You have to be careful with frugality though. Sometimes the cheapest option is not always the best…
“Wanna get Italian sandwiches? I’ve got a BOGO!” And thus began my first real date* with my husband nearly 13 years ago – with a buy-one-get-one coupon and a warm bottle of Coke he pulled out of his trunk. Some girls might have been scared off by this. But one girl’s Spartan is another’s frugality and it turns out I love me a good bargain (even if at the time I was a vegetarian who never, ever drank soda). It was this story that came to mind as I read the introduction to The Complete Guide to Frugal Fitness (aff) by Michael J. Schiemer, who has the distinction of being one of the most miserly meatheads** I’ve ever met. And I say that with total respect.
Schiemer, who in addition to being an author is also a certified personal trainer, degree-holding exercise scientist and CEO of My Frugal Fitness, has dedicated himself to teaching what we all know but is so easy to forget: that eating healthfully and exercising does not have to be expensive. Especially for those of us that are fitness nerds who geek out over the next cool app, product or supplement, it can be easy to drop a ton of cash on our pursuit of a healthy (wealthy?) lifestyle. But it doesn’t have to be all boutique gyms and $80 vitamins.
In his book, Schiemer first tells you his personal experience of going from a college kid with the freshman 15 to the ripped (and more importantly, healthier) dude he is now – all while maintaining his frugal nature. First he shares his tips for eating whole foods without ever stepping in Whole Foods and then he gives you two total body workouts — one requiring no equipment (give it up for bodyweight exercises!) and one requiring less than $100 worth of equipment. Try going to a sports store and telling them you want to set up a home gym for under $100. They will laugh themselves silly. But just like a $2 jump rope can get you a better cardio burn than a $2000 elliptical, a $10 set of resistance bands can work you as hard as a $1000 Bowflex machine. (Although if you have $20, my personal advice is to make your own TRX. Real or homemade, that’s still my #1 favorite home gym piece of equipment.
One of the sentiments I hear most when people talk about celebrity weight loss is “Well, if I had a personal trainer and a personal chef and a personal gym and access to all the best foods and supplements and knowledge then I’d look bikini-ready year round too!” And, let’s be honest, it’s kinda true. While money can’t buy health, it certainly can help a lot! (Plus it can buy surgery *cough,cough*) But people sometimes get so caught up worrying about what they don’t have that they forget about all the options we do have. Exercise can be as simple as throwing on a pair of shoes and going for a walk. Nutrition can be as basic as canned tuna fish, a sweet potato and some salad greens. Yes, money helps but lack of money doesn’t mean you can’t be healthy.
So as a free gift to you Michael has put together a free 1-month frugal workout for the cheapskate in all of us! (Or for anyone who just likes to be told what to do.) Check out his blog for his best money saving tips.
Here are a few of my own fave cheapo tips for summertime!
1. Band together. Skip the gym fees and organize a weekly (or more often) workout at a local park with your friends. The nice thing about this (besides that it’s f-r-e-e) is that it’s totally flexible. Need to switch the time? No prob. Got a bunch of munchkins? Bring ’em! Need to vent about your lame boss? Just save it for the stretching at the end! You don’t need to be a pro bootcamp instructor to come up with an effective workout but if you need ideas, check out my park workout!
2. Eat weird stuff. I know, it goes against all our inner toddlers but summertime means farmer’s markets and Asian, Halal, Hispanic and other alternate grocery stores often have great, healthy staples for super cheap. You just have to be willing to step out of your box a little bit. You may not be able to read all of the labels but that funky fruit will probably taste good (and if it doesn’t at least you’ll have a good story to share! Hello, jackfruit…).
3. Practice finding ways you can make stuff work rather than ways you can’t. This is probably my best frugal tip because sometimes just changing our mentality from “can’t” to “can” makes all the difference. Yeah I know somewhere Yoda is rolling in his grave (Is he even dead? Or is he like a Jedi deity or something?? Can you tell I only saw those movies once and slept through half of them?) but I can’t count how many conversations I’ve had where people throw up one “can’t” after another and challenge me to find a way to make fitness work for them. (I can’t! I have… an injury/kids/illness/no money/full-time job/horrible bacne/addiction to Real World reruns!). While I don’t mind at all helping people find solutions – real life IS messy – it can get frustrating when they’re so focused on all the reasons they “can’t” that they won’t even hear how they “can.” Because in the end, you can read all the great expert tips out there (and no I’m not including myself as an expert!) but they won’t do you any good until you decide that you can give it a shot.
So this month the Gym Buddies and I are doing our best to do fitness on the cheap! Any of you want to join us (whatever “frugal” means to you)?? Any other frugal fitness folks out there? Please share your best tips! And feel free to link to your own site too if you have a post that covers this!
* I say “first real date” because we’d known each other and been friends for quite some time before he actually asked me out. The first time we met was when he sat down in the front row next to me on the first day of graduate school… and then proceeded to fall asleep and drool through the whole class. Good thing he was so cute;)
** In his book he shares how he once tried to talk his girlfriend into a cubic zirconia engagement ring. Wedding didn’t happen (yep, this hottie is still single, ladies!). But I remember when my husband and I got engaged, it was me begging him to skip the diamond and buy CZ! Why start out your marriage in debt?!
As a mum of 2 small kids I run choose to get up and run around the playground with them rather than sit on the side and just watch ! My 5 year old especially works me very hard playing chase and not only is the incidental excessive great for me but my children love that I’m playing with them. It’s a win, win that doesn’t cost me a cent.
I joined my gym so long ago – 1982 – that my fees are DIRT CHEAP!!! I AM LUCKY! 🙂 Always look forward to reading about your challenges! Happy July 4th!
I, too, told Hubby to skip the engagement ring! My mom actually had one that fit me perfectly. And our wedding rings, together, cost about $120. The clerk at the jewelry store kept trying to talk me into something pricier and sparklier (that’s not a word, is it?), but I stood firm. 11 years later I still proudly wear my simple-but-perfect ring. The engagement ring is in a safe.
(And, yes, Yoda DID pass on at the end of “Return of the Jedi.” But, like all true Jedis, he’s still around in spectral from, an can even hold a conversation.)
Lately my cardio workouts have consisted mainly of hour-long walks through the hills in our neighborhood, as well as going up and down 3 flights of stairs approximately 437 times per day chasing after my kids. And I’ve lost a few pounds…
Husband got me a 3-stone ring equivalent to about 1 carat. Because it wasn’t a solitaire, it cost wayyyy less and I like it better anyway!
We would be friends in real life. When we were dating my husband and I used to play a game where we’d go to the grocery store and try and find a dinner with at least three items on the plate for under $2.
And my diamond isn’t real. (It’s a moissanite, sshhh!)
I love this experiment! I am definitely frugal. Just renewed my gym membership as a grad student spouse. Woot for a year for under $100! Yeah, there’s no classes during school breaks and parking anywhere near the gym during basketball season is impossible, neither of which would be a problem at a regular gym but for the money? I’m not complaining! We also have a barbell set that we got for free. It only has a set of 10 and a set of 20 pounders but I’ve figured out a way to get a great entire workout with just those and my bodyweight.
But I do love my sparkly new ring, I won’t lie 🙂 But no way is that or a wedding something I’d consider going into debt for. I agree, that’s crazy.
Haha the CZ engagement ring made me laugh. My husband bought me diamond, but my fingers are so small I ended up with a $200 “promise ring” with some tiny diamonds in it, I actually really love it. BUT he would have been all about the CZ if I’d wanted something bigger!!!
“Practice finding ways you can make stuff work rather than ways you can’t.” –> This is excellent general advice for pretty much every area of life! Thanks for the awesome reminder, Charlotte.
I took Roca Labs Formula which gives a gastric bypass effect. It had cut down my food intake which had helped me save a lot of expenses on food and snacks.
does anyone know how to make a homemade version of the Roca Labs Formula? I’d be interested in the recipe.
I didn’t know that a jump rope is more effective in cardio exercises than most gym equipments. What’s the recommended amount of time daily for jump rope exercises?
Those are three great tips to get fit and at the same time be frugal. Sometimes, my friends and I organize a group jiu jitzu training in your garden with mats and skip the gym fee for that time. It is great as we also have time to share our own knowledge about the sport.
Wonderful blog! I found it while searching on Yahoo News.
Do you have any suggestions on how to get listed in Yahoo
News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get
there! Thank you
I do not even understand how I ended up right here, however I believed this publish used to
be great. I don’t know who you might be but certainly you are
going to a famous blogger when you aren’t already.
Cheers!
Having read this I thought it was very enlightening.
I appreciate you taking the time and effort to
put this informative article together. I once again
find myself spending a lot of time both reading and leaving comments.
But so what, it was still worthwhile!
whoah this weblog is wonderful i love reading your posts.
Stay up the good work! You realize, many individuals
are searching round for this info, you can aid them greatly.
You have made some really good points there. I
checked on the internet for more info about the issue and found most
people will go along with your views on this website.
I blog quite often and I seriously thank you for
your information. This great article has truly peaked my
interest. I’m going to bookmark your website and
keep checking for new information about once a week. I subscribed to your RSS feed too.
Thanks designed for sharing such a pleasant idea, post is pleasant, thats why i have read it completely
Incredible! This blog looks just like my old one!
It’s on a entirely different subject but it has pretty much the same page layout and
design. Wonderful choice of colors!
That is really attention-grabbing, You’re an overly professional blogger.
I have joined your feed and look forward to in quest
of more of your excellent post. Additionally, I have
shared your site in my social networks
This is the right webpage for everyone who wants to understand this
topic. You know a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I really would want to…HaHa).
You certainly put a fresh spin on a subject that’s been written about for many years.
Great stuff, just excellent!
Wonderful work! That is the type of info that are meant to be shared around
the web. Shame on Google for no longer positioning this post higher!
Come on over and visit my site . Thanks =)
Hi to every one, the contents present at this website are in fact awesome for people knowledge, well, keep up the good work fellows.
Appreciating the persistence you put into your blog and in depth information you
offer. It’s great to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same outdated rehashed material.
Great read! I’ve bookmarked your site and I’m adding your RSS feeds to
my Google account.
For most recent news you have to go to see world-wide-web and on world-wide-web I found this website as a best website
for newest updates.
Hi my name is Jacqueline and I just wanted to drop you a quick note here instead of calling you. I discovered your July’s Great Frugal Fitness Experiment [What’s Your Best Healthy Budgeting Tip?] | Charlotte Hilton Andersen page and noticed you could have a lot more traffic. I have found that the key to running a successful website is making sure the visitors you are getting are interested in your niche. There is a company that you can get targeted visitors from and they let you try their service for free for 7 days. I managed to get over 300 targeted visitors to day to my website. Visit them here: http://t8k.me/wl