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.
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.
Thanks for the advice guys, especially RobM77. I'm not too fussed about building muscle, but would like to retain it and build core strength for other sports. At the gym I'd do 1 or 2 CV sessions a week, one mainly weights session and a swim, so I'm hoping to keep that that up, maybe with more cycling, as I enjoy it more and as has been mentioned, CV is probably better for the losing weight part of my goal.
I'm going to look at the TRX things, as I've never seen those, I'll ask my girlfriend about kettlebells, as I know she has used them a few times when she had a personal trainer (she has also cancelled her gym membership, so will be using this equipment too).
I'm going to look at the TRX things, as I've never seen those, I'll ask my girlfriend about kettlebells, as I know she has used them a few times when she had a personal trainer (she has also cancelled her gym membership, so will be using this equipment too).
RobM77 said:
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
I thought I'd update this after 4 months.
Cardio wise I've been doing great, averaging 48km/3 hours a week on the bike, but I've not been quite as good at Swiss ball training at home, more like once or twice a week. Swimming has been even worse, I had my first swim in months last night & struggled. Monday night has now been set aside for swimming though. Other than the swimming I do feel fitter than I did before and I've lost a bit of weight. I still need to try harder though, so will revisit the tips in this thread.
My fiancé has been struggling to get out running, mostly to motivation/busy social life but is looking at rejoining the gym. She has found out that they now also do a month by month membership, so I may join again for a few months over the winter when I can't get out on my bike after work.
Cardio wise I've been doing great, averaging 48km/3 hours a week on the bike, but I've not been quite as good at Swiss ball training at home, more like once or twice a week. Swimming has been even worse, I had my first swim in months last night & struggled. Monday night has now been set aside for swimming though. Other than the swimming I do feel fitter than I did before and I've lost a bit of weight. I still need to try harder though, so will revisit the tips in this thread.
My fiancé has been struggling to get out running, mostly to motivation/busy social life but is looking at rejoining the gym. She has found out that they now also do a month by month membership, so I may join again for a few months over the winter when I can't get out on my bike after work.
Edited by Craikeybaby on Tuesday 18th August 12:09
I'm revisiting this thread, as I'm back to the same starting point as I was at the start of this thread 
As life, including a baby, got in the way. At least I haven't been spending £55 a month for it, although the (now) wife did rejoin the gym.
We are both making more of an effort to lose weight this year, but we have to be a bit smarter about it now that we have to factor in looking after a baby. My goal for the year are get my weight down to 90kg (it was 92kg at the end of last year) and most importanly keep it there! Obviously losing more weight is better, as I have a few other cycling based goals which will be easier the less I weigh. My wife has a similar weight based goal and wants to get her Parkrun time under 30 minutes. We are both on board with eachothers goals and are going to encourage eachother.
To achieve my goals I've laid out what I'm going to do each day in the week, hopefully this will become my routine, as the cycling elements already have done.
Monday - Resistance training at home
Tuesday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Wednesday - Swim/bike ride
Thursday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Friday - Cycle to work, then take the long way home including some interval training
Saturday - Rest day/take my son to the park
Sunday - Longer bike ride
The main part that I need to work on, is what to do for resistance training on Mondays. I've mainly been doing press ups/crunches/planks at home but really need to expand it a bit. I got the wife some dumbells for Xmas (she asked for them!) so will be borrowing them.
As life, including a baby, got in the way. At least I haven't been spending £55 a month for it, although the (now) wife did rejoin the gym.We are both making more of an effort to lose weight this year, but we have to be a bit smarter about it now that we have to factor in looking after a baby. My goal for the year are get my weight down to 90kg (it was 92kg at the end of last year) and most importanly keep it there! Obviously losing more weight is better, as I have a few other cycling based goals which will be easier the less I weigh. My wife has a similar weight based goal and wants to get her Parkrun time under 30 minutes. We are both on board with eachothers goals and are going to encourage eachother.
To achieve my goals I've laid out what I'm going to do each day in the week, hopefully this will become my routine, as the cycling elements already have done.
Monday - Resistance training at home
Tuesday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Wednesday - Swim/bike ride
Thursday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Friday - Cycle to work, then take the long way home including some interval training
Saturday - Rest day/take my son to the park
Sunday - Longer bike ride
The main part that I need to work on, is what to do for resistance training on Mondays. I've mainly been doing press ups/crunches/planks at home but really need to expand it a bit. I got the wife some dumbells for Xmas (she asked for them!) so will be borrowing them.
RobM77 said:
ORD said:
I don't understand the idea of doing hours and hours of CV a week. It sounds so bloody tiresome. Just eat less. Anything that is being used simply to burn calories is much harder than just learning self control.
Not everyone exercises to lose weight 
For many people, the idea of doing lots of CV is to become fitter and therefore better at whatever sport you partake in.I do need to sort out my strength workout, so thanks for the links.
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