My recent article, Five Inexpensive Gym Alternatives for Exercise, resulted in a

small flood of feedback from readers offering up their tips for home exercise.

I reviewed the many links and ideas that readers provided and found nine really
great free resources if you’re trying to get in shape (or stay in shape) at home.

I tried to mix up resources that were led by men and by women because people often
have a gender preference when exercising and following a routine.

All of these exercises and routines are awesome, but they’re somewhat ranked with
what I consider the most useful ones at the top and the ones with somewhat narrower
appeal (usually because they have restrictions) lower down.

Neila Rey’s 100 No-Equipment Workouts is available as a free PDF. You can also
purchase it in book form if you prefer a book. It’s exactly what is described – the
book provides 100 different workout routines that require no equipment whatsoever
and rely wholly on body weight. The routines vary quite a bit and each offer
multiple levels of intensity. This is just an amazing resource that is entirely
free.

Mike Rowe’s Burpees Workout (from Dirty Jobs) is a nice video that demonstrates a
very simple and repeatable exercise that works well for busy people. You can do
this in a hotel room or your bedroom and only have to remember one repeatable
exercise to do in sets. Again, this is purely bodyweight – you need no equipment at
all. The video is also rather humorous.

Several people pointed me to DDP Yoga resources on Youtube, but the best one I
found was Sheree Rensel’s introduction to the “Diamond Dozen”, which are twelve
“strength yoga” positions that you essentially repeat over and over and mix up with
other body weight exercises. These are great if you have a sore back or other
physical challenges that keep you from wanting to exercise. (Note: I am a huge fan
of DDP Yoga, as it has helped tremendously with lower back pain from doing a job
that naturally revolves around sitting.)

Many people suggested hiking as a way to improve fitness at a low cost.

HikingGuide’s Get Ready to Hike guide is a great tool for helping you take small
steps toward hiking. I actually wish we lived closer to a state or national park
where I could regularly hike, as the area we currently live in is very flat and
doesn’t offer much opportunity for hiking.

The Nerd Fitness Playground Workout revolves around using public playground
equipment for exercise (obviously, using it when it wouldn’t be busy, such as
during a school day, early in the morning, or late at night). It mixes up body
weight exercises, running, and things like chin-ups (using the playground
equipment) to get into better shape.

Fitness Blender’s Top 10 Fat Burning Exercises at Home delivers almost exactly what
it describes. Each one has a video showing how to do it. (Note that their #1
exercise is burpees, which shows up on Mike Rowe’s video, above.)

Joanna Soh’s Beginner Fat Burning Workout is a pretty good choice if you’re feeling
overwhelmed with options and just want one routine to start with. This is really
simple, so it’s a good starting spot if almost every other exercise routine seems
overwhelming.

Final Round Training’s Shadow Boxing Cardio Workout is basically what it sounds
like – you use shadowboxing as the centerpiece of a home fitness workout. This is a
short routine that’s a good cardio workout. You can repeat it or, even better, do
it while walking or jogging outdoors. There’s also a second shadowboxing workout
video.

Scott Herman’s muscle gain routines are great YouTube videos that contain full
workouts you can do at home to build muscle. These videos contain a mix of body
weight exercises (meaning no equipment) along with some weights, so their
usefulness will depend on what you have at home.

There are enough exercise resources online that you should be able to find what you
need to help you start improving your physical fitness without spending a dime, no
matter what your situation. The only thing you need is motivation.

If you have additional resources that are free and require no equipment or minimal
equipment, feel free to note them in the comments!

n my area, the cheapest gym I can find for exercise is one that charges about $15
per month and charges additional fees for every class you might take. The $15 per
month just gets you in the door and gives you access to the facilities.

Other gyms that offer training programs and such accelerate far above that. Some
cost as much as $100 a month, and when you start moving into personal trainers, it
skyrockets.

I think exercise and fitness are valuable, but it’s also expensive. Naturally,
being the frugal guy that I am, I’ve dabbled in many different free and low-cost
alternatives to gym membership. Here are some of the options I’ve tried and how
they work.

Walking
Cost: Free
Advantages: Very simple, easily adjusted to your needs, easy to measure progress
Disadvantages: No individual training or contact from a trainer, no motivation from
a trainer

Walking is extremely flexible. It works for almost everyone at every fitness level,
because the fitter you are, the faster your pace can be and/or the longer you can
go. It doesn’t provide high-end fitness, but it can certainly get the blood flowing
and elevate your heart rate. It’s easy to measure out a path of a certain distance
(I have a mile loop, a three mile loop, and a five mile loop that begin and end at
my front door) and you can easily measure the time (and thus the speed) using a
watch.

I view walking regularly as a part of a good exercise plan.

Lifetime Fitness Ladder / Home Bodyweight Exercise

Cost: Free
Advantages: A variety of exercises, easy to measure progress over time
Disadvantages: No individual training or contact from a trainer, no motivation from
a trainer, you may have to watch videos to learn how to do certain things

The Lifetime Fitness Ladder is a simple routine of bodyweight exercises (think sit-
ups, jumping jacks, squats, etc.) that are intended to get you heart rate up and
exercise a large number of muscle groups. There are many home bodyweight options
out there, like You Are Your Own Gym, but for starters, the Lifetime Fitness Ladder
works really well.

It’s flexible, makes it easy to track your progress, and doesn’t require any extra
equipment. I think it pairs really well with walking if you want an exercise
routine with no additional cost.
Youtube Yoga and Exercise Videos
Cost: Free, plus initial basic equipment
Advantages: A trainer appears to talk to
possible exercises
Disadvantages: No individual training or
to measure progress over time, exercises
cost (see below)
you and motivate you, a wide variety of
contact from a trainer, somewhat difficult
and routines vary widely in quality

There are a lot of exercise routines on Youtube. Some examples include BeFit,
YogaSync, and Blogilates. If you want the experience of exercise videos for free,
that’s where you want to go.

The challenge with using Youtube is that the videos vary widely in quality. If you
stick to good channels, like the ones linked above, you can get some good workouts.
If you don’t stick to those channels, you get some dodgy ones. Another problem is
consistency, as it’s rare to find workouts that are arranged in a logical order.
You often have to hunt for ones that you like and just keep repeating them.

Youtube works if you want free exercise videos, but you often get what you pay for.

DVD-based Exercise Videos

Cost: Initial cost of DVDs, plus initial basic equipment cost (see below)
Advantages: A trainer appears to talk to you and motivate you, DVDs offer a wide
variety of possible exercises
Disadvantages: No individual training or contact from a trainer, somewhat difficult
to measure progress over time

There are a lot of DVD-based exercise videos out there. I have personally used both
DDP Yoga and P90X and enjoyed both. They provide a consistent level of quality, a
consistent trainer (usually), and consistent routines, as well as easy ways to
measure your progress (again, usually).

The problem is that you’re starting to add some cost at this point. Most good
exercise DVDs are either one-shot deals where you do the same exact two or three
routines over and over or they’re expensive DVD sets. The one benefit is that the
cost is up front – you’re not pulled into a monthly bill.

DailyBurn
Cost: $10/month, plus initial basic equipment cost (see below)
Advantages: A wide variety of plans and regimens to try out, all with trainers on-
screen to motivate you, trainers are consistent throughout the full plans, keeps
track of your progress
Disadvantages: No individual training or contact from a trainer

This is probably the most expensive step I’ve tried short of using a gym – and it
really works well. The best way to think of it is that it’s a whole bunch of
exercise DVD box sets all bundled together into one package, along with software to
help you keep track of your progress and schedule everything.

The catch, of course, is the cost. It’s $10 per month. While that’s substantially
less than most gym memberships, it is another monthly bill that you don’t really
need. It’s also lacking one ingredient that most gyms provide – interaction with a
teacher/trainer.

Initial equipment cost?

Some of these options involve buying some equipment for home use. You won’t be
buying everything you find in a gym, but common purchases include an exercise mat,
a yoga brick, a balancing ball, and some barbells or kettle bells. The total cost
will vary from trivial to around $100.
My Thoughts
If you’re just getting started, my honest suggestion is to start with walking and
the Lifetime Fitness Ladder. Both are free and require no additional equipment.

Print out a year-long calendar, stick it on your wall, and set a walking goal each
day of, say, 30 minutes. Every day that you meet your walking goal, put an X on
that day, and then over time watch the X’s grow. You can do the same thing with the
Lifetime Fitness Ladder, just drawing an X whenever you complete a rung of the
ladder.

For some, that will provide everything that they need. If you want to keep
expanding, I’d suggest renting DVDs from the library (if available) and trying out
Youtube channels to see what kinds of exercises work for you.

Most DVD box sets and things like DailyBurn are really only good financial
commitments if you already have an established internal commitment to getting into
better shape. If you do, those tools can really help. Honestly, if you’re
contributing 30 or more minutes a day to physical fitness, the cost of a DVD box
set every few months or a subscription to DailyBurn is well worth it if it helps
you maximize those daily thirty minutes.

In the end, successful long-term fitness is really about establishing and sticking
to routines. You can do that without expensive options. Save the expensive options
for when you’ve built a bit of a routine and you know what else you’re looking for.