Ah…summer’s in the air! You know what that means right? It’s time to get ready for the beach!
Another thing I have been working to change along with my finances is my weight and over-all health. Most people would have probably considered me healthy all along, even before I started focusing on it, but I don’t want to be like most people!
I recently wrote a post on eJabs.com detailing my healthy weight loss journey over the last 8 months & how I plan to lose 10 more. A big part of that my weight loss up to this point has been changes in my diet. Now that the deep freeze that is Michigan winter has somewhat subsided, I am ready to move on to the next echelon of health my friend…increased fitness!!
Instead of paying for a gym membership…
Many people pay for gym memberships then never use them. I chose to take a different, more frugal route. I recently decided to spend $90 to make my mountain bike “road worthy”. By road worthy I mean converting a trail riding bike into a road bike for less. Sure you can ride your mountain bike on the road, but you will have a much tougher time than someone with a road bike. Think of it like a good pair of in-line skates versus a crappy pair, the latter will never be able to keep up with the former and the skater with the decent skates will have more fun. The heavily studded tires of a mountain bike will slow you down considerably and probably wind up killing your motivation to ride any decent distances.
It’s all about being frugal in all areas of living. I’m not going to be the guy who you see riding down the street in all my latest Lance Armstrong USPS gear, instead I’ll just keep it simple & use what I already have. Now that my mountain bike has decent set of speedy road tires, higher handle bars, and a decent seat there is no reason I cannot ride it everywhere, as often as the weather permits.
Consider Using What You Already Have…
How much will this save me? Estimating the average price of a gym membership at around $50/month I would stand to save upwards of $1,000 – $1,200/year depending how much I spend on my bike. Don’t get me wrong, I am not against joining a gym. If you have the money budgeted out and are still able to meet all your other financial goals & will actually use your membership then you should by all means go that route. But if you are looking for a good way to work free fitness into your life then look no further then your garage. Get out there & pull the bike down from its ceiling hoists and give ‘er a lil love. You will have a road ready companion in no time and at zero or minimal costs!
If you want to use exercise equipment and have the space in your home, don’t forget that there are a bunch of people who bought exercise equipment, never used it and now just want to get it out of their house.
We have a ski machine that we paid less than 1% of its retail price and a weight machine that only cost use 25% of retail with delivery.
(But if you live in an area where the climate allows for biking, I’d agree that is the way to go.)
Oh my word… can you imagine how much money American’s actually blow on fitness equipment they never use? That is a great article idea.
I am too cheap to join a gym. I lost 37 pounds without dieting and without killing myself with workouts. 🙂
Me too… around 42 pounds. 🙂