Staying Fit in a Bad Economy

Author: Tommy Leung | 10/13/2008 | Fitness

The financial headlines of the last couple of weeks has been nothing but bad news. I have been interested in the economy for a long time and felt this disaster was inevitable. Even though I was pretty sure the economic day of reckoning was going to come, part of me didn’t want to believe it or at least wanted to believe that maybe the Austrian School of Economics was wrong–they probably aren’t wrong.

So while I have been reading as much as I can about about the likely affects of government’s policies during this crisis that they created, I’ve also been writing about it on my political blog. Granted, this has taken time away from writing on this blog. And since my mind is so focused on the economy and how to best stay dry through this, fitness has not been in the forefront.

So I’m going to kill two birds with one stone and write about staying fit during a bad economy. If the Austrian Economists are correct, this economic downturn could very well turn into one of the worse economic periods the world has ever faced. However, all the economic doom and gloom doesn’t mean we can’t stay in shape!

One of the first things that we are likely to cut from our spending budgets as the economy worsens are our gym memberships. If you go to the more expensive gyms like New York Sports Club or one of their sister gyms in other cities, you are even more likely to cut back on that. There is always the possibility that you will decide to join a more local and less flashy gym or you’ll just forget about the whole going the gym thing altogether.

Either one is fine–you have to cut something from the budget. We certainly don’t need to be part of a gym to workout. It is nice to have access to equipment that we would otherwise not have but, it is not essential. This is a good time to relearn the basics of training for a fully functional body and not a for-show body.

The cheapest workout you can do is one that only requires your body weight. I’ve talked about total body workouts with the gym. All you need is a solid floor, walls, and perhaps a sturdy chair. If you were to have some equipment like a pair of dumbbells, a pull-up bar, and a total-body ball, the amount of exercises you can do is almost limitless. The price tag for all those three things probably cost less than a month at one of the fancier gyms.

One of my absolute favorite books on the topic of working out without any or with limited equipment is the Home Workout Bible from Men’s Health. I’ve had that book for years and it does a fantastic job of describing a mountain of exercises and workouts that you can do without any equipment to having a full gym. This book alone can probably keep you in shape while we weather this economic mess.

We shouldn’t forget that playing sports and running outside is also a great way to keep up the cardio. Running on a treadmill is really more for hamsters than people.

As the economy is likely to continue to sour, you will undoubtly find yourself walking more especially if you live in a big city like New York. We already walk a lot but, we will find ourselves walking even more as money saved from excess cab rides can go towards our vices–or if things get really bad: rent.

Stay strong through this financial disaster. Now might be a good time to stop charging things to those credit cards. :)

By Tommy Leung