exercise

I’m a fair weather gym dropper. That is so say, when the weather starts being fair, I drop my gym membership! I much prefer walking outside as opposed to the treadmill, and will even try to do so in the winter as long as it’s not bitter or icy. A lot of gyms in Berks County participate in Tivity Fitness Your Way, which offers very discounted gym memberships through my Highmark insurance and only requires a 3-month commitment. It helps get me more active when the weather isn’t ideal and save money during the times of year I’m less likely to hit the gym.

I have a philosophy about gyms. Over the years I’ve seen many friends join them, go for a few weeks and then after a few weeks more they complain about how they’re still getting charged because they were locked in. Here’s the thing — some people join gyms because they think that will make it easier to exercise or even that it’s the only place to properly exercise. Often times, if you have the ability to exercise at home, or walk outside and just choose not to due to lack of motivation, there’s no point to joining a gym. If the core issue is motivation, that won’t magically hit just because you walked through the doors of a fitness center.

Get an exercise band. Pump some soup cans like weights. Walk in place. Download a fitness app or follow a routine chart on Pinterest or in a magazine. Then if you still think a gym is necessary, (and you can afford it!) join the gym.

An odd thing that I didn’t intend to be a fitness hack, turned out to be a great one! It’s not something you would think of as improving your exercise interest.

I don’t have a coffee table.

Look at all that excellent space for stretching, walking in place, calisthenics, dancing, etc. I can even bring out my deskcycle and use it on the couch while I read my Kindle. There’s no barrier of having to rearrange the furniture just to do a few sun salutations.

The key is to get more activity in. If you expect to go from zero to BEAST MODE, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Make it easy. Make it attainable. If that means marching in place while loading the laundry and lifting water bottles while your lunch heats up, then at least you’re ahead of doing nothing just because you can’t get to the gym.