How to Get Fit on a Budget

Copyright (c) 2007 Jess Harley

Joining a gym can burn a hole in your pocketbook. You might not have the room in your budget for a gym membership. Do not despair there is plenty that you can do that will cost you either very little or close to nothing at all.

You do not have to believe all those commercials that say you need to have the latest fitness equipment in order to get fit and lose weight. Those machines not only cost money but nine out of ten times they do not live up to their promises and wind up collecting dust under your bed. Save your money and instead try taking a brisk walk everyday. You can walk through your neighborhood, local parks or even around a high school football field during the summer when its not being used. If it is raining, take a ride to your town mall and do laps around the mall. Not only will you get a great workout, you can also check out the latest deals. Other quick and free things you can do is to take the stairs whenever possible and park further away at stores.

You can also get a great workout by cleaning. Working out in the garden can burn up to 400 calories in an hour which is almost the same as you can get from walking your dog. Shoveling Snow can burn almost 500 calories in an hour! Virtually every household chore can be turned into some form of exercise from scrubbing your floors to vacuuming your carpet. The key is to increase your heart rate while doing them.

Your kids are also excellent workout tools. Have you ever spent a day chasing after a toddler? It is exhausting and take it from me, they can leave you breathless. They have an unbelievable amount of energy and you can work up a good sweat just trying to keep up with them. Another activity toddlers love is dancing. Put on some music and boogey down with your tot. Not only are you spending more time with your little one, you are getting a good workout. If you have older kids also, take them outside and play with them. Play kickball, or tag your it. Take them to the park and run around with them. All of these fitness ideas will cost you nothing at all and but for once you will be gaining something in return,.

If you have the room in budget there are some inexpensive fitness items you can invest in. Free weights or dumbbells are usually very inexpensive and can help strengthen you upper and even lower body. You may pay more money for them at a sporting store but Target and Wal-Mart sell them for only a few dollars. Jump ropes are also a excellent and inexpensive way to get a good cardio work out.

Worse comes to worse and you have no room in your budget for any of those items, chances are you have a every workout tool you might need already in your pantry. A bag of flour weights the same as a stomach ball and you can fill empty milk jugs to act as weights.

There is no need for exercise to cost a lot of money. Save the money you would spend on expensive equipment or gym membership and use it on the new wardrobe you will soon need.