5 Great Alternatives to Hitting the Gym

There’s a good reason so many of us just can’t muster up the sticking power to make committing to the burden of a gym membership worth our time and money, and isn’t that we’re scared of exercise

It’s more that, to a lot of people, the atmosphere of a gym simply isn’t conducive to enjoyment. It can be intimidating, or simply unpleasant depending on where you go, with mirrored walls and a crowded mass of lycra clad limbs lending the setting a nightmarish air.

Whilst exercise is important for our health, that doesn’t mean it should be joyless. If anything the very opposite is true. So, here’s a round up of some top alternatives for those of us who’d rather be anywhere than the gym, even when we’re exercising;

Going For a Run or Hike

This might sound obvious, but the fact of the matter is that a high number of new gym members head straight towards (and stick to) the treadmills.

One of the chief enemies of exercise, especially cardio vascular activities, is boredom. Surely, the risk of boredom is higher on a treadmill, rooted to the spot with no scenery to distract you or prompt your mind to wonder onto subjects other than the ache slowly taking hold of your muscles…

Join a Sports Team

Many people find the gym experience hard to enjoy due to the fact it can be very solitary. Indeed, manufacturers of entertainment devices such as MP3 players have developed special models for use at the gym, to help members zone out and ignore the space around them.

This is probably the factor the drives so many people to hire a personal trainer, not so much for the advice and motivation or the dressings down, more for the company. With this in mind, even if you aren’t much of a sports fan, if you’ve suddenly decided to get fit, consider joining up to a sports team rather than joining a gym.

DVD

Alternatively, you might be perfectly happy exercising on your own. Perhaps for you lack of companionship isn’t a problem, but rather, you’d actually prefer more privacy. In that case what better setting for your work out than the seclusion provided by your own front room. Exercising along to a DVD can be an excellent, cost effective way to add structure to your regimen.

Invest In Your Own Equipment

When you think about it, gym membership often amounts to little more than paying over the odds to rent exercise equipment, much of which you could very easily buy yourself at a fraction of the cost of even a months membership, let alone a 12 month contract.

Even if you do love the gym environment, if you are turning up just to utilise dumbbells, resistance bands and an exercise ball, you’re going to be able to buy those items and have them for your own private use whenever you want, at a cheaper price than you pay for the privilege of effectively renting them out for an hour or two a week.

Jane Newman writes on a range of topics pertaining to health and fitness, from easy workouts to choosing health insurance quotes.