While the financial pinch shouldn’t be a boundary to a great workout, it can very easily get in the way on occasion, and depending on where you are in your fitness journey, the motivation to keep up your weekly workout becomes much harder when you’ve got limited financial resources. And getting ripped needs that constant dedication, and when you're faced with a long day at work, there is nothing you'd rather do than stay in bed for an extra 15-minutes. Once you’ve hit that mental plateau, it’s very difficult to get back up to your peak fitness. We need the equipment, there's no way around it! So, what's the solution when you're short-changed and need to keep up your workout?
The Home Gym
Let’s get this out of the way first, because it’s the best option for a lot of us. The P90X guys swear by getting your own home gym before you do anything else and look at it from this point of view when you go to the gym, you’ve got people not cleaning up the machines after them, so you’ve got to wipe them down! Getting your own gym will be better in the hygiene stakes, but also how much time are you going to save every week by not getting in the car? And while the squat rack and bench is a bit of money upfront, it’s much cheaper in the long-run! And as time goes on you can add to your home gym, from a pull-up bar to adjustable weights, Olympic barbells, and a treadmill if you really wanted it. And by getting free weights in your home or garage, the motivation to work out more will present itself! You’ve got 20-minutes to spare? Get squatting! There is no excuse when you’ve got a gym in your own home!
Makeshift Workouts
For those that haven’t got the space to set up a home gym, it would seem like you’ve got no option than to go to your local gym, right? Au contraire! What did we do hundreds of years ago? There weren’t any nautilus machines back then! So if we wanted to get ripped, what did we do? We used what we had lying around! Now, the first thing to get your head around when making a workout based on what's in sight is to get a basic grasp of biomechanics. The research you do based on what you want to build up has led you to certain curls and plyometric movements, so apply that to your exercise routine, but without the barbell. For example, a backpack full to the brim with books and heavy items will suffice for a decent weight for a squat if you’ve got your form down. Pull ups from tree branches, and inverted press ups on a staircase to increase the angle. You’ve got to think laterally! And never underestimate the power of HIIT if you want to finish your workout on an intensive note. Think about it, training for the army doesn’t mean hours in the gym, it’s about the basics, using your bodyweight and carrying heavy backpacks. And that’s all you need when trying to keep fit on a budget!
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