More and more people are shunning expensive gym memberships that come with an annual contract for easier, cheaper and often free exercise alternatives. If you are one of these, simply don’t like the gym or can’t afford a personal trainer, check out these top get fit for free ideas, brought to you by female fitness guru Janey Holliday, director of Fit For A Princess.
1. The simplest form of free exercising is walking. Whether around your local park, along the river in your lunch break, or going for a long country walk at the weekend, walking doesn’t require much effort to organise and is suitable for all fitness levels. Make sure you pull your abs in nice and tight, land on your heel and follow through onto your toes, take nice long strides and swing your arms to get the best workout possible. You can actually download music that has the perfect beat to walking, go to totalfitnessmusic.com and if you need extra motivation sign up for a charity walk such as the Ribbon walk or Moon walk taking place this summer. If you are in your local park – look out for free outdoor gym equipment such as pull up bars, balancing beams and don’t forget to do some triceps dips off the benches to tone your arms as well as your legs! There are loads of free walks to do all over the UK, for people of all fitness levels. Visit whi.org.uk and walking-routes.co.uk for some great ideas.
2. Jogging and running are becoming more and more popular and most outdoor running events are massively over-subscribed. Whether doing it for a hobby or training to enter a race, the best thing about running is that you can do it anywhere and it doesn’t cost a thing. Need a goal? Look up your local Race for life (raceforlife.org) for a simple 5km race for women or visit www.209events.com to see fancy dress races and charity runs abroad. mapmyrun is a great online tool allowing you to work out how far you run and is very simple to use. All you really need is a good pair of trainers and to learn the basics of running technique:
a) Abs in
b) Shoulders down
c) Landing softly on your feet
d) Following through on your toes as you run
e) Making sure you bring the legs up at the back
f) Breathing deeply and in rhythm, most people breathe in and out every three strides
Most running clubs are also free too, so find your local running club and give that a go!
3. There has been a massive surge in people riding bikes in the last few years. If you live reasonably close to work, biking there and back will burn calories and get you fit, without finding extra time in your day. Having a bike is very cost effective and if you can’t cycle to work, get a trendy basket on the front and do your local shopping and errands that way instead. More women than ever are entering triathlons (where you swim, cycle and run back to back). There is the London Triathlon (thelondontriathlon.co.uk) every August or try humanrace.co.uk for other triathlons in the UK. Cycling is low impact so perfect for those who can’t or don’t like running and with more and more cycle paths and outdoor fitness trails appearing all over the country, it’s getting much easier and safer to do.
