Cancelling gym membership - continue training at home
Discussion
Tomorrow is the last day of my gym membership £55 per month (x 2 as my girlfriend was a member too) is getting to much to stomach, even though I'm there 3 or 4 times a week. Other cheaper gyms are a pain to get to, so I'm looking for what I can do at home/from home, especially now that the evenings are lighter. I think the main thing I'll miss is the pool/sauna etc, but I'll just have to make do with the council pools (old 50m pool or new 25m pool within a few miles of home).
The plan is to replace cardio with cycling - aiming for 3 hours a week. I'll get a gym ball and yogo mat for abs stuff, but is there anything else worth getting for home, bearing in mind there isn't room to set up a home gym.
Are there any good books/online programmes worth following? My goal is to lose a little bit of weight and drop body fat, I'm about 1kg above where I want to be and 4% body fat up, but the key thing is to keep active for what will be the first time without a gym membership in 10 years.
The plan is to replace cardio with cycling - aiming for 3 hours a week. I'll get a gym ball and yogo mat for abs stuff, but is there anything else worth getting for home, bearing in mind there isn't room to set up a home gym.
Are there any good books/online programmes worth following? My goal is to lose a little bit of weight and drop body fat, I'm about 1kg above where I want to be and 4% body fat up, but the key thing is to keep active for what will be the first time without a gym membership in 10 years.
Craikeybaby said:
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The plan is to replace cardio with cycling - aiming for 3 hours a week. I'll get a gym ball and yogo mat for abs stuff, but is there anything else worth getting for home, bearing in mind there isn't room to set up a home gym.
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A powercage doesn't take up much room and allows a full body workout.The plan is to replace cardio with cycling - aiming for 3 hours a week. I'll get a gym ball and yogo mat for abs stuff, but is there anything else worth getting for home, bearing in mind there isn't room to set up a home gym.
...
Just add a bench, oly bar and plates and you're off.
Thanks for all the advice, plenty of things to look at.
campermanj said:
Don't know how often you go swimming fella but if you went 2 or 3 times a week, you'd be better off keeping your gym membership I know where I live in Kent the council swimming pool is almost 5 quid x10 monthly you're looking at 50 quid just on swimming each month
It's likely to be only once a week, maybe more in the winter when I can't get out on my bike as much.LordGrover said:
A powercage doesn't take up much room and allows a full body workout.
Just add a bench, oly bar and plates and you're off.
Definetly no room for something like that, unless I move my car out of the garage - which is not an option!Just add a bench, oly bar and plates and you're off.
CV: OP: If you want to lose weight and drop body fat, then just do CV. Run, cycle or walk regularly and if your calorie burning exceeds your intake, you'll lose weight, it's as simple as that.
Resistance: If you want to put on or retain muscle as well (which can be a good idea for preventing injury doing other sports, or of course just vanity, plus you'll get a small increase in resting metabolic rate with muscle, but it's smaller than most weight training guys claim - IIRC research shows about 10-15% for people who do heavy weights; there are papers online showing these results), then obviously you'll need to do resistance training, which obviously requires a bit more imagination at home. I also quit the gym years ago and do the following for resistance at home:
Chin ups: I bought a bar that screws into a doorway from Argos for about £20-£30. You can get frame things that you can take on and off, but the bar's sturdier, safer and does less damage to the door. Mine's on the study door, where guests never go, and you can't see it from the hallway with the door shut, so it's very discreet.
Press Ups: Obviously you can do these anywhere. Try putting your feet on something for a bit of variation, although be prepared to be told off if you put your feet on the work top
You can even do handstand pressups with your feet on a wall, but work up to these as they're quite hard work and you can pull a shoulder muscle if you're not used to them (as I did once..). You can also vary pressups by changing the distance between your hands, or put your hands together and do a tricep pressup (I'm sure there's a video somewhere on the web for these).
Crunches etc - loads on the web for these. The cross crunch where your knee touch your chin was recently found to be the most effective abs exercise.
Core: There are loads of bodyweight exercises for the core, including lots of varieties of plank. My wife has a wheel with two short handles that's awesome for core and back - Amazon do them for about £15.
Dips: You can work out your ankles on the stairs.
Lunges: Good for the quads to help support the knees for running etc.
TRX: My wife has one of these - it's two straps with foot/hand holds on the end that you can shut in a door and there's a fantastic array of exercises that you can do with them. They're a bit pricey, but she uses it loads.
In the winter, I make a circuit up of the above using a Turbo Trainer with my bike and I do that for an hour twice a week. In the summer, when it warms up, then I do CV 6 days a week for fun and either circuits or weights of the above to keep a bit of muscle on me and stop me looking like Mo Farah
Resistance: If you want to put on or retain muscle as well (which can be a good idea for preventing injury doing other sports, or of course just vanity, plus you'll get a small increase in resting metabolic rate with muscle, but it's smaller than most weight training guys claim - IIRC research shows about 10-15% for people who do heavy weights; there are papers online showing these results), then obviously you'll need to do resistance training, which obviously requires a bit more imagination at home. I also quit the gym years ago and do the following for resistance at home:
Chin ups: I bought a bar that screws into a doorway from Argos for about £20-£30. You can get frame things that you can take on and off, but the bar's sturdier, safer and does less damage to the door. Mine's on the study door, where guests never go, and you can't see it from the hallway with the door shut, so it's very discreet.
Press Ups: Obviously you can do these anywhere. Try putting your feet on something for a bit of variation, although be prepared to be told off if you put your feet on the work top
You can even do handstand pressups with your feet on a wall, but work up to these as they're quite hard work and you can pull a shoulder muscle if you're not used to them (as I did once..). You can also vary pressups by changing the distance between your hands, or put your hands together and do a tricep pressup (I'm sure there's a video somewhere on the web for these).Crunches etc - loads on the web for these. The cross crunch where your knee touch your chin was recently found to be the most effective abs exercise.
Core: There are loads of bodyweight exercises for the core, including lots of varieties of plank. My wife has a wheel with two short handles that's awesome for core and back - Amazon do them for about £15.
Dips: You can work out your ankles on the stairs.
Lunges: Good for the quads to help support the knees for running etc.
TRX: My wife has one of these - it's two straps with foot/hand holds on the end that you can shut in a door and there's a fantastic array of exercises that you can do with them. They're a bit pricey, but she uses it loads.
In the winter, I make a circuit up of the above using a Turbo Trainer with my bike and I do that for an hour twice a week. In the summer, when it warms up, then I do CV 6 days a week for fun and either circuits or weights of the above to keep a bit of muscle on me and stop me looking like Mo Farah
RobM77 said:
Resistance: If you want to put on or retain muscle as well (which can be a good idea for preventing injury doing other sports, or of course just vanity, plus you'll get a small increase in resting metabolic rate with muscle, but it's smaller than most weight training guys claim - IIRC research shows about 10-15% for people who do heavy weights; there are papers online showing these results), then obviously you'll need to do resistance training, which obviously requires a bit more imagination at home. I also quit the gym years ago and do the following for resistance at home:
Apols for selective quoting.If it's as much as 10% that'd be great - burning an extra 200kcals per day every day 365 days a year c. 73,000 kcals! That's a month's worth of food per year. Plus the workouts themselves.
I suspect it may be half that but it's still a valuable 'burn'.
LordGrover said:
Craikeybaby said:
...
The plan is to replace cardio with cycling - aiming for 3 hours a week. I'll get a gym ball and yogo mat for abs stuff, but is there anything else worth getting for home, bearing in mind there isn't room to set up a home gym.
...
A powercage doesn't take up much room and allows a full body workout.The plan is to replace cardio with cycling - aiming for 3 hours a week. I'll get a gym ball and yogo mat for abs stuff, but is there anything else worth getting for home, bearing in mind there isn't room to set up a home gym.
...
Just add a bench, oly bar and plates and you're off.
Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Tuesday 31st March 10:11
I have the next model up, the CF475 which has dip attachments.
Mine's in my garage and while it's a tight fit height is no problem, about 7 ft tall. I need a little more than that headroom for shoulder press with 20kg plates. I have a photo of my cramped space somewhere - I'll post when I find it.
Bugger - it was here but I must've moved it: CLICK.
Will try to find it again.
Mine's in my garage and while it's a tight fit height is no problem, about 7 ft tall. I need a little more than that headroom for shoulder press with 20kg plates. I have a photo of my cramped space somewhere - I'll post when I find it.
Bugger - it was here but I must've moved it: CLICK.
Will try to find it again.
LordGrover said:
RobM77 said:
Resistance: If you want to put on or retain muscle as well (which can be a good idea for preventing injury doing other sports, or of course just vanity, plus you'll get a small increase in resting metabolic rate with muscle, but it's smaller than most weight training guys claim - IIRC research shows about 10-15% for people who do heavy weights; there are papers online showing these results), then obviously you'll need to do resistance training, which obviously requires a bit more imagination at home. I also quit the gym years ago and do the following for resistance at home:
Apols for selective quoting.If it's as much as 10% that'd be great - burning an extra 200kcals per day every day 365 days a year c. 73,000 kcals! That's a month's worth of food per year. Plus the workouts themselves.
I suspect it may be half that but it's still a valuable 'burn'.
LordGrover said:
I have the next model up, the CF475 which has dip attachments.
Mine's in my garage and while it's a tight fit height is no problem, about 7 ft tall. I need a little more than that headroom for shoulder press with 20kg plates. I have a photo of my cramped space somewhere - I'll post when I find it.
Bugger - it was here but I must've moved it: CLICK.
Will try to find it again.
I have the model shown in an earlier post, but now wish I had bought the model you have for the dip attachement. I may invest in that one at some point...Mine's in my garage and while it's a tight fit height is no problem, about 7 ft tall. I need a little more than that headroom for shoulder press with 20kg plates. I have a photo of my cramped space somewhere - I'll post when I find it.
Bugger - it was here but I must've moved it: CLICK.
Will try to find it again.
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