Excercising Shouldn't Cost You An Arm or a Leg
In today's world, everything costs money, and with money being tight for everyone due to the recession, money spent on frills are getting cut out of the budget. I'm not a one to have many frills in my life because frankly, I just simply could never afford them-- even when things were good. I'm the type of person that spends on everyone else but myself, except when it comes to my health and that's what I'm going to discuss today, in part.
You see, I feel that everyone is entitled to spend some money on themselves when it comes to being healthy on a day-to-day basis. After all, real food, not that fake stuff in a box, costs money.
Exercising costs money too. But as far as exercising is concerned, I feel that it should not cost you an arm and a leg every time you feel like going to the gym. The only thing you should be loosing is weight, not money.
I don't go to the gym or even take a yoga class. That's right, you heard me, I don't go out to exercise. I stay in to get my work out. And I probably burn just as many calories at home as I would out in a gym-- maybe even more. What do I do at home? What's my secret?
I practice my yoga at home by popping in a video 1-2 times a week. I love how convenient this is too because I don't have to rush out the door (and bring my blood pressure to a boil) to make a 10 AM class.
It's also better for me because I'm the type of person who gives into peer pressure. I know, call me crazy and a bit childish because I should have left that awkward stage of peer pressure back in high school when I graduated, but I didn't. If someone out there like a instructor wants me to turn my body into a pretzel, I'm trying to do it-- regardless of whether or not I'm going to regret that move tomorrow when I can't get out of bed. With a video in and no one watching-- no one will ever know that I couldn't stand on my head, and frankly, no one should have to. Yoga is about stretching one's limits-- not breaking them, so if I can't do it, I gently get out of the move and wait for the next, and it's all good at home.
Another thing I love to do is gardening. I'm an HGTV freak and I love The Garden Guy on Gardening by the Yard. He's a little wacky, yeah, but so am I. Anyways, on one episode they were discussing how gardening is a lot like lifting weights at the gym. Now, I don't lift weights at the gym, but I do garden, so that got my attention. Apparently, the simple motion of shoveling dirt actually mimics what you would do when lifting some weights on a gym set! Hot digity! That's awesome because I don't have to pay for a gym membership, I just have to go out in my mother in-law's yard and do some gardening for her when I want a work out. Of course, there's even more of a bonus when you garden because if you plant vegetables like me, you don't have to buy them at the supermarket either!
Okay, by now you are probably thinking that I NEVER leave my house. Well, that's not true. I don't live with my mother in-law, so I do have to drive to her house to garden. But all kidding aside, I do get out and actually drive somewhere at least once a week with my daughters in tow.
Where do we go? We go out to get some exercise by walking the malls. Now, if you are a shopaholic, I wouldn't recommend this one, but if you are a tight wad like me-- go have some fun browsing! It can't hurt to just look and you can get plenty of exercising walking around from shop to shop. I've put on a pedometer on some shopping excersions and found that I walked the equivalent of 4 miles in one trip. That was a lot of steps, and a few too many hours at the mall (about 3), so if you don't like the mall that much-- go for a mile which turns out to be close to an hour's worth of steps.
There's lots of ways to exercise without spending a lot at a gym. These are just a couple of ways to stay fabulous and feel fabulous. There of course, are many more, but those will be for another blog.
Don't forget that voting for your favorite bloggers ends in 3 days! Click the vote for me buttons on the right of this blog for more details.
Love and friendship,
Kimberley
You see, I feel that everyone is entitled to spend some money on themselves when it comes to being healthy on a day-to-day basis. After all, real food, not that fake stuff in a box, costs money.
Exercising costs money too. But as far as exercising is concerned, I feel that it should not cost you an arm and a leg every time you feel like going to the gym. The only thing you should be loosing is weight, not money.
I don't go to the gym or even take a yoga class. That's right, you heard me, I don't go out to exercise. I stay in to get my work out. And I probably burn just as many calories at home as I would out in a gym-- maybe even more. What do I do at home? What's my secret?
I practice my yoga at home by popping in a video 1-2 times a week. I love how convenient this is too because I don't have to rush out the door (and bring my blood pressure to a boil) to make a 10 AM class.
It's also better for me because I'm the type of person who gives into peer pressure. I know, call me crazy and a bit childish because I should have left that awkward stage of peer pressure back in high school when I graduated, but I didn't. If someone out there like a instructor wants me to turn my body into a pretzel, I'm trying to do it-- regardless of whether or not I'm going to regret that move tomorrow when I can't get out of bed. With a video in and no one watching-- no one will ever know that I couldn't stand on my head, and frankly, no one should have to. Yoga is about stretching one's limits-- not breaking them, so if I can't do it, I gently get out of the move and wait for the next, and it's all good at home.
Another thing I love to do is gardening. I'm an HGTV freak and I love The Garden Guy on Gardening by the Yard. He's a little wacky, yeah, but so am I. Anyways, on one episode they were discussing how gardening is a lot like lifting weights at the gym. Now, I don't lift weights at the gym, but I do garden, so that got my attention. Apparently, the simple motion of shoveling dirt actually mimics what you would do when lifting some weights on a gym set! Hot digity! That's awesome because I don't have to pay for a gym membership, I just have to go out in my mother in-law's yard and do some gardening for her when I want a work out. Of course, there's even more of a bonus when you garden because if you plant vegetables like me, you don't have to buy them at the supermarket either!
Okay, by now you are probably thinking that I NEVER leave my house. Well, that's not true. I don't live with my mother in-law, so I do have to drive to her house to garden. But all kidding aside, I do get out and actually drive somewhere at least once a week with my daughters in tow.
Where do we go? We go out to get some exercise by walking the malls. Now, if you are a shopaholic, I wouldn't recommend this one, but if you are a tight wad like me-- go have some fun browsing! It can't hurt to just look and you can get plenty of exercising walking around from shop to shop. I've put on a pedometer on some shopping excersions and found that I walked the equivalent of 4 miles in one trip. That was a lot of steps, and a few too many hours at the mall (about 3), so if you don't like the mall that much-- go for a mile which turns out to be close to an hour's worth of steps.
There's lots of ways to exercise without spending a lot at a gym. These are just a couple of ways to stay fabulous and feel fabulous. There of course, are many more, but those will be for another blog.
Don't forget that voting for your favorite bloggers ends in 3 days! Click the vote for me buttons on the right of this blog for more details.
Love and friendship,
Kimberley
