{"id":1495,"date":"2011-02-04T06:01:34","date_gmt":"2011-02-04T14:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/?p=1495"},"modified":"2011-01-30T10:02:39","modified_gmt":"2011-01-30T18:02:39","slug":"7-frugal-ways-to-exercise-diy-home-gym","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/7-frugal-ways-to-exercise-diy-home-gym\/","title":{"rendered":"7 Frugal Ways to Exercise: DIY Home Gym"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>For quite a while, I&#8217;ve had a gym membership. Mainly, I had it because I enjoy swimming. However, my schedule has filled up recently, and I just don&#8217;t have the time to go across town, swim, shower, get dressed (and made up) and then come back across the town. Besides, while the swimming offers great, low-impact cardio, it doesn&#8217;t do as much in terms of strength training &#8212; especially for the core muscles. While I will miss the swimming, I will still be able to swim when we go to the lake during the summer.<\/p>\n<p>So, to save time and money, I&#8217;m dusting off the old equipment I&#8217;ve had for a while. You can have a do-it-yourself home gym for a fairly low price. Indeed, if you are just looking for all-around general fitness (which can help you <a href=\"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/5-ways-to-lower-your-health-insurance-rates\/\">save money on health costs<\/a>), it&#8217;s relatively easy to gather what you need. Here are a few items you can use to create a DIY home gym:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hand weights<\/strong>: At our house, we have 2-pound, 5-pound and 15-pound weights. You can save money buy buying a set with several different weights. Or you can get two-weight sets for between $5 and $20 apiece, depending on the type you buy.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Stability ball<\/strong>: You can usually get one of these for less than $10. It is great for a number of exercises. I use mine to help me with squats, as well as to do a chest press, rowing, crunches and other exercises. A stability ball is one of the most useful things you can have in a DIY home gym.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Resistance bands<\/strong>: Useful for a number of exercises and cheap, cheap, cheap. A package with three or four different bands (plain, no handles, like what are used in Pilates) can be found for right around $8 &#8211; $12. Or you can get resistance tubes for a little more.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Step<\/strong>: If you do that sort of thing. I don&#8217;t actually have a step. If I decide to do anything that requires a step, I use my stair steps. This is because a basic step can cost $20.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Yoga mat<\/strong>: I don&#8217;t have one of these, either. I&#8217;m fine working out on the carpet &#8212; even when I do yoga, as I do most mornings. But if you want one, you can get one for right around $15.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Pull up bar<\/strong>: I don&#8217;t do this, either, but it works well for those who want one. You can get a basic pull up bar for your doorway for between $10 and $20.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Instruction videos<\/strong>: I love instruction videos. I rotate through six (dancing, kickboxing, two different Pilates, and two different fitness yoga) so that I work different parts of my body. You can buy them for anywhere between $5 and $20, or you can rent them free at the library. Additionally, there are several YouTube videos and other sources of free online exercise instruction and routine. I do my belly dancing for fitness using free YouTube videos.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In the end, what you want in your DIY home gym depends on your goals. My DIY home gym consists of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>3 sets of handweights: Total cost $15<\/li>\n<li>Stability ball: $8<\/li>\n<li>Videos: $25 (two came with resistance bands, so those were no additional cost)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That&#8217;s it. I get an all-around work out with equipment I spent $48 on more than five years ago. When I want to learn how to tone a certain body part, or get a new exercise routine to vary it up, I just go online and watch a free video to see how it is done with what I have. My <a href=\"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/3-things-i-learnt-about-diy-from-a-flooded-basement\/\">DIY<\/a> home gym is simple, yet effective, and it saves me money.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you have in your home gym?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For quite a while, I&#8217;ve had a gym membership. Mainly, I had it because I enjoy swimming. However, my schedule has filled up recently, and I just don&#8217;t have the time to go across town, swim, shower, get dressed (and made up) and then come back across the town. Besides, while the swimming offers great, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[513],"tags":[72,510,30],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1495\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/couponshoebox.com\/tips\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}