How to Get In Your Best Shape Ever… For Free!

Hey, girl. Still feeling guilty about not going to the gym? Well, good news: you don’t have to. Really.

I know from personal experience that it can be nearly impossible to make it to the gym after a long day of work. The idea of carrying a change of clothes so you can exercise after work is daunting.

I don’t feel like carrying extra things, and I definitely don’t feel like showering at a gym if I choose to do an early-morning workout. If you’re one of the ladies who does this, props to you for truly prioritizing your self-care!

For the rest of us, in this post, I’m sharing some ideas to help you get into your best shape ever… without the gym. Because no excuses; we need at least 150 minutes of moderate to intense physical activity. Every. Single. Week.  Here’s how to get them:

Free workout idea #1: Pick workouts that you actually enjoy

First thing’s first: no one’s making you do burpees, okay? Luckily, we are no longer in gym class and you don’t have to do anything. Do yourself a favour and pick workouts that you actually enjoy.

I do a lot of yoga and belly dancing because those workouts are fun for me.  And every once in a while, I’ll put on some good tunes and have a solo dance party. If you’re dancing hard enough for long enough, that can count as a workout. I know I’m not the only one who does this! The best thing about it is I can work out from home because there are so many free options online… and no one’s watching me.

This makes it so fun and easy to be active, and also, there are no excuses as to why I “can’t” work out. All I need is a mat, a YouTube video, and/or some music. I don’t need to travel anywhere, and I don’t need to make any special plans.

So, if you’re struggling to get into better shape, consider what it is that you’re asking yourself to do. If you don’t like your gym’s bootcamp, you don’t have to sign up for it! You do have to replace it with some other form of physical activity, though.

Make it something you’ll look forward to and something that’s easy and convenient to do. Also, make sure it’s an activity that you can do on your own safely. 

Free workout idea #2: Get to steppin’

Speaking of easy, convenient, and safe, start with walking. If you’ve had a pretty sedentary lifestyle – like I had for a while – then any form of movement is an improvement. Instead of talking about “working out,” we can replace that language with simply “moving your body.”

I’m going to be honest and admit to you that in my first few days back in Toronto, I actually felt the burn just with walking. It’s funny, right? I moved back to a busy city and got more active, while a lot of the time, we associate city life with inactivity.

But here’s the deal: morning time in the city is often rushed. On my first day of work, I realized everybody was walking to the subway as if there was only one train that could get them to work. Everyone had a firm grip on their bag and on their mission to get into a train as quickly as possible. Essentially, we were all speed walking.

I remember feeling like there was a race no one had told me about… and I had to win it. By the time I walked to my nearest subway station, my heart was beating quickly and my legs were sore. It was a free workout.

The simple act of walking quickly can count as a workout if you haven’t done one in a while. And even if you have, walking a long distance or walking a short distance at a quick pace counts as well.

So give it a try, but be honest with yourself about how quickly and how far you’ll need to walk in order to activate your muscles and increase your heart rate. A stroll in the park might not be enough… but a long, romantic walk on the beach might be. (Oh heyyy!)

Free workout idea #3: Modify your commute

When I got to work, I thought I was tired from walking, but my colleagues? They had biked! I’m not sure if it’s an inner city doctor thing, but when it’s nice out, people do thirty-minute commutes on two wheels every day.

Walking or cycling to work is guaranteed activity because:

a) You’ve gotta get to work, and
b) You also have to get home at the end of the day

It’s actually pretty genius because when we remove our options – i.e. there’s only one way to get home and it’s the same active way you got there – we remove the temptation to weasel our way out of physical activity. I mean, at the end of the day, there’s no place you’d rather be than back at home, and so you’re going to have to work out again to get there again. Am I right?

If you drive to work, you could also consider leaving a bit earlier and parking a bit farther. Or if your parking is fixed, are there stairs you could take instead of an elevator? Do you do rounds on foot? Do you have colleagues who might also be interested in being more active?

And lastly, circling back to the importance of safety and convenience, you’re not going to find me biking to work anytime soon because I’m not an avid cycler. I don’t feel comfortable or agile enough to bike downtown. So, that type of workout is amazing, but not for me in this moment.

As you’re increasing your physical activity, remember to incorporate things that feel safe and fun for you.

Free workout idea #4: Be a good friend

I don’t know why my go to’s for catch-ups always seem to involve meeting up, sitting down and eating something. I feel like I’m constantly meeting people for coffee or dinner when I could just as easily meet them for a workout session.

If you have a friend who’s down, having an active date is a great way to free two birds with one key. You can catch up and you can also work out while walking, jogging, biking, skating – whatever!

Obviously, this isn’t going to be your most intense workout, because we can’t talk through intense physical activity, but it’s an amazing way to catch up with friends. And, let’s be honest, since these catch-ups tend to take a while, we may as well be moving while we have them.

If you can’t meet up with someone in person, then plan to throw on some headphones and walk while you talk to them on the phone. You could also both be following the same workout while encouraging each other on your favourite video conferencing platform. I mean, we’re getting less free and more tech-savvy here, but you get the idea.

Time with friends can also be time for physical self-care.

Free workout idea #5: Schedule your workouts

Okay, so now you have some ideas for how to slot some free workouts into your routine. You’ve:

•    Picked workouts that you actually enjoy

•    Considered more walking

•    Redesigned your commute, and

•    Planned some active catch-up time

Now it’s time to move these ideas into appointments. Put ‘em on your calendar. I want you to actually open up your schedule for the next week, and block off the times when you’ll work out. (You can download this Weekly Planner Checklist to help you plan out your weeks and your workouts!)

Putting your workouts on your calendar will show you where you can make time. If you’re booked solid and can only find two thirty minute slots to work out during the week, no shame. Just make those two workouts intense. They’re still better than nothing, and you’ve made time for your physical self-care, which is amazing!

Similarly, if all of your weeks are booked through, this is the time to get creative. What things on your calendar can you modify in order to make them more active? Again, think:

• If I’m commuting to work five days a week, how can I make that a more active process? Or
• If I’m already at work, can I take an active lunch break? Or
• What things in my schedule can I remove and replace with time for myself?

And here’s another tip

Schedule your most difficult workouts for the beginning of your week. I want you to do this for two reasons.

First, if you’ve rested over your break, then you’re going to have more energy at the beginning of the week. It’s really easy to put things off until the end of the week, knowing full well that it’s not going to get any easier and you’re not going to have any more energy by the end of it. Secondly, if you do a hard workout early on, that sense of accomplishment is going to ride with you for the rest of the week.

Y’all. I give myself props for getting 10 000 steps in a day. I will tell everybody and their cousins that I got those steps in and, more importantly, I’ll remind myself of it. When something difficult happens at work or when I’m doubting myself, I have proof that I can. I can figure out that problem and I can write that piece because I’ve already done something that was hard that week. (Read: How to Work Past Self-Doubt When You Have Big Goals)

In this way, working through the hard physical stuff will help you know that you can work through hard emotional stuff when it comes up.

Summary

Obviously, having a gym membership and actually using it is great for your health. But, if you can’t afford to go to the gym (or you just don’t want to), you can still make your own free workout plan.

In order to keep doing the things that I love to do within medicine and writing and travel, I’ve had to create a consistent workout plan that’s flexible. And I knew joining a gym wasn’t going to cut it for me… because I wasn’t going to go.

Right now, my free workout plan includes walking, dancing, watching, and of course doing, free workout videos at home. I put these activities on my calendar every week, and on some weeks, I’ll also add an active catch-up session with friends.

Let me know what your workout routine looks like in the comments below, and if you’re ready to keep prioritizing your self-care, then make sure you’re a part of our email community. I send out helpful PDFs to help you live your most fulfilling life, guilt-free, which includes being active in whatever way that you can. The Weekly Planner Checklist I send will also help you make sure you actually schedule those workouts!

See you in your inbox and in a couple of weeks with another post!