from the comfort of your own home. For example, check out the following ideas that you can do at any time and without paying a dime for membership:

Watch Fitness Videos Online

The internet is a gold mine of at-home fitness routine ideas. For example, if you search “at home workout” on YouTube you will have over 11 million (yes, million!) videos from which to choose. In order to watch these videos on your larger TV screen, you can use your smartphone’s assistance. If you have an iPhone 8 Plus, you can use its AirPlay feature to play the videos you find online and also on social media platforms on a larger screen. Spend some time browsing through a couple dozen of the videos or so to choose a couple that you want to try, and transform your living room into your own personal gym.

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Try an At-home Boot Camp Workout

Boot Camp workouts have grown in popularity in recent years. If you want to give this type of exercise routine a try, you can definitely do so at home with the help of a few pieces of furniture. Strive to do each exercise for one minute and/or about 20 repetitions. For instance, start by marching in place for 60 seconds and then hold a plank position before moving onto “couch step-ups” where you put your right leg on your sofa and then bringing your left leg up to meet the right leg. Next, do push-ups — either traditional ones or while standing against a wall — and then use a chair to do some counterbalance squats. You can either follow the 10-minute routine suggested by UHC.com or create your own; strive to do the routine a couple of times a day for best results.

Invest in Some Exercise Equipment

Another great way to bring the gym workouts home is to spring for some workout equipment. To make it as budget-friendly as possible, check local secondhand sports stores like Play It Again Sports for a gently used elliptical or exercise bike or spend a few bucks for a jump rope and a stability ball. If you have room in your family room, you can get in your workout while watching your fave TV show or you can jump up and get in some reps with free weights during commercial breaks.

Harness the Power of the Staircase

If you have a two-story home, you can create an energizing routine by walking briskly or jogging up and down the stairs. Start out with a small number of repetitions and work at upping the number of times you go up and down. Be sure to wear athletic shoes with non-slip soles like those sold at Zappos. Also, be mindful of pets that might want to try to work out with you. Once you reach the top of the stairs you can jog to your bedroom and then back. When you are at the bottom do a lap or two around your first floor before heading back up.

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There are so many ways to exercise at home, you will wonder why you ever thought about joining a gym. In addition to saving serious gym membership money, there are so many fitness routines online and workouts to create and try, you are sure to reach your fitness goals without ever leaving home.