I talk about the importance of exercise in a lot of my blog posts, and how many of us come up with excuse upon excuse not to fit in a workout at least a few times a week.
One excuse I’ve heard: I don’t have a gym membership, and I don’t have workout equipment at home. Well, I’ve got some good news for you! You don’t need either of those to get a good workout in. All you need is a little space.
At least two to three times a week, I’ll throw my mat down in the living room, push things out of the way and get my workout done there. Eventually, when we finish putting our basement together, we plan on using one of the rooms downstairs as a workout room and I’ll be able to get some weights to use. Until then, I don’t really have anywhere to put weights, so a majority of my strength workouts are all bodyweight workouts – which can be just as beneficial as using a dumbbell!
I’m not very good at coming up with workouts on my own, so I do use a couple of apps on my phone to help me. I do pay for some of these apps mostly because I use them so often, it’s worth the money for me. But the two apps I use most often both have free versions if you don’t want to spend any money – and still get in a good workout!
My favorite yoga app is called YogaFit. They have SO many good yoga workouts in there ranging from about 10 minutes in length to 30 minutes. They have beginner yoga classes and more advanced ones as well. The one thing I’ve noticed with trying to do yoga with other apps, is that sometimes the instructors go through things so fast it’s hard for me to get the move down before we’re moving on to the next one. This app does a really good job of showing you how to do the exercises and they even have customized yoga classes as well if you wanted to create one that focuses on strength, pain relief, mobility, etc.
Like I said, this app does have a free version that still gives you access to some great workouts. To get full access to the app, it’s only $9.99 every three months – so a little over three dollars a month. It’s pretty reasonable for everything you get!
The other app I use often is called Nike Training Club. This app has all kinds of workouts available: yoga, strength, HIT, Pilates – it has it all. There is so much range in this app, it has something for everyone. Don’t have a lot of time? There are plenty of workouts in there that are 10 minutes or less. Don’t have any equipment, or maybe you only have a limited amount of equipment? When searching for your workout, you can filter your search to include workouts that don’t require any equipment, basic equipment, or full equipment – depending on what you have available.
The workouts are also labeled as beginner, intermediate, and advanced so if you’re new to working out, you can start a little easier if needed. Some of those advanced workouts are definitely a challenge, so I wouldn’t start with those unless you are confident you can handle a good, hard workout. No sense in scaring yourself off before you’ve even started!
And even better news! This app used to cost $14.99 a month, but in 2020, they decided to unlock all their features for free – and they haven’t gone back. There is literally no excuse not to get moving when you have FREE access to all these workouts – and literally no equipment is needed at all.
There are a few other apps I’ve tried but haven’t liked nearly as much as the two above. I’m always open to more options, so if there are any apps you use that you’ve enjoyed, I’d love to hear about them. One way to make sure you don’t give up on working out is by mixing up your workouts so you never get bored, so I encourage you to check out the two apps I mentioned and do some searching of your own as well.
Like I’ve said plenty of times before: there is no excuse to not get moving! You have the time. You don’t need equipment. And you don’t need to spend money. All you need is a little bit of space and the motivation to get moving and be healthy.
So, what are you waiting for!? Time to get exercising!
Until next time! 🙂
Megan Nelson