Keeping Fit Without a Gym Membership

Modern life is a balancing act between work, social responsibilities, personal goals, and sleep.  Every year it feels like we’re all getting less and less time for ourselves. If you’ve got one of MYK’s pajama sets, you’re definitely making the most of your sleep time – but are you meeting your personal goals?  

One goal that’s typically the first sacrificed at the altar of the work-life balance is staying in shape: everyone has different reasons for skipping the gym, and they really are typically good reasons! 

But what can you do if you really, really want to keep yourself in shape, but just can’t find the chance to do it? We’ve got some easy ways for you to get some exercise in no matter what your reason for skipping the gym is.

 

 

Can’t Exercise, Gotta Finish These TPS Reports!

It’s an all too common problem these days: you want to make time to exercise, but you just work too much.  Those TPS reports won’t file themselves, after all!

While there are 24 hour gyms, they aren’t always in a convenient location, and they can also be a bit creepy at night.  Luckily, there’s an option for you: the key to a healthier body when you can’t make it to the gym is turning things you already do into exercise.

For example, you can do some cardio cleaning, which is basically working in sets of common exercises (like burpees, squats, and pushups) while cleaning up the house.  Try getting off the bus or subway a stop or two earlier and briskly walk the rest of the distance. Even taking the stairs instead of the elevator can work quite well if you work in a tall building.  

Lastly, if you want something super fast that actually is an exercise you can try doing sprint interval training: a warm-up, three sprinting sets with biking or speed walking between them, and a cool-down will only take you about ten minutes at most, but is an excellent workout.

 

 

Can’t Exercise, Gotta Watch My Kids!

Kids can be a huge drain on your time to exercise, and while giving them an iPad is almost like having a remote control that turns your children on and off, it’s not the best way to raise a future doctor/lawyer/astronaut/Hollywood actor.  Instead, you can incorporate your workouts into your time with your kids!

The simplest thing you can do is take your kids on a walk in the park – it’s beneficial for their developing brains to see a lot of new scenery.  if they’re too young to walk, pull them in a wagon or just carry them.

With older children, you can play ball, dodgeball, or really any sport you can think of that’s age appropriate.  Even better, you can go for a jog and have them ride alongside on a tricycle or bike: they get to spend more time with Mommy (or Daddy), and you’re finally able to get that run into your schedule again.

 

 

Can’t Exercise, I Live in Siberia/the Desert/on the Moon

It’s a sad fact of life that some places just don’t have a decent gym within a 30 mile radius – and sometimes there are just no gyms nearby, period.  That doesn’t mean you can’t exercise without spending hundreds of dollars on a home gym, though.

Thousands of fitness experts have uploaded all kinds of home workout videos to YouTube – you can do aerobics, relive the 90s with Tae Bo, learn yoga, do a dance workout, or try one of the new trendy bodyweight workouts.

 

 

 

Can’t Exercise, No Motivation

Everyone runs into exercise motivation issues sometimes – even personal trainers, whose job depends on working out!  There are a few ways you can keep yourself exercising even if you don’t have the motivation, though.

The best one is having an exercise buddy: you and your exercise buddy can keep each other honest and working out.  Scheduling workouts in advance really does help.

If you hate spending 40 minutes to an hour working super hard in the gym, you can try looking for some short low impact workouts: workouts don’t have to be grueling to keep you fit and in shape.  You can also try keeping a fitness journal and try to track down what makes you skip the gym.

Lastly, exercise in the morning!  It’s odd, but morning exercisers are far more likely to stick with their workout program than evening exercisers - rather than dreading your coming workout all day, you do it quick and early in the morning.  It’ll also help keep you awake at work without that morning coffee!