Gyms aren’t for everybody, in fact i’d probably say 25% of people I train at LEP Fitness don’t have a gym membership!

Instead, they train with me 1-3x per week and then do other forms of exercise outside of our sessions – running, walking, home workouts, etc.

There are a number of reasons why people don’t like the gym environment, here are a few:

• expensive 
• intimidating (big burly men making grunting noises and looking like total psychopaths! lol!) 
• boring 
• travel time/distance 

The truth is that you don’t need to be a member of a gym to get fit, there are lots of things you can do to get the same results. In this post i’m going to share 5 Ways To Get Fit Without Joining A Gym…

#1 Resistance bands 

Resistance bands are one of my favourite pieces of equipment because they are cheap (less than £10), easy to pack (for holidays, work trips, etc) and they allow you to train your full body with very little space needed to perform the exercises (you can literally do them in your living room!). 

I pretty much get every LEP member to invest in a pair of resistance bands because they are so useful. 

If you are not sure how to use resistance bands and don’t know any exercises then why not pick up the LEP Home Workout Plan. For just £3.99 I’ll show you exactly what you need to do and give you a bunch of workout routines to help you get fit – buy workout plan here 

#2 Walking 

People underestimate walking. Not only can you burn a lot of calories (up to 500 calories per hour) but it’s also very low impact, and doesn’t take as long to recover in between walks compared to more vigorous forms of exercise like weight training, HIIT workouts, jogging, etc. 

You’ve probably heard that you should try and walk 10,000 steps per day, for most that’s around 1 hour of walking per day. Whilst it would be great to do this, not everybody has a spare 1 hour each day! By the time you’ve gone to work, fed the kids, and sat down it’s 7-8pm! 

Instead opt to increase your daily step count by going on a walk on your lunch break – a 20 minute walk could see you hit 3,000 steps! not bad! You could also walk to work (if possible) or park your car further away to get in more steps. At the weekends you could do more, aim for 10-15,000 on Saturday and Sundays.

The more steps you do the more calories you’ll burn. So get moving. 

#3 Jogging

Although i’m not a massive fun of running myself (bad knees!) it can still be a great way to get fit, without spending much money – all you need is a pair of running trainers and some comfy sportswear and you’re good to go.

The issue with running is that it’s high impact and can quite easily cause muscle and joint damage. My advice would be to warm up properly: start by walking for 3-5 minutes and then break out into a gentle jog, you could also do a couple of movement drills to ensure your body is fully warmed up. 

I’d also recommend running on softer surfaces where possible, like soft grass – this will dampen the impact and create a better running experience. 

If you’ve not ran for a while, then make-sure to start slowly and build up when you feel ready. I’d recommend checking out the Couch to 5k program – it’s free and really worth following if you want to get into running.  

#4 Bodyweight Exercises 

There are hundreds of bodyweight exercises that you can do without needing any gym equipment. For example you can do:

• squats
• push ups
• lunges
• sit ups
• plank
• crunches 
• squat jumps
• jumping lunges
• pull ups 
• ab twists 
• dips
• bear walks 
• burpees
• star jumps

and many more exercises!

#5 Sports Activities 

Numerous LEP Fitness clients perform sports outside of our 1-1 personal training sessions because they enjoy the sporting aspect. For example one of my clients Julie loves to play tennis because it’s fun, requires coordination, competitive, sociable and she also gets a great workout in at the same time!

Whether it’s badminton, tennis, squash, football, cricket, basketball, netball, golf, rugby, etc – why not do something you enjoy and get fit at the same time?

Thanks for reading,

Nick 🙂