Gym at Home? Why not?

Don't get me wrong. I love working out. The happiness I feel after sweating it out is exhilarating. As if I can kick anyone's ass any time, any day.

But I hate going to the gym.


On my previous job, I had a gym membership for two years paying around Php 1,200 per month. It seems cheap given that if you divide it by 30 days, it'll give you a mere Php 40/day. The big problem, however, was that I don't go there everyday. Sometimes, work prohibited me from going and most of the time, I just don't want to. My desire to go home early was more overwhelming than my desire to work out. So I stopped (without even learning how to do push-ups correctly) and gained six annoying pounds in the process.

When I resigned from my previous job and transferred to my current one (it's nearer my home and has a more flexible schedule), I tried to go to the gym once again. This time it's much, much cheaper than the first one (it's a company gym), damage to my pocket is only Php 1,500 a year. A YEAR! But for some God-only-knows-reason, I just can't go there everyday. I'd rather go home and enjoy as much freedom as I can (my goal is to leave the office at exactly 5:00pm, before the sun sets). Sure, I lost a couple of pounds, but going there was a chore. Plus, I find it uncomfortable exercising with other people (I know I should not, but hey, this is me.)

But one day, while reading Women's Health, I came across their article on workouts that can be done at home. All you need is a computer. It introduced me to ExerciseTV. I came to meet different fitness personalities such as Chris Freytag, Jessica Smith, Nicole Stewart, Jennifer Galardi, and my personal favorite, Jillian Michaels.  I did different bootcamp exercises, yoga, pilates, and kickbox. I even danced (but stopped. I figured that I'm not really a dancer.) Sadly, ExerciseTV closed down (good thing I have downloaded some of their free stuff.)

I then surfed YouTube and found out A LOT of exercises that I can do in the comfort of my own home. Not only it saved me gym membership, it also gave me another reason to go home early (to work out!) Here are my top three FREE workouts:

1. Zuzana Light  She has a weekly workout she calls ZWOW (Zuzana's Workout of the Week) and I tell you, they are so challenging that you'll keep coming back for more. She's also inspiring (just look at those abs and tell me if you're not inspired to have that). I like the fact that she doesn't use too much materials and relies mostly on body weight (with the limited resources that I have, this is a plus. I only have 4-pound dumbells, 8-pound kettlebell, yoga mat, jumping rope, and a hoola-hoop). Her AMRAP (as much reps as possible) exercises are my favorite because they are only 10 minutes long (but a complete workout nevertheless)!

2. Tone It Up This site is led by best friends Karena and Katrina. They are so gorgeous that I want to do everything that they are doing. I like that their workouts are geared towards women (they even give some of their workouts some girly names. "Beach Babe Workout" and "Sunkissed Abs Workout", can't get any girlier than that, right?) Their workouts are also short (around 10-30 minutes). Aside from workouts, the girls also offer healthy tips and recipes. 

3. Blogilates Owned but Casey Ho, a super-funny Pilates instructor extraordinaire. Not only her workouts are effective (my body is still sore from the Food Baby Workout I did two days ago), but she is very motivating (like a cheerleader) and entertaining (she talks like you've known each other for a long time.)

So there you have it, my take on fitness that will not hurt your finances. I'm not saying that gym is bad. Actually, I had some good times too. I miss attending group classes (spinning and strip tease are my favorites) and people sighting (I love it when I see celebrities, hahaha!) But everything comes with a price that I am not willing to pay.

P.S.
I can now do 10 push-ups in 30 seconds.