How do poor people exercise?

baisleac

If it's a priority you find a way.

Craigslist, Goodwill (got our last batch of weight plates there for less than $10), PennySaver, local classifieds: all good sources for equipment.

eBay, TV on demand, hulu, youtube: all good places for workout videos.

lockef

As already said, body weight exercises are free.

Look for a clock, turn on some tunes and do some circuit training. An example would be 30 seconds of work, then 15 seconds rest with alternating exercises.

Push ups
Sit ups/Crunches
Burpees
Squats
Plank
Russian Twists
High knees/running in place
Lunges

The list can go on and on.

stormieweather

I run outside on the street, and I bought a weight bench at a yard sale for $50. The weight bench goes in the garage with the boxing bag and presto!! Workout-in-a-box. I borrow my son's pull-up bar (bought for Christmas 2 years ago) and I do planks, weighted with whatever - like my 6 yr old daughter . Fill a plastic gallon milk jug with sand or water and lift or swing that like a kettlebell. The only thing I really miss is a slant board for crunches...think I'll have to make myself one.

hamiltonba

You only need yourself! Try squats, lunges, push ups, jumping jacks, jump roping, interval jogging and walking - plenty of exercises with out weights or machines.....I would google and see what you come up with - be sure that your form is correct so you get the most out of the exercise and don't injure yourself.

becky_turcotte

try the clearance rack of your local walmart. I got some great Golds Gym videos from there for about $3 a piece. I also invested in weights (I paid about $20 in weights 2lbs, 3lbs, and 5lbs) and did the samething I would do at that gym at home. Also Biggest loser books are good with exercise, most of what is in the books can me done at home.

vdavis_89

I bought a good pair of Purple 5lb hand wieghts for like 10 bucks They kick my butt when i use them lol other than that I agree with the DVDs Or youtube!!! Youtube some exercises or follow the ones in some magazines I love my cosmo mags! That ancient machine you have sounds like some kind of sex toy or something!!! HILARIOUS!

Ashley_Panda

Put your can foods in shopping bags, tie them up and use them as weights.

Merodie

:flowerforyou: Milk containers. add a little water at a time. Then you can go to sand. Also Goodwill, an excelent place to look! while you are shopping for smaller clothes that you will not be in for very long before you need even SMALLER clothes.
Creativity is the key on a budget. Oh and also stairs. (up is better than down if you have any knee/joint issues) walk up. Elevator down. then speed it up. Throw in small bursts of speed while walking to get your heart rate up, this will also jump start the loss
Good luck and don't give up. LOTS of great suggestions here. :happy:

rthompson81

I have a lot of public swimming pools in my area... maybe you have some in your area too? Swimming laps is a great workout!

Jennfur2610

What about exercise videos? They can be relatively inexpensive, and you can find them even cheaper on ebay or amazon... You can easily make your own weights with water jugs. Also, I've heard that some cable providers have exercise channels. Mine doesn't, or at least I haven't found it yet. But yours might. Do you have a wii or xbox? They have lots of fitness games.

This. Is it possible to up the amount of walking you do, or the pace? I don't like running a lot and so I try to walk at a quicker pace than what I would walk my dogs, or leisurely walk around with a friend.

vdavis_89

Hope this doesn't come across the wrong way but... you can spend a little money now on exercise equipment. Stay healthy... Or a lot of money on health care later and have a poor quality of life. There is always a choice. In my case, I chose to live!

Love this! It is the complete and honest truth!!!

rileysowner

So I can't afford a gym membership, I have one ancient piece of exercise equipment called the LEISURE GLIDE 4000 (makes me laugh every time I say it), and the only thing I do is walk/jog 3.5 to 4 miles a day (walking more than jogging.. ) I have stuck to my healthy 1500 calorie/daily lifestyle for almost 3 months and I can't kick the 20 pound range. I need to lose 80 more. What can I do from home exercise wise? I don't want to give up, MFP friends.

I'm not really poor, but I have no desire to pay money for a gym membership again. Perhaps if our small town had one with an indoor pool I might go for it, but generally no. I workout at home. I started with Tae-bo which is an excellent all round workout and you can often find DVDs of it for very little cost. I got a bunch for $5 are Wal-mart last year. Since then I have moved to doing body weight exercises primarily. I have a bunch of the workouts I use on my blog here at MFP http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/rileysowner and they can really push a person. I have also purchased some other body weight workouts from bodyweightcoach.com which will really push a person. I just recently started the Octagon one from them and after week two I realized I was not ready for it yet in terms of fitness level as well as for me to do it right now I would have to stop doing all my cycling. Since summer is almost over I figured I would go back to it once the weather turns and cycling becomes less comfortable. Don't count out brisk walks that bring up a sweat. Also check out www.bodyrock.tv youtube.com and other online sources that are free.

anneyeats

Yogalates is good, gives you longer leaner muscles. Try your library for DVD hire, buy a skipping rope, walk up and down stairs several times, put a weighted back pack on when you excercise and keep up the good work.

cabul3

I am also too broke to afford a regular gym membership. Since I don't enjoy "at home" DVDs (not knocking them, just saying that I don't have the motivation to do them at home!), I checked out the local YMCA gym. Y's have an "assisted membership" program in order to help poor people afford a membership. I only pay $11/mo for FULL use of the gym, pool, weights, and land and aquatic classes. Maybe you could look into that?

FitRodr

Dance! I turn on my favorite music and get moving. I throw in some arm exercises and alot of lunges. Turn it up & get your groove on!

Namaste1983

Walk outside and try hiking. It is great for your mind and body
Also, goodwill and thrift store usually have some cheap used workout dvds. usualy 2 dollars or less
Just keep going
Jump rope burns 80 cals in 5 mins. (if you can go for 5 straight lol... it took me a while to get there)

LisaKyle11

use the great outdoors! i am not poor but i still spend most of my exercise time outside... no gym membership, no home gym...just my dog and self (and occasionally daughter/stroller or yoga mat). and it's FREE!

kevinlynch3

Check out you tube for videos by Craig Ballantyne who authors the Trubulence Training program. Last time I checked, he had a lot of free 5-10 minute videos on strength training using just your body weight or a training ball.

His stuff is pretty good and a lot of the exercises he uses are the same ones you'll see in crossfit/p90x training routines.

Izable2011

If you have internet access try looking up some quick exercises on youtube.

caroln3

You can start by pushing yourself to jog more than walk, little by little. When I started MFP I couldn't jog at all and the walking helped me lose a few lbs so that I can jog now. You can also do some squats or jumping jacks while watching tv.
Also, I have workout videos that I've purchased used for about 2 bucks at thrift shops and swap meets.

holly_v

youtube has tons of workout channels

Amysgetnfit

Walking - Free
Running - Free
Skipping Rope - 99 cents for a chunk of rope
Stairs - Free if you can find a tall building and the owner doesn't mind
Swimming - any beaches near by?
Bicycling - Yard sales have been mentioned
Hand weights - Soup cans to pop bottles... a milk jug can be converted to a kettleball pretty easily.

Or a lot of money on health care later and have a poor quality of life. There is always a choice. In my case, I chose to live!

ABSOLUTELY!
Im about as broke as anybody, & I do all my workouts at home, or outside, we have over the years invested in a treadmill, (so no excuse for me that the weather is bad) & we bought a bowflex on payments... eveything i think I own has a payment book attached to it. but Im sure if you look around you can find stuff to work out with.paint cans or gallon jugs of water for weights, walking/jogging outside. push ups, jumping jacks, jump rope, sit ups, crunches, lunges, squats, wall presses, find a wooden box use it for step aerobics... get creative! lift the furniture if you have too!
Good luck on your journey, where theres a will theres a way!

solpwr

Exercise can actually generate money. I have commuted to work by bicycle for a total of 883 miles so far this year. So I've saved about $200 on fuel, and a minimum of $100 in other operating costs. The cost of riding my bike has been around $100 for tires, chain, innertubes, and chain lubrication. My bike will eventually pay for itself.
An additional benefit is the efficient use of time. Generally speaking, the hour long round trip commute by automobile becomes a two hour long round trip commute. So my net time consumption is 1 more hour, but I get 2 hours of exercise for the net cost of an hour.

change_happens

So I can't afford a gym membership, I have one ancient piece of exercise equipment called the LEISURE GLIDE 4000 (makes me laugh every time I say it), and the only thing I do is walk/jog 3.5 to 4 miles a day (walking more than jogging.. ) I have stuck to my healthy 1500 calorie/daily lifestyle for almost 3 months and I can't kick the 20 pound range. I need to lose 80 more. What can I do from home exercise wise? I don't want to give up, MFP friends.

I'm poor Seriously, I am on a very strict budget and can't spend a whole lot of money on the newest workout dvd's, the newest workout equipment, or the new fandangled thing to work my abs, I rely solely on walking and the library. Right now, I have tons of workout dvd's from the library. I do have a few I purchased from Walmart, but if they are over 10 bucks, they stay right there on their shiny metal hook. If it weren't for my sister, I woulnd't have a gym membership. She bought me a two year membership to 24 Hour Fitness.

The DVD's I started with, and refuse to give up, are the Leslie Sansone Walk At Home series. She is amazing and you really get in some good exercise time.

Also, bodyrock.tv with Zuzana, she is pretty amazing and all she asks for is a donation so she can buy coffee, which she has cut down on considerably. You can pay 9.95 a month for exercises via Exercise Tv online, or if you have extended cable you probably already have this channel, as well as FitTv. There is Sparkspeople.com, they offer free videos on how to workout and stay in shape. I use this often. Let me not forget... Youtube. You can find all kinds of videos there.

Hope that helps just a teeny bit.

Wish you all the best in staying fit!!!

lucythinmint

I don't have a gym membership. Never have.

I started walking outside. I built up to running. That is all, 5 miles 5 mornings a week out doors.

I purchased a small set of hand weights then moved up when they get too easy. If you are going with the weights and are going to move up I suggest free weights. They are fairly cheap and do not cost that much to add weight to.

As I progressed I got resistance bands and some ankle weights to help with muscle tone and I did finally (after a year of actually running) invest in a good pair of running shoes.


I do not have a trainer, no gym, no help. It can be done. It's just not as easy s it would be to go to the gym

My1985Freckles

The greatest investment I ever made was $9.77 for the 2 pound weighted balls at Walmart. Came with a video workout. You can do the whole workout with the 2 lb balls, but the 5 lbs (9.77 each) are better for some muscle groups. This workout really tones my body. After like 2 weeks I could really tell the difference in my butt and thighs. I HIGHLY recommend this workout.

Sieggie

There are tons of exercise shows on TV that you can record and work out to. I particularly like Dennis Austin. You can also pick up Jillian Michaels 30 day Shred DVD. It's super affordable. I just bought one and did my first workout this morning. I learned about it from my MFP friends and it kicks your butt!

Good Luck!

digby765

Hi like you i don't have a hugh disposable income, so like you I walk a lot, increase the speed from time to time, to get your heart rate up, use your old machine, any exercise will be benificial, I also swim once or twice a week (I have a card that gets people on low income a reduced fee) and finally i cycle very occaisionally.....other than than, walk instead of cars/buses when you can, take the stairs instead of the lift, begin this by getting off one floor before you need to so you can walk the last flight.. If you have a public library loan a fitness dvd, if you think of anything else let me know, allways interested in new things.

Add me if you'd like to , and let me know how you get on...Yvonne :flowerforyou:

birdielosingit

I haven't read everyone's else responses, so please excuse me if I suggest any repeats. I am in a similar situation in that I have a lot to lose and not a lot of budget for gym, etc. I really, really like the Biggest Loser work out DVDs. They run about $10 at Walmart or Target, and actually you can get them cheaper on line. My favorite is Power Walk, but I have also tried Cardio Max and Cardio Max Weight Loss, and they are both really challenging, intense workouts. And, of course, Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred, also around $10, is fantastic. One more suggestion: www.bodyrock.com I hope that this helps.

mhm16

this guy has a workout planned for the week
nowloss.com