9 Ways to Get Fit on the Cheap

Running the race doesn't have to break the bank.

As promised, I am posting the article from the Contra Costa Times on Sunday 1/23/09:

Nine Ways to Get Fit on the Cheap
by Jessica Yadegaran - Contra Costa Times - 1/23/09

Can't afford a gym membership? Makes sense, given the financial climate and the need to tighten our belts. But if you want to tighten that belt holding up your jeans, money is no excuse. There are plenty of ways to work out and get itno shape at little or no cost.

Below, find nine fabulous ways to get fit on the cheap:

1. TV as trainer. If you subscribe to digital or cable or get On Demand channels, you may have access to FitTV, which features found-the-clock exercise programming. Tighten your tummy with the belly-dancing show "Shimmy." Get toned with world-renowned trainer Gilad Janklowicz on "It's Body Sculpt with Gilad Janklowicz."

2. Squats are free. Incorporate them into real-life moving patterns. Try what he calls the "live lift" the next time you're picking up your kids' toys or grabbing that pen off the office floor. Simply bend from the hips -- not from the knees while keeping your spine straight and stable.

3. Find a buddy. Research has proved that people are more likely to exercise when they have someone to do it with. So, grab a friend or family member before or after dinner. Then walk. Jog. Bike. swim. Find a form of exercise and a time that works and stick with it. In the beginning, commit to 30 minutes of exercise two or three days a week.

4. One-legged moves. You don't need a gym or even hand weights to see results from resistance training. Using your body weight is usually more than enough. Challenge yourself by working one at a time. Sit in a chair and stand back up on one leg. Three sets of 10 repetitions three times a week are recommended.

5. YouFit. Did you know you could be getting in shape while watching YouTube? No, not with those quirky Croatian music videos. A search of "fitness" yields 28,000 results, including salsa dancing workouts, abdominal workouts by Ford models and a series of mine-minute workout videos catered to woemn and weights.

6. Take the stairs. Let's face it, they're all around you -- at the mall, the library, and all parking structures. So skip the elevator and channel your inner Rocky.

7. Get toned with iTunes. If you have an iPod, you can download hundreds of fitness related podcasts.

8. Stretch. Yes, improving flexibility aids in weight loss. Tight muscles decreas blood flow, which can slow down fat elimination.

9. Look around. Your environment - your house, your community - is full of exercise tools and resources. The track at the nearby high school. Walking and hiking trails.

What a great article, found right in my local newspaper. I've seen some recent statistics that are really shocking: 65% of adults are overweight. Obesity is a preventable illness. Exercise can help tackle obesity.

It can be a difficult thing to add exercise to our already full schedules, but it is well worth the effort. We can balance our lives by exercising regularly. Taking care of our bodies with exercise doesn't have to be a chore. Figure out what type of activity you are going to do, when you are going to do it, who you are going to do it with and begin. The are so many benefits. Dr. Norm Wright says, "Good physical conditioning strengthens the body's immune system and increases endorfins which are the brain's natural tranquilizers." We can't afford NOT to exercise. The benefits are out of this world.

"Therefore we do not lose heart, though outwardly we are wasting away,yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. Fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:6-18

Stay Strong,

Sheryl