If you’re anything like me you love a good deal. The word "FREE" can send you straight to cloud nine. Another thing about myself: I HATE paying for anything that I feel I should be doing myself, which wouldn’t cost me a thing. Among that list are things like cleaning my car, my house and my dog, landscaping around my home and getting exercise. Truly, the thought of paying someone to "exercise me" just kills me when I know that I could just work out on my own if I planned and tried hard enough.
The simple truth is that we all need a certain amount of exercise in our lives to keep us healthy, for so many reasons. Exercising (and I’m sure you’ve heard this a time or two before) lowers stress, helps prevent heart disease and strokes, boosts the immune system, helps make for happier moods, not to mention it can help you lose fat and tone muscles for that sexy bod we’re all aching to have.
But here’s something you may not already know, you can exercise for free (or really, really cheap) no matter what type of regime you are wanting to get into.
There are, no doubt, several things you can do on your own to get your exercise during the course of any given week. Over the next few weeks I’ll give you some tips on great ways you can exercise for free.
Walking
One of the easiest things you can do is to walk. It seems trite, I know. You always hear about how people should walk more. But it truly is the simplest thing and there’s always time for a few extra steps here and there – you’d be surprised how much it really does add up. If you don’t believe me, get yourself a pedometer and see how many steps you take in an average day. Then try some of my suggestions and see how many more steps it adds – and here’s a hint: more steps = more calories burned!
1.) Don’t look for a good parking space. I’ve gotten into the habit if finding the shadiest parking space so that my car stays cool while I’m running errands. Typically the shady parking space is farther from a building, which means not only is my car getting cooled naturally (good for the environment), but I’m having to walk farther to get from my car to the store and back to my car.
2.) No ride sharing. Instead of taking elevators, take the stairs. This has several advantages. First of all the stairs are usually quicker, you’ll never get stuck because normally the staircase is never out of order and you’ll get more exercise. There are some dark and seedy instances though where for safety and security you might decide that the elevator is a better option, but when you can, climb the stairs instead.
3.) Walking for sport. A couple of years ago, when my son was playing football and my other son soccer, I adopted the policy of walking around the outer perimeter of the field during each of their practices – for the entire hour, or as long as I could keep it up. I really missed sitting on the sidelines and chatting with my girlfriends, but I found that after a few days of walking instead of sitting on my tush inspired them to get up and walk with me.
4.) Killing time. Have you ever had to wait on someone and got so bored you actually paced back and forth? Good. Only do it with purpose. Instead of wearing a groove in the sidewalk the size of your car, take a walk around the block, neighborhood or wherever you are. When my kids take tae kwon do I have an hour to kill. It’s too much time to sit around and do nothing but it’s not enough time to run errands or go home and come back either, so I’ve taken to bringing my iPod along and walking (sometimes dancing – but only when no one’s looking) around our tiny town.
(photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu/)
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