Get fit without a gym membership – tips for

If you think you need a gym membership to get fit and lose weight, then you’re probably making excuses. These tips will help you in shape at home without going to the gym!

The gym isn’t a bad place to be, but do you really need it to get in shape or to lose weight?

We've had a gym membership for years, but we are also someone who actually LOVES to work out at home.

The Benefits of Working Out At Home

The biggest benefit in our opinion: Working out at home saves us time. We don’t need to get to the gym before or after work and therefore we're more likely to work out.
You can squeeze in 5-minute workouts whenever you need a break from whatever you’re doing
Work out whenever you want (don’t need to stick to opening/closing hours)
Don’t need to wash our hair, put make up on, even brush our teeth (disgusting or genius?…yes, disgusting)
If you’re just starting out – you get to try new things in the comfort of your own home
Saves you money

7 Huge Secrets To Get Fit Without The Gym

Now here are 7 awesome tips, or should we call them secrets to get you started with working out at home even if you don’t have a gym membership. These will help you lose weight, start taking better care of yourself and will motivate you to make some healthy changes in your everyday life.

Secret # 1: You don’t need much

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Many people will tell you, you need a ton of equipment. Basically, you don’t need to change, but you’ll have to turn one of your rooms into a home gym. Well, We don’t have an extra room and we don’t want to spend a lot of money on equipment. We know it’s hard to believe, but we'll say it: We are not Beyoncé, mkay?

But here’s what we actually use and recommend to start exercising at home:

A good, thick exercise mat. We had an exercise mat that wasn’t thick enough and it would hurt our knees, elbows or back when we do pilates or other mat exercises. Like seriously, the next day we would have bruises. Getting a thicker exercise mat, made a huge difference.
The right shoes. We used to work out without shoes at home (again that genius), but then we would hurt our ankles and wouldn’t be able to exercise for weeks. Don’t do that! Get shoes that will make it simple and pleasant to walk and exercise.
Free weights. This is something we thought we never needed and it’s completely optional if you’re just starting out. First get into the groove and build some endurance and strength. At some point, when you get comfortable – it’s time to step it up and get some hand weights to develop more strength. We don’t use heavy weights, ours are 3lbs and we have some that are 8lbs, and we find this to be enough for us.

That is all you need – 3 things.

Of course, you can get some cute looking exercise clothes, some resistance bands, and so on – but these are the 3 basics we would definitely recommend when you want to start working out at home.

Secret #2: Create a workout plan

Now that you have all the “equipment”, you need to know what you’re doing. There are plenty of at home workouts online, but there’s a but. Because there are so many of them you might get overwhelmed and not be able to choose one when you’re ready to work out.

To avoid this – choose 5-6 workouts and create a workout plan for yourself upfront. See how we do this here every week.

What’s important here is to create a workout plan that works for you. You’ll need to experiment in the beginning, but soon you’ll find what kind of workouts you love. Just don’t be afraid to try new things.

how to make a workout plan our workout plan in google sheets

We do a mixture of workouts we find online and some workouts we came up with after years of experimenting with different exercises.

Here’s where you can find workouts online:

1. YouTube

YouTube has a lot of free workouts that can help you get in shape. Some of our favorite channels are:

POPSUGAR Fitness
Fitness Blender
SweatyBetty
Barre Fitness
YOGATX
jessicasmithtv

2. Workout DVDs

Another option is to buy a few workout DVDs and work out with them. This option is great if you don’t have a reliable internet connection and streaming videos doesn’t work. The downside though is that after a few rounds it gets pretty repetitive.

Secret #3: Do it in the morning

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Something important to keep in mind is that if you’re going to work out at home, you’ll probably need more motivation and willpower to do it. As sad as it sounds the reality is – we do value things more when we pay for them. Probably because we’re insane, but who knows really.

It’s like this. If you skip the gym – you don’t only feel bad because you didn’t work out, but also because you’re paying money for that membership. So next time you make sure you go to the gym. At least one more time this month. With at home workouts – you only feel bad because you haven’t worked out, so it’s easier to say – “Well, we'll do it tomorrow, today’s busy.”

Solution to this whole drama: Work out in the morning. And every morning.

Make sure to wake up early and create a simple morning routine that you love. Include some exercise in it.

You do 30 minutes in the morning, then you feel AWESOME and accomplished the entire day. Doing this will also motivate you to eat healthier and move more throughout the day. Which brings us to our next tip.

Tip 4: Walk & move every chance you get

Now, 30 minutes of exercise daily are a great start, but they wouldn’t mean a thing if you don’t move throughout the day. And if you have a desk job, you probably know what we're talking about.

We for example, can sit on our butt and work at our desk (or on the couch, or in extreme cases – in our bed!) for hours. We lose track of time when we're working (or watching Youtube videos). By doing so, unfortunately, we're increasing our risk for a million and one diseases plus belly fat. And we know it.

To avoid this, either set an alarm on your phone or get a fitness tracker to tell you it’s time to move and then get up and move. In general, you need to move for 5 minutes every hour to be healthy and fit (you can read more about this here)

Tip 5: Put it on paper

For some accountability, start a health & fitness journal. We usually use a simple google spreadsheet and fill out date, which workout we did, how we did and how we felt. When you have the data and see it after a week or so, it’s going to motivate you moving forward. Because nothing makes us as happy as progress.

Tip 6: All About The Mindset

Now, just because you decide one time you’re gonna work out at home, doesn’t mean you’re actually gonna want to do it every single day. If you let yourself go and let everything going on in your life overwhelm you – no morning workout, no journal, no nothing is ever going to make you get up and exercise. Even if you don’t need to go to the gym.

Not if you don’t have the right mindset. This is so key! Whatever you want to change in life, you need to work on it consistently. And enjoy this work, the journey.

Nobody’s gonna beg you to go work out at 6 am.

But you need to adopt the attitude that you’re gonna do it, no matter how you feel at the moment. At least for a while. Then you’ll realize that this is worth it, because it makes you feel better than if you don’t do it. It’s not about looking hot, it’s about feeling alive, completely there.

Tip 7: Boring, but – Eat Healthy!

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Last but not least: food. To be able to do anything in life you need food. Really. You do. It’s the fuel that keeps your body going. It helps build and rebuild your cells, it helps your body regenerate itself. People say you can’t outtrain a bad diet, and they’re right.

You can exercise for hours, but the one thing you need to focus on from the start is eating healthier. This will then allow you to enjoy the workouts you do even more.

Don’t get overwhelmed with all the nutritional advice out there and just go with what is common sense – no junk food and more fruits and vegetables. This common sense is going to take you quite far.

Well, the most important thing about losing weight and getting fit without a gym membership is that you take action and just start. So tomorrow, roll out of bed, put on your shoes & exercise clothes and do a 30-minute workout. Then take it one step at a time and repeat this part every day until the end of the week.

Get fit without a gym membership – tips for working out at home