Contrary to popular opinion, if you want to increase your level of fitness, you don’t have to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on an expensive professional gym membership. Some of these so called professional gyms are often places where injuries occur most often. If you work at one of the professional gyms and are injured, you might want to contact a worker’s compensation lawyer. But for the rest of us just looking for a more active lifestyle, we don’t need the gym. What can we do?
- Join a local sports club such a running club
Who said working out had to be a chore? One way to pursue an active lifestyle is to find fun ways to burn calories. As an example, if you enjoyed team sports as a child you may be interested in taking up football, basketball or baseball whilst if you prefer solo sports why not introduce yourself to the folks at your local tennis club? Not only will you increase your fitness but you’ll also make good friends.
If you love the idea of spending time exploring the great outdoors, it’s well worth joining a running club. If you’re on a budget, some organizations such as Park Run offer free weekly timed runs around the world. Park Run’s weekly races are ideal for newbie runners as they are only 5km, an achievable distance for most runners.
- Train for regular events such as triathlons and fun runs
Most individuals are far more likely to keep to a training regime if they have a clear goal in sight. As an example, if you sign up for a local triathlon, you’ll be far more likely to drag yourself out of bed on a cold winter’s morning to go for a bike ride or a run, than if you had no clear goal in sight. Better yet, after completing each event, you’ll find yourself wanting to take on a harder challenge such as a half marathon or an endurance mountain bike race.
- Use a fitness tracker to track your daily activities
Ideally the average person should take at least 10,000 steps per day. A great way to keep yourself honest is to purchase a fitness monitor such as a smart watch or a fitness band such as a Fit Bit to record the steps you take each day. Most activity trackers can also tell you how many calories you’ve burned as well as your heart rate. Better yet, you can also use an activity tracker to record your work out statistics when you swim, dance or compete in a sport. So, if you’re not a walker or a runner, it’s still well worth purchasing a fitness tracker.
If you’re on a budget, no problem. If you have a smart phone you’ll be able to download a free app which will track your daily activity. Just don’t expect a free app to track your heart rate.
The bottom line is we can get healthy and active without signing up for those high-cost professional gyms. Get out there on your own. You can do it!