Exercise the OS way

Cookie_monster_7

I am thinking about joining a health club/gym at a cost of £59 per month :eek: because I really need to shift 4 stones However it occurred to me that there is always an OS way to do everything so I thought I'd start a thread to try to get us all inspired to get fit the OS way.

The OS way will take more discipline than other ways but that is the case with doing anything the OS way (cooking from scratch, menu planning etc). It is much more inspiring to go to a lovely environment with big tv's and music and air conditioning and a spa..... but what a lot of money....I think I'd rather have a holiday!

So far I have thought of these...

running up and down the stairs
using aerobics dvds
going out for a walk

What else can we do?

zippychick

I would buy yourself an ipod at around 30 quid, and walk regularly. There is all types of walking you can do to put emphasis on different muscles. I cant recommend walking highly enough

Using beans tins as weights for toning exercises. Do the kids have a hula hoop you could use? Skipping rope you could fashion out of something?

LydiaSophia

Look on your local free cycle to see if anyone is giving away and equipment you could use.

Apparently housework burns off loads - boring I know but doing a huge spring clean would kill two birds with one stone!

You can borrow fitness books and DVD's from the library to give you ideas aswell - library is free!

zippychick

LydiaSophia wrote: »

Look on your local free cycle to see if anyone is giving away and equipment you could use.

Apparently housework burns off loads - boring I know but doing a huge spring clean would kill two birds with one stone!

You can borrow fitness books and DVD's from the library to give you ideas aswell - library is free!

ive lost a SHED load of inches from cleaning for 6 hours every friday . Before this i cycled 4 miles 4 times a week, and would walk a fair bit too, but this additional hard graft has lost me only 4lbs on the scales, but ive gone down about 2 dress sizes! Good idea about freecycle.

champys

zippychick wrote: »

I would buy yourself an ipod at around 30 quid, and walk regularly. There is all types of walking you can do to put emphasis on different muscles. I cant recommend walking highly enough

I second that - and what about not using an ipod and actually looking at what's around you? You could invest the money in some good walking- or running shoes. I do run-walking, i.e. run for 5 minutes then walk for1, which is a great workout. On alternate days I do mat exercises for flexibility. No gyms around here, so I have no choice, really!

dollydaydream07

i am currently doing a free weightloss course with the emphasis on cooking more from scratch and doing more exercise and i have found out some interesting facts!
mordern day living is making us put on weight, we did an activity where we had to guess the amount of calories used doing a certain activity in the 1950s and then the same one in the 2000s
shopping on foot(1950) used 2400 cals per weeks compared to shopping today using a car and a trolley used only 276 cals a week - total calories unused is 2124(a full days worth of cals per week)
washing clothes by hand used 1500 cals per week compared to using a washing maching today only using 270 cals per week!

burning 100 calories!!!
here is a list of things to do and how long you would have to do this to burn off 100 calories!!
hoover,dust and polish = 29 minutes
mow or rake the lawn = 24 minutes
mop or scrub the floor = 21 minutes
gardening = 16 minutes
rearranging the furniture = 14 minutes
climb the stairs = 12 minutes
skipping = 9 minutes
wash and wax the car = 21 minutes
leisurely walk = 34 minutes
paint and decorate = 19 minutes

so far from doing this course i have figured that old style is the way to go for losing weight!

anyway i hope that bit of info helps some of you

i have just come back from taking my DD to nursery and unfortunately it is a straight walk there and back..... so i made myself walk all the way around the outside of the estate, just so that i got some exercise and when i go to collect her i will do it again, altogether this will add to to about half an hours walking

Idiophreak

I quit the gym last summer and have lost way more weight exercising since.

I walk more, run a bit, cycle quite a lot - tend to do "old school" exercise at home - press ups, sit ups, some easy weights exercises. I go swimming a bit - the local pool's something like £3 a time - doing that twice a week is still cheaper than the gym.

I've also used a lot of exercise DVDs in the past and have had mixed results - personally I've found the Tae Bo ones to be most effective, but each to their own.

All of these things you can do from your home, so you don't have to motivate yourself to get to the gym in the first place. I also find running outside far easier and more enjoyable than cardio work in the gym.

Also, for weight loss, the OS food thing will help out a lot, too - switch any drinks you might have in the day for bottled tap water - saves you cash and calories instantly. Same thing with cooking from scratch and cutting out snacking - save both money and calories.

Bean_Counter

There's always push ups, sit ups, squat thrusts, shadow boxing and loads and loads of exercises that can be done to tone up just using your body weight as resistance.

maltesers_2

Walking is free and there are over 500 walking schemes in the UK which have graded walks. See http://www.whi.org.uk/ by using these walks it helps you to get into a habit and meet other people. The walks we do are usually for about 1 - 1.5 hour and are 3 to 5 miles. Some schemes run daily others a couple of times a week.

Another thing you could do is look out for fitness exercise videos in charity shops car boots or ask on freecycle. Videos can be as low as 10p each but DVDs are more. Borrow some from the library until you find one you like then you could buy it.

Jasper27_2

I run, the only expensive thing is the shoes and walk (sometimes wearing my cheapy MP3). I swim and have a yearly pass £110, but it's £3 a time so going at least twice a week I really get my money's worth. Of course something like this is only worth it if it's something you really enjoy. Try your local council, library and YMCA if you have one info about any cheap classes. A good tip I read was to borrow DVD's from either the library or online rental so you can get some variety and try different ones out. I'm sure plenty of people have bought one, done it once and given it to the charity shop so I'd try there too. You could always try dancing around the living room, put a favouite CD on and really get down!

I think the key is to find something you enjoy so it doesn't feel like a chore otherwise you won't stick at it. How many people spend loads of money on gyms and hardly ever go?! Same applies if you find something you enjoy and will stick with it's worth spending a little bit of money on.

Lois_and_CK

Get a good audio book on your MP3 player and go roller blading, running or fast-walking round your local park. The bonus is, if you really get into your book you don't want to go home!!;)

Try runnersworld website for some good (and safe) beginner's running routines.