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You don’t need a gym membership. For cardio you can go to any park for running or biking. It’s way more fun. For strength training you can do bodyweight streng

You don’t need a gym membership. For cardio you can go to any park for running or biking. It’s way more fun. For strength training you can do bodyweight strength training at home with no equipment required (calisthenics). Most people fall into the trap of paying for a gym membership, but then they never use it, because let’s face it, going to the gym wastes time and is uncomfortable. If you train at home by using the weight of your own body for building muscle, all it takes is 10-20 minutes per day and there’s no cost and no excuse for not doing it.

malvosenior 7y ago
Can you suggest some good pointers on how to get started with that type of routine? Edit: thanks for the responses, awesome.
- valgor 7y ago
  When I got interested in this type of workout, I just youtubed videos, picked out exercises that I wanted to do, and created my own routine.
- schrodinger 7y ago
  I’ve heard that https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/ is a great resource!
- ljcn 7y ago
  The "recommended routine" at r/bodyweightfitness https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend... I've been doing it for about a year and it's excellent. The only "equipment" I bought are some wooden gymnastics rings.
- infinite_luck 7y ago
  Like the others have said, the bodyweightfitness subreddit is a great resource. I just want to stress if/when you get to using gymnastics rings, don't just jump right into them, be very careful with your form. Also be sure to that you have not progressed too quickly and are actually doing the exercises you should be doing for your strength level. I've injured myself on them multiple times (the first time I was just doing something dumb) and I'm currently on the tail end of the recovery of another injury. I would imagine this just has to do with the fact that each ring is independent of the other, with many free degrees of movement, which makes it easier to slip into form that is bad on your body. That being said, I love body weight training and starting it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
- odessacubbage 7y ago
  >http://stevenlow.org/the-fundamentals-of-bodyweight-strength-training/ http://stevenlow.org/the-fundamentals-of-bodyweight-strength...
- swat535 7y ago
  Late to the party here.. I've posted this a couple of times but I found the muscle guide by Julian to be incredibly helpful: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro
mcv 7y ago
Biking is fun, but running? It's the most boring activity I've ever tried. A gym membership you don't use is useless of course, but having set appointments for sport, getting called on it when you don't show, and getting encouraged when you do, is far easier than trying to work up the self-discipline to do it at home. When you don't go to the gym on your own, what makes you think you'll do your exercises at home? I started doing crossfit half a year ago, and now I usually go 3 times a week, far more than the maximum of once a week I did for previous sport/exercise attempts. And I manage to keep it up at least partially thanks to the positive and encouraging atmosphere, and the fact that I do it together. I'd never be able to get these results on my own at home.
- 52-6F-62 7y ago
  Be careful with crossfit training, though. If you favour crossfit style classes, just make sure you focus on your form. The worst form I've ever seen has come out of crossfit classes. The way people learn to use ergometers in those classes makes me cringe—just asking for a ruined lower back. And lifting—it just looks painful. Form, form, form. Can't stress it enough.
  - mcv 7y ago
    They pay a lot of attention to posture when lifting. Not so much when rowing, and at first I sometimes felt it in my lower back. There's a lot of focus on strengthening core muscles though, and I now feel like my abs and back are a lot stronger already, and I haven't felt any back trouble in ages. (Well, weeks, I guess; I've been doing this for half a year now.)
    - 52-6F-62 7y ago
      Some groups are probably better than others for it, admittedly. I just know I had seen some horrific lifting practices—or rather that no instruction was given except for "Go for it!". That's good to hear.
- bad_user 7y ago
  Going to the gym makes me lose 30 minutes at least for the road. You also end up exercising near other sweaty dudes, staying in line for the squat rack or whatever, then showering in conditions that are rarely ideal. Whenever I go to the gym it takes at least an hour to go through my training, plus 30 minutes to get there and back. At home I can do my strength training in 15 minutes. I will then bike to and from work daily and thus get my cardio too. A majority of people that pay for a gym membership don’t go to the gym and that’s a fact. It depends on the individual I guess, but in my case not going to the gym and exercising at home is what made me a doer.
sundvor 7y ago
If I could find room for a squat rack+ bench at home I'd agree with you. :) Nothing beats proper squatting, deadlifting, bench and shoulder presses. I cycle a lot but the benefits for this desk jockey are marginal compared to doing stronglifts twice or thrice a week.
- bad_user 7y ago
  For bodyweight strength exercises you don’t need a squat rack and bench, or other equipment. Calisthenics develop muscle more harmoniously and yield stronger joints. You can also practice them literally anywhere, which helps when on the move.
  - turd_ferguson33 7y ago
    You can practice them anywhere yes. Your other points are complete bullshit. Muscle develops harmoniously if you train it harmoniously. If you only do push ups you are doing calisthenics but not harmonious muscle development. And weight training strengthens your bones and joints far beyond what calisthenics can.
  - SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
    > Calisthenics develop muscle more harmoniously and yield stronger joints. I did a quick google, and couldn't find any resources comparing bone density and joint strength for calisthenics practitioners vs strongmen or powerlifters. There's no way joint strength doesn't factor in when you're moving multiples of your own bodyweight. That's also a pretty hard limiting factor of calisthenics - once you're moving your own weight effectively, there's not a lot of places to go, unless you load up with more weight, and then, hey, you're weightlifting. I'm also confused as to what you mean by "harmoniously" - the big compound movements in lifting that are in vogue right now use a ton of muscles to move stuff around, so a lot of muscles come into play. If you're talking about "muscle imbalances", well, if one was to do a ton of pull-ups and not a lot else, that's a calisthenics workout, and not balanced.
- md2be 7y ago
  Depends on the body type and age and history. these movements are super hard on the spine. Try planks and step ups
turd_ferguson33 7y ago
Going to the gym is uncomfortable for you. For others it is a good time. Don't extrapolate to everyone because you are anti-social.
ohaideredevs 7y ago
Don't post if you don't know what you are talking about. Bodyweight exercise is fine and great - yes, I have read Building the Gymnastics Body, Convict Conditioning, and did gymnastics and martial arts, so I have a vague notion of what it is. Except that it sucks for progressive overload. Progressive overload is VERY difficult with bodyweight training. If you aren't doing deadlifts, you are shortchanging yourself. Also, if you get stuck on pullups, guess what helps? Adding weight. Finally, it can be a time saving to not clean up everything and maintain your own workout space.
MadWombat 7y ago
"For cardio you can go to any park for running or biking" Running in a public park is a beautiful combination of boring, painful and embarrassing. Gym provides a structure. It is a place I go to exercise and everyone is there for the same reason. I hate it with a fiery passion, but so do many other people. It is just like going to physical therapy after a trauma, it hurts like hell, but if you don't do it you will be worse off in the long run.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]

malvosenior 7y ago

Can you suggest some good pointers on how to get started with that type of routine? Edit: thanks for the responses, awesome.

valgor 7y ago
When I got interested in this type of workout, I just youtubed videos, picked out exercises that I wanted to do, and created my own routine.
schrodinger 7y ago
I’ve heard that https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/ https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/ is a great resource!
ljcn 7y ago
The "recommended routine" at r/bodyweightfitness https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommended_routine https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb/recommend... I've been doing it for about a year and it's excellent. The only "equipment" I bought are some wooden gymnastics rings.
infinite_luck 7y ago
Like the others have said, the bodyweightfitness subreddit is a great resource. I just want to stress if/when you get to using gymnastics rings, don't just jump right into them, be very careful with your form. Also be sure to that you have not progressed too quickly and are actually doing the exercises you should be doing for your strength level. I've injured myself on them multiple times (the first time I was just doing something dumb) and I'm currently on the tail end of the recovery of another injury. I would imagine this just has to do with the fact that each ring is independent of the other, with many free degrees of movement, which makes it easier to slip into form that is bad on your body. That being said, I love body weight training and starting it was one of the best decisions I've ever made.
odessacubbage 7y ago
>http://stevenlow.org/the-fundamentals-of-bodyweight-strength-training/ http://stevenlow.org/the-fundamentals-of-bodyweight-strength...
swat535 7y ago
Late to the party here.. I've posted this a couple of times but I found the muscle guide by Julian to be incredibly helpful: https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro https://www.julian.com/guide/muscle/intro

mcv 7y ago

Biking is fun, but running? It's the most boring activity I've ever tried. A gym membership you don't use is useless of course, but having set appointments for sport, getting called on it when you don't show, and getting encouraged when you do, is far easier than trying to work up the self-discipline to do it at home. When you don't go to the gym on your own, what makes you think you'll do your exercises at home? I started doing crossfit half a year ago, and now I usually go 3 times a week, far more than the maximum of once a week I did for previous sport/exercise attempts. And I manage to keep it up at least partially thanks to the positive and encouraging atmosphere, and the fact that I do it together. I'd never be able to get these results on my own at home.

52-6F-62 7y ago
Be careful with crossfit training, though. If you favour crossfit style classes, just make sure you focus on your form. The worst form I've ever seen has come out of crossfit classes. The way people learn to use ergometers in those classes makes me cringe—just asking for a ruined lower back. And lifting—it just looks painful. Form, form, form. Can't stress it enough.
- mcv 7y ago
  They pay a lot of attention to posture when lifting. Not so much when rowing, and at first I sometimes felt it in my lower back. There's a lot of focus on strengthening core muscles though, and I now feel like my abs and back are a lot stronger already, and I haven't felt any back trouble in ages. (Well, weeks, I guess; I've been doing this for half a year now.)
  - 52-6F-62 7y ago
    Some groups are probably better than others for it, admittedly. I just know I had seen some horrific lifting practices—or rather that no instruction was given except for "Go for it!". That's good to hear.
bad_user 7y ago
Going to the gym makes me lose 30 minutes at least for the road. You also end up exercising near other sweaty dudes, staying in line for the squat rack or whatever, then showering in conditions that are rarely ideal. Whenever I go to the gym it takes at least an hour to go through my training, plus 30 minutes to get there and back. At home I can do my strength training in 15 minutes. I will then bike to and from work daily and thus get my cardio too. A majority of people that pay for a gym membership don’t go to the gym and that’s a fact. It depends on the individual I guess, but in my case not going to the gym and exercising at home is what made me a doer.

sundvor 7y ago

If I could find room for a squat rack+ bench at home I'd agree with you. :) Nothing beats proper squatting, deadlifting, bench and shoulder presses. I cycle a lot but the benefits for this desk jockey are marginal compared to doing stronglifts twice or thrice a week.

bad_user 7y ago
For bodyweight strength exercises you don’t need a squat rack and bench, or other equipment. Calisthenics develop muscle more harmoniously and yield stronger joints. You can also practice them literally anywhere, which helps when on the move.
- turd_ferguson33 7y ago
  You can practice them anywhere yes. Your other points are complete bullshit. Muscle develops harmoniously if you train it harmoniously. If you only do push ups you are doing calisthenics but not harmonious muscle development. And weight training strengthens your bones and joints far beyond what calisthenics can.
- SketchySeaBeast 7y ago
  > Calisthenics develop muscle more harmoniously and yield stronger joints. I did a quick google, and couldn't find any resources comparing bone density and joint strength for calisthenics practitioners vs strongmen or powerlifters. There's no way joint strength doesn't factor in when you're moving multiples of your own bodyweight. That's also a pretty hard limiting factor of calisthenics - once you're moving your own weight effectively, there's not a lot of places to go, unless you load up with more weight, and then, hey, you're weightlifting. I'm also confused as to what you mean by "harmoniously" - the big compound movements in lifting that are in vogue right now use a ton of muscles to move stuff around, so a lot of muscles come into play. If you're talking about "muscle imbalances", well, if one was to do a ton of pull-ups and not a lot else, that's a calisthenics workout, and not balanced.
md2be 7y ago
Depends on the body type and age and history. these movements are super hard on the spine. Try planks and step ups

turd_ferguson33 7y ago

Going to the gym is uncomfortable for you. For others it is a good time. Don't extrapolate to everyone because you are anti-social.

ohaideredevs 7y ago

Don't post if you don't know what you are talking about. Bodyweight exercise is fine and great - yes, I have read Building the Gymnastics Body, Convict Conditioning, and did gymnastics and martial arts, so I have a vague notion of what it is. Except that it sucks for progressive overload. Progressive overload is VERY difficult with bodyweight training. If you aren't doing deadlifts, you are shortchanging yourself. Also, if you get stuck on pullups, guess what helps? Adding weight. Finally, it can be a time saving to not clean up everything and maintain your own workout space.

MadWombat 7y ago

"For cardio you can go to any park for running or biking" Running in a public park is a beautiful combination of boring, painful and embarrassing. Gym provides a structure. It is a place I go to exercise and everyone is there for the same reason. I hate it with a fiery passion, but so do many other people. It is just like going to physical therapy after a trauma, it hurts like hell, but if you don't do it you will be worse off in the long run.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]