I decided to cancel my gym membership the other day. I still believe a gym membership can motivate some people to start working out. In fact, joining a gym helped me turn my attitude around about exercising regularly. However, it got to the point where I enjoyed running much more than anything else. I do incorporate weights when doing bodyweight exercises at home so I still get my resistance training in. I realized that I was paying a monthly fee for what I can do for free.
Exercising at home will save me money in fees and gas. I like waking up, seeing a beautiful day, and going for a run outside. I usually do my resistance training in the evenings.
I'm not worried about losing motivation about working out. It is a part of my life now and exercise is something I truly enjoy. One thing that was tough was cancelling my membership. Wow, the person on the phone had a rebuttal for everything I had to say! Have you ever canceled a gym membership? What were your reasons and did it work out better for you?
{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow! I admire you. I am conditioned to work out in the gym. I might think: this is a body weight regime, I can do it at home. But I don’t. It’s too easy to quit. To get distracted. To delay.
I go to the gym and work the entire time I’m there. It works for me where nothing else has. So I go. and I always will.
Deb – that is very true. Many people can’t work out at home because of the distractions. That is great that the gym works better for you. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend joining a gym to anyone seeking to get fit.
That is a great economic monthly save but what kind of body weight exercises are you doing? Since you don’t have weights to increase the resistance and challenge yourself you’re going to have to work to keep pushing the bodyweight moves… increasing reps, speeds, sets more.
I think that’s a very smart approach — going to the gym until you got hooked on exercise and then going off on your own.
@women’s workout – I have dumbbells I use and I usually will do some type of interval routine (squats, lunges, push-ups, burpees, etc.)
@Merry – thanks, it has worked out well for me and running outside is more fun than the treadmill.
If you have the equipment, knowledge, and a little room, training at home can definitely save a lot of time on going to the gym. Besides, I’ve never been able to get used to the treadmill when God’s given us the whole outdoors to play in.
As I get older, I find that I need the gym less and less as well. When I was younger I used to go in there and lift weights for hour. Now a days that doesn’t sound very appealing. The one thing I can say for a gym- if you live in a cold weather, or seasonal environment, getting on the treadmill in the middle of January beats running outside in 10 degree weather.
But I’m a fair weather runner so I might not be the best example.
I’m sure you won’t miss it!
Working out from home isn’t a bad idea if you have the motivation and there are a lot of gym-free workouts you can find. I use the gym for the classes, because I can get a better rate than at a yoga studio for example. The important thing is to maintain variety! If you are ever at a pool, I just posted a swim-workout (www.veeda.tumblr.com).
P.S. You definitely have to check how easy it is to get out of a gym contract before getting in one, they can be very tricky!!
That post made me think when I quit the gym several years ago after being a regular, going like 4-5 times per week. Actually, the reason I quit was due to a shoulder injury. I felt a deep pain in my rotator cuff.
After I canceled my gym membership, I stopped training for some time but when I was better, I had to find a way to continue training without risking injury. For me, body weight exercises were the best thing to do and they work for me like a charm. I never had any injury problem with them. My workout includes exercises like push ups(many variations), pull ups(many variations), dips, squats, calf raises, crunches, leg raises. I can have a full body workout with these exercises.
Just with body weight exercises and a proper diet, I can maintain a lean muscular physique without any need for expensive gym membership fees. I also do some cardio from time to time by running outside.
The great benefit of body weight exercises is most of them can be performed anywhere as you just need your own body weight.
Exercising at home is cheap- sounds like a good long term investment.
Training without a gym always makes me think of Rocky IV. Remember when he had to run through the snow and lift sacks because the Russians would not give him any training equipment before his fight with Ivan Drago? Man, I loved that movie…..
– Mark Lewis (http://www.understandinglowt.com)
What a great post. I have been a Personal Trainer for over 7 years and most of my clients have enjoyed training outside a gym. In fact I haven’t been a member of a gym for years and love finding new ways to keep fit in the great outdoors!
I agree with Mark – yeah Rocky IV indeed is all about training with no equipment facilities doing it the old hard way but very effective. Drago was like in a gym everything indoor whereas Balboa outdoor and some indoor too. Balboa was running outside in a freezing weather with snow whereas Drago was running on a treadmill and also running inside a building. Yeah a really great movie, a classic.
It’s true, you don’t really need a gym to keep fit and build a lean muscular physique. It can be done free. Most of the times, when people think about fitness, they say hey I need to go to a gym but you don’t necessarily needs lots of equipment and machines to keep fit.
I totally agree with you. In fact I believe those just getting started or those who have been sick or injured encouraged by their doctor to get started with an exercise program that its first best to learn how to exercise correctly along with acquiring the correct mind set. Once accomplished then make the decision whether to join a gym or not.
Joining a gym in the beginning I think is the wrong approach as there are too many distractions including those there who tell you how you should work out without taking you into consideration.
Kudo’s to a great article and blog.
I think one of the problems with gyms is that it can get just plain old boring – especially if you are someone who likes more variety.
For that reason, I pretty much exclusively train outdoors using kettlebells, a sandbag and maybe a medicine ball.
The time goes so much faster outdoors and an hours workout never quite seems like long enough.
Well done on making the break Tryingfitness!
I think now a days there are several online resources and videos that can provide you a proper guideline for exercise of any part of body. So there is no harm in quitting a gym membership provided you follow the exercise tips from these resources.
I can understand why you did that. I workout alone too, one of the reasons being that it DOES save much needed extra money these days. I worry about losing my motivation also, but just like you, it’s just a part of my routine now. I don’t even feel right if I don’t get a workout in nowadays.