Avoid the ‘recession 15’ with these 10 tips

5. Just let your gym membership go if you never use it. Does your monthly gym fee feel a bit like a charitable donation? You know, as if you were saying: “Here! Take my money, business down the street! I don’t need it, and I’d really like you to have it!” It certainly can feel that way if you have a health-club membership you never use. But c’mon — why let something like that happen, especially during economic times like these? If you’re simply not using your membership for months on end, don’t let excessive fear of losing the value of your enrollment fee prevent you from canceling. Know when to swoop in, rescue your credit-card balance and start walking in your neighborhood or doing other forms of exercise outdoors — for free!

6. Walk or jog your way to fitness. Speaking of walking: Want to keep aches and pains at bay, reduce your cholesterol and blood pressure and lower your risk of heart attack, diabetes, stroke, osteoporosis, colon cancer and dementia? Then walk 30 minutes a day five times a week. Jogging also can do you a world of good. And note that neither of these activities requires a costly gym membership! (They do require an investment in good running shoes, though. Don’t skimp on this purchase; otherwise, you might injure yourself.) If you live in a warm enough climate, you can pick the best times of day to walk or jog all year. If you don’t, many malls also offer mall-walking programs. For more information and ideas about creating a workout plan like this, visit this Walking Off the Weight site.

7. Put some air on those old bike tires. Want to feel like a kid again? Bike riding can do it for you! It’s liberating and just plain fun to feel the breeze in your face as you take in all sorts of sights on your bicycle. Just make sure you have a decent helmet, and consider bringing your old bike into a bike shop for a quick tune-up if you haven’t used it for years. If you don’t feel comfortable riding on the street in traffic and no good bike trails exist where you live, another option is a stationary bicycle trainer. You can pick one up for about $20. Just mount your neglected conventional bicycle onto this low-cost piece of gear, and voila! Instant stationary bike in your living room!

8. Pick up some secondhand exercise equipment. Thousands of consumers out there want to make some cash by getting rid of their bulky and barely used fitness equipment. Why not take advantage of that? You can find deals through classified ads, secondhand stores, yard sales and these Web sites: Craigslist, The Freecycle Network, Sharing Is Giving, Freecycleamerica.org, ReUseIt Network and FreeSharing.org. Before buying used exercise equipment, check for recalls through the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission by calling 1-800-638-2772 or visiting its Web site. You also can register with the manufacturer in case there’s a recall in the future.  Secondhand equipment may not have a warranty, but manufacturers may still help you if you have problems.

9. Or just do simple, at-home workouts. If you know yourself well enough to realize that you’ll only exercise at home, you don’t have to buy a high-tech piece of equipment to do so. Some at-home workouts require no equipment at all; even a mat is optional! To find some examples of such workouts, check out this Women’s Health site. Other workouts require very minimal, low-tech gear. For $20 to $40 or so, you could buy some free weights and an exercise ball that allows you to do stomach crunches. Not too shabby!

10. Give workout videos a try. Get this: On Fitness Magazine’s Web site, you can actually build an ideal video workout for yourself — for free! On Shape magazine’s Web site you can find workouts that highlight individual moves and spell out how many calories you’ll burn with each set of repetitions. Other good sites to check out include:

• Women Workout Routines features a bunch of free workout videos, all about 20 minutes in length. Each one focuses on a different part of the body: abs, butt, legs, arms and back.
• Self Shape offers free downloadable videos that show you how to stretch correctly, build strength and work out based on your fitness level.
• For videos or DVDs that you’d actually want to buy and watch on your TV, check out Collage Video, a business that’s specialized in testing and reviewing exercise videos for their effectiveness since 1987. You also can read useful exercise-video reviews at VideoFitness.com.

Sources and resources:

• American Council on Exercise
• Consumer Reports
• Associated Content
• Homebased Workouts
• Msnbc.com’s Fitness coverage 

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