Workouts outside of the gym

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Unfortunately, I don't have room in my current budget for a gym membership, and I'm curious how many other people out there are exercising outside of the gym / fitness classes. I'd love to hear people's favorite workouts and get ideas of new things to try so I don't fall into a rut!

So, what are your favorite workouts?

I've been doing running, Jillian Michaels DVDs, pilates DVDs, hiking, and occasionally kayaking.
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  • thinby40
    thinby40 Posts: 113
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    I like the 30 day shred and Leslie Sansone walking DVDs!
  • armacd
    armacd Posts: 95
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    I'm currently doing P90X/Insanity hybrid workout, I love it, great variety. I also really enjoy riding bikes, so now that its finally cooling off here in AZ, I'll probably start doing that again :)
  • SusanneWhittington
    SusanneWhittington Posts: 339 Member
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    Leslie Sansone walking DVD's, Zumba DVD, Power 90 DVD, but we have a treadmill and a Bowflex at home too, so plenty of opportunity to work out.
  • exercisarah
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    www.bodyrock.tv - it's free! and it definitely works!! i was a skeptic at first because the workouts are usually relatively short, but I have the best body I've ever had thanks to bodyrock! it's intense! i usually do around 20 minutes of interval rope jumping afterwards
  • ckisme
    ckisme Posts: 15
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    P90X, Insanity, TurboFire. Love them all.
  • junekmoore
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    I go to the park and run up and down a hill there. I brisk walk for about an hour and I jump rope there. I go to a Zumba class twice a week at $3.00 a class.
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    I don't really like the gym. I do teach spin, but other than that, I prefer to be somewhere else!

    Dance, cycling, and SUP are my favorites.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,574 Member
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    Unfortunately, I don't have room in my current budget for a gym membership, and I'm curious how many other people out there are exercising outside of the gym / fitness classes. I'd love to hear people's favorite workouts and get ideas of new things to try so I don't fall into a rut!

    So, what are your favorite workouts?

    I've been doing running, Jillian Michaels DVDs, pilates DVDs, hiking, and occasionally kayaking.
    Look for a Planet Fitness. It's $10 a month for membership. Not my choice of gym, but if that's all I had, then I would do it.
  • Jarvis95
    Jarvis95 Posts: 157 Member
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    i love running on stairs outside...it's a great workout!! used to have a great set in the park where i used to live :D
  • elzianne
    elzianne Posts: 52 Member
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    www.bodyrock.tv - it's free! and it definitely works!! i was a skeptic at first because the workouts are usually relatively short, but I have the best body I've ever had thanks to bodyrock! it's intense! i usually do around 20 minutes of interval rope jumping afterwards

    I haven't tried BodyRock yet, but I've come across it and heard great things about it. I noticed most of the workouts use a sandbag –– did you buy one from their website or is there another place you recommend getting one? Or can you make one yourself?
  • Circa1964
    Circa1964 Posts: 225 Member
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    I live a little out of town and work evenings so the gym membership is inconvenient for me. I walk/run around my neighborhood. I have an elliptical and a weight bench with dumbells also. I have a step and sometimes do a little step aerobics at home and have been known to set up an circuit training system where I do a couple of minutes of cardio (step, jump rope, jumping jacks, or elliptical), then do some dumbell exercises and resistance (squats, lunges, push ups, abs etc...). A couple of minutes of each and rotate them around.

    I work for a school where they give us an hour a week to exercise as long as we do it there. We have an bowflex that gets used as well as very long hallways. It's easy to walk both indoors or out. We also have stairs. I have been known to go up and down the stairs while walking.
  • Sassi50
    Sassi50 Posts: 67 Member
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    I use my elliptical every morning, and hike up and down the Niagara Escarpment. I also use a pilates DVD and have the Valerie Bertinelli one as well. I was doing a lot of walking in the summer as.
  • mcrowe1016
    mcrowe1016 Posts: 647 Member
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    Walking, hiking and biking are all awesome
  • LadyNeshoba
    LadyNeshoba Posts: 159 Member
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    I do Belly Dance once a week

    I also like using my stairs at my apartments. I will run up and do lunges all the way across to the next stairs and then walk down and then jog across and then do leg extensions all the way to the top (Really really works your bootie XD) and then lunges across again :)

    Somedays I'll do yoga vids and pilates vids on Netflix

    But for other stuffs I just go to my gym at the apartments for.
  • xraychick77
    xraychick77 Posts: 1,775 Member
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    i hike up hills..sometimes i run..like trail run but on trails that go uphill.
  • Edithrenee
    Edithrenee Posts: 546 Member
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    cathe friedrich step dvds or her sts dvds are good they are for building muscle, and i have circuit training dvd from her. i also jog or walk
  • elzianne
    elzianne Posts: 52 Member
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    I don't really like the gym. I do teach spin, but other than that, I prefer to be somewhere else!

    Dance, cycling, and SUP are my favorites.

    I've always wanted to try SUP, but I'm so clumsy that I'm nervous to try. Is it as hard to balance as it looks?
  • exercisarah
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    www.bodyrock.tv - it's free! and it definitely works!! i was a skeptic at first because the workouts are usually relatively short, but I have the best body I've ever had thanks to bodyrock! it's intense! i usually do around 20 minutes of interval rope jumping afterwards

    I haven't tried BodyRock yet, but I've come across it and heard great things about it. I noticed most of the workouts use a sandbag –– did you buy one from their website or is there another place you recommend getting one? Or can you make one yourself?


    right now i've been using a duffel bag filled with my handweights and medicine ball, lol. but i did just recently order a sandbag after training with my homemade one for about 5 months, but i've still been getting good results even with just the duffel bag filled with weights!
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    I don't really like the gym. I do teach spin, but other than that, I prefer to be somewhere else!

    Dance, cycling, and SUP are my favorites.

    I've always wanted to try SUP, but I'm so clumsy that I'm nervous to try. Is it as hard to balance as it looks?

    it's not bad -- some people do fall off at first, but oddly I SUPed over 7 mos and was several months into an advanced short board before I ever fell off in the lagoon (Now in the ocean, I fell off literally the first instant I stood up, but that's a different story, ha). There are people that do yoga on the boards too (not me, I can't even do yoga on terra firma).

    When you start with a rental, they will give you a long and wide foam board that is very stable (albeit slow). Once you get the hang of it you can start renting boards of different shapes, and if you get into it you can buy according to what you want to do with your board (flat body of water, ocean/surf, race) etc.

    It's so much fun! A great core and upper body workout. You should see my back! It's ripped from SUP, and my arms are in nicely toned (not big). I haven't done any regular upper body workout in over 2 years, other than SUP, and even when I did previously teach 3 group strength classes a week (that was 2005-2009), my back was not like this.
  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
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    Regarding cost of a gym membership, YMCAs will often give free or discounted memberships to people who volunteer as little as 2 hours/week -- check out your local Y and see.

    I've been with various Ys around the country both as an employee and a volunteer, and have received better benefits (discounts on programs, preschool, free childwatch, family membership) as a volunteer in San Diego than I did as an employee in Dallas.