I really don't like going to the gym. Yet it seems that most people I know get most or all of their exercise in a gym. Multiple times I have bought a month pass to a gym and gone once even though my money was wasted. Being there felt a little too similar to the cubicle or concrete office I had been sitting in before clocking out of work. I felt like it was a chore to get through with the goal of improving my physical fitness. I was paying to be there, I wanted to enjoy the activities I was doing also.
My longest running and most cherished alternative to going to the gym is my yoga practice. I started yoga when I was young. It was a nice tool to quiet my overactive mind that would keep me up all night. When I was a little older, I realized the injuries I had from running and playing soccer felt better after holding a certain yoga pose. I began to enjoy the physical stability I was earning through my practice. Some mornings I practice yoga asana under the rising sun and I thank my body carrying me through each day. It feels so good to release thoughts and emotions that have been troubling my mind and to gain strength in my body. Even on a day that is feels like a chore to arrive, I leave feeling gratitude.
I feel the need to move in nature and also use this time to observe the cycles of weather, plants, and animals around me. Running on a treadmill feels torturous every time I have used one. Plus I have dogs, so they are very happy when I choose this alternative. I love to feel the joy they experience when we go down a new trail. I don't run often, but sometimes I have a strong urge to move quickly, work my muscles strongly and efficiently, and strengthen my lungs. I've always loved to run on hot summer nights when there is a cool breeze that breaks through the heat and the electricity of a storm in the air. I don't think the joy I feel from these experiences could be found without being outside in the elements.
I recently read that lifting weights was found to increase the human lifespan and that does not surprise me. When I worked in an office, I was interested in the gym because I needed more physical activity in my life. Outside of those years, I have worked quite a few different jobs that did require me to lift heavy things. I've dug holes, stretched fence wire, cleared rocks out of a pasture, used heavy kitchen and laboratory equipment, and a number of other tasks which have made me fairly capable of lifting a heavy object without injuring myself. Ultimately, I prefer to live and work in a way where I use my hands often.
This is all to say that I am happy with these alternatives to the gym. A gym just doesn't provide the benefits I need. I exercise to spend an hour with the sun on my face and the wind at my back, to bond with my dogs, to build myself a more beautiful home.
Is there something I am missing out on by not going to the gym? What are your alternatives?
I try to be more active with home improvements and playing with my kid.
I used to think it was odd that people drove to the gym where they paid to run on a treadmill, when they could have just run to the gym and back home for free.
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Gyms are good if you like to work out with other people or if you are training seriously and need specific equipment or to work with a trainer. Otherwise you can buy some weights and get pretty much get everything else for free.
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Don't even need to buy weights if you don't want. There's heavy rocks and stuff outside. Body weight exercises are more efficient I believe.
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Yes you can get around it but if there are specific lifts you like to do it helps.
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One of the things I liked doing at the gym was going through all the machines at whatever weight they happened to be on and doing as many reps as I could. It's a neat way to use other people to randomize your workouts.
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That is a fun idea. Random is good. You never know what your gonna get.
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I have a funny story that is adjacent to this. In my early twenties I used to work out at a place called monster gym. A bunch of CFL players for the Argos used to work out there and some wrestlers would work out there as well when they were in Toronto for a show. I once saw Brian Adams (he was Crush) maxing out the leg press machine with 9 plates on each side. Anyways, there was a Canadian champion bodybuilder who worked out there as well and one day he asks me if he can work in between my sets on the leg extension machine. I said sure and while he did his set I went to the fountain to get a drink of water. I came back and sat in the machine and tried to do a leg extension and the thing wouldn't budge. I thought what's wrong with me I moved this no problem last set totally forgetting the guy was 4x the size of me and probably changed the weight. I looked down at the weights and it was set at max 220lbs. Haha.
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If all you want to do is run and the weather is nice then that makes sense. If the weather isn't nice or you want to lift a lot, or target certain muscles then the gym makes more sense.
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I was a teenager (aka an idiot) when I thought that.
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Thanks for the post. I enjoyed it.
I feel similarly. I have had many gym memberships over the years. I probably ended up paying like $100 a visit, all said and done. I prefer to be outside, and work with environment and my own body weight. I feel that body weight exercises are better for distributed strength, flexibility, and longevity. More sustainable for me.
And if we are able to make our work-out anf our work the same things, like building something... It's like getting back 2x back.
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My approach is extremely niche, but can probably be compared to some other builder/constructor hobbies.
I'm building an experimental airplane made of riveted aluminum, and it requires all sorts of repetitive motions to drill, deburr, dimple, and rivet all of the thousands of holes in the structure. One of the riveting tools is a very heavy handheld pneumatic press that needs to be lifted and held in place while the other hand slowly presses the lever to apply riveting pressure. It's exhausting, ambidextrous and can involve contorting your body into all kinds of positions to have access to all of the holes.
I don't really think about the effort required anymore as I've gotten much stronger over time, but when I started the project I couldn't work on the same thing for more than a few minutes.
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I love it. Now you have a valuable skill and pushed the limits of what your body is capable of
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To me this is real strength. Making out bodies useful. Not just learning simple repetitive motions. And making something happen in the process. Win-win
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My gym is outside! Proof of work… I run free!
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Outside anything is always best to me. Unless, its inside, hiding from something outside, like weather.
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Love it! I’ve run a 5k outside everyday since COVID started! I work remotely and need the fresh air!
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Fresh air is so important to me. The fresher the better.
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Endorphins are my drug of choice!
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55 sats \ 1 reply \ @Kontext 25 Mar
Yoga + calisthenics + walking/hiking + swimming. Gyms are overrated.
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I agree. All these practices promote long term sustainable strength. And you can do them wherever, for free.
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I never go to the gym anymore. I have everything I need at home to do all the major lifts I would want to do and I have tons of sporting equipment to play different sports with my kids and I walk 10k steps a day.
This does not even account for the 100 push ups and squats I do a day for the 100k challenge.
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I tried pushups the other day and only got to 20. It would really be a 100 push up challenge for me. Thats awesome though. Sports are more fun than the gym to me.
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I've been getting into strength training. I bought a power cage, adjustable dumbells, barbell, and 370lb of plate weights all for under $1000 brand new. Working out at home is IMO much easier than working out at the gym. You can get used equipment for even cheaper if you search around.
You can also look at going the crossfit route and get used tracker tires, railroad ties, etc for cheap and throw them around outside.
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I definitely prefer to get a work out in my own space. Sounds like you got a great deal.
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Interesting for your injury, good to know that yoga can have a positive effect. I wish you to recover quickly.
I have never been able to go to the gym as well. I can't explain really why but I don't fit. In my case it is calisthenics (I actually call it street workout but I think in America calisthenics is the "brand" name). It is free as in free beer and free as in freedom, since parks are most of the time open 24h/7d. Nobody takes selfies while doing pushups, so at least in terms of atmosphere it is not Instagram-centric or look-at-me-how-i-am-beautiful kind of atmosphere, which I think is a great benefit of training outside, at least in my experience. Nowadays more people do it on YouTube so maybe it changed in other regions of the world.
For boxing though I have/had to go the gym, however at least training Muay Thai in Thailand was not at all, in my case at least, look-at-me-how-beautiful-i-am-oooh-my-instagram-followers for 99% of the time. So almost always a good time even indoor.
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I like exercise but never team sports and I've never liked going to the gym, nor lifting weights for the most part. In the past I've (rock) climbed, done a lot of martial arts including Xing Yi which is an excellent workout that requires zero equipment but is very rare, so it's hard to find a teacher and it's genuinely something you need a teacher for and done some yoga which I love but also think a teacher goes a long way. Then I did some BJJ and a bit later being a big martial arts nerd I came across a HIIT workout by a (at the time of release) famous MMA guy, and I have been doing it for ten years. It's arguably harder than anything I've done in the past but it has over time made me strong and healthy, lean and defined but not 'big' by any means.
Anyway I definitely recommend it, you only need a laptop/phone, a yoga mat, a towel (you will sweat) and two dumbbells. Best of all you can do it in a small space (like a spare room or a balcony) and from warm up to workout to cool down the whole thing is done in 45 mins. Very hard to find better value for the time. The down side is it's brutal, spartan brutal. Initially it will take your body a week to recover from the workouts, and it's important you let all the soreness go away but then get after it again as soon as possible afterwards, otherwise your body will need a week to recover again. There were times when my heart rate would be elevated for 2-3 days afterwards, one of the workouts in particular is very tough. Sometimes I think that it's too much but over a long time, longer than I ever thought possible in terms of these things, my body adapted to handle the work required. Now I can do even the toughest routine and still be good to do anything the rest of the day, I'll still be sore the next day though. I think anyone who is not crazy fit should proceed with extreme caution, I can definitely see these workouts giving some one a heart attack. But over time this type of exercise is I feel the best anti-aging, anti heart attack stuff you can do. Anyway if anyone is interested someone uploaded them to youtube a while ago:
https://youtu.be/3S7LbDsMmAA?si=n5Sjzf7JxdSBDdCo - the one I started with, I thought I was in pretty good shape from BJJ but no! https://youtu.be/ynqLwHXnL2I?si=SV6VOBHCoCTtsx1y - the hardest one https://youtu.be/8UppcFN8itI?si=ADGW_E--oxTEMeZ1 - my favourite go-to one
The warm up and cool down is the same for each. The program features two other workout routines but I dropped them, I think these 3 are the money. It's also possible to mix up the rounds so you have 5 rounds that don't require dumbells, helpful if you are on holiday or something.
I won't be able to do this forever but I'll try for as long as I can, eventually I will go back to yoga and taiji/xingyi.
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