No Gym? Be Creative!

Gyms are expensive. Well, they are when you’re in your mid-twenties and on a budget so you can buy a house one day. Sure, a lot of apartment and work complexes have “free” gyms, but my experience says those gyms have three machines and are kind of sketchy. There are ways to get around this and still have a great work out at home.

My primary source for a variety of workouts is the Daily Burn app. I do share the cost of it with my mom, but there is a monthly fee for the service. HOWEVER, that service comes with a daily new workout and a library of anything you can think of. Beginner’s yoga? There’s a program for that. Quick intense abs? A twenty minute workout video will make you hurt in the good way in no time. There are even videos for the crazy cross-fit type stuff I personally stay far away from. Daily Burn is a great source of mixing up the type of exercise you want to do each day. Or, you can me like me and find five or six workouts you love and just rotate between them.

Don’t want to pay for an app? I use my Wii for cardio. Oh, yeah. Just Dance is my jam. 2016 is my favorite one for a cardio workout- I set up a playlist of 10 songs (it comes out to roughly 35 minutes of exercise) and let it rip. I don’t care too much about the “score” and I trust my Samsung Gear more than the calorie count on the game, but I groove. Some songs get special treatment- “low” dances mean I keep lower in a squat for most of the song to work my thighs and “hell yeah” means I’m treating this song like I’m on So You Think You Can Dance even though I’ve only had one year of ballet in my life ever. No two Just Dance games are the same. Some just have songs that do not get you moving. Others have really easy choreography that doesn’t give you what you need. It is a test as you go type of thing, but it is an easy and fun way to get in a workout.

Of course, there is always going to a park to walk/ run. This isn’t my thing, but I am starting to put this into my rotation. There’s also using the different routines you find on Pintrest, or just making up things as you go along. Workouts are what you put into it. The more you work, the more results you get. Just beware if you have pets: cats will rub up on you and lay under you when you are trying to do a plank. It adds to the challenge, and it will happen often.

What are your go-to at home workouts? I would love to hear more suggestions!