| Average Australian household | $2340 per year [1] |
|---|---|
| Smart renter | $0 per year |
| Very smart renter | $0 per year |
The most portable gym you’ll ever have is your body. Below are some easy ways for renters to maintain a high level of fitness without the need for expensive gym memberships or equipment saving you money and potentially making a smaller and cheaper property feasible.
Cardio
- As part of a car free or single car lifestyle, getting around by walking or riding is an easy way to get some regular cardio into your day.
- This might be a bit of a radical idea but if you are a really keen runner you can literally “run errands” or run-commute to incorporate running into your day.
- Don’t worry about a bit of sweat when commuting to work with human power; you can always leave some work clothes at work and use work showering facilities if available.
- If you use public transport a lot, consider getting off a stop earlier to get a bit more exercise if you need it.
Strength training
- There are strength training and yoga programs that can be easily done at home using just your body and some common bits of furniture and household items for assistance.
- If you are not sure where to start, we have found You Are Your Own Gym by Mark Lauren to be a great way to start out on a program that can be adjusted to your fitness level.
- You may be lucky enough to have a fitness station in your local area that you can use as an aid for some of bodyweight or yoga exercises.
- You can enjoy an energy boost for the rest of your waking hours with just 2 hours of your time dedicated to bodyweight exercises.
Why exercising with your body beats the gym
- It’s with you 24/7 which makes it easier to find time to exercise.
- By the time you travel to and from the gym, work out and shower, it takes about 3 hours vs 20-40 minutes for a bodyweight workout at home.
- Bodyweight exercises incorporate several muscles at once which is more realistic training for how we use our bodies to do things and is safer than isolating a single muscle on a machine.
- The difficulty of everyday cardio and bodyweight exercises can be adjusted to suit people who are out of shape through to a level of difficulty that would be hard for professional athletes.
- It costs almost nothing to get started and in the case of walking or riding can actually earn you money by helping to eliminate your car ownership costs.
- The easiest exercise program to maintain is the one that is part of your daily routine that you use to get things done.
Incorporating cardio and bodyweight exercise into your day is the easiest way to stay fit without spending money (beyond buying a book) and can even earn you money if you incorporate it with a car free lifestyle or can get rid of your old gym equipment.
Further Reading:
[1] Average Australian household figure taken from here: