Twenty-eight Ways to Exercise That Aren’t Going to the Gym

Note: As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been working on a book called The Weight Loss Habit. From time to time I’ll post excerpts from the book.

Edit:

The book is now available.

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My approach mostly focuses on eating habits rather than exercise, because diet has a much bigger impact on your weight and overall health. But exercise certainly has some impact. And you absolutely should be getting exercise.

But not at the gym. Here’s the dirty little secret about the gym industry: Gyms are only for people who enjoy going for the gym. Take note of that. Commit it to memory. Recall it anytime a commercial, salesperson, corporate wellness program, overeager gym cultist, New Years Resolution bug, doctor, or well-meaning friend suggests you join one. Do not join a gym unless you are the kind of person who finds the gym actively fun. If you do, you are just wasting your money, and setting yourself up for frustration, failure, and self-hatred.

There’s a reason gyms offer huge discounts to people willing to make long-term commitments. They aren’t in the business of making less money when they could be making more money. They know the vast majority of people who sign up will end up hating it, and stop coming after a few sessions. Then they’ll be collecting your money in exchange for nothing but your own self-guilt.

And let’s face it. Gyms suck. You’ve got to take a bunch of time out of your busy day to fight traffic, then be in a hot sweaty room with a bunch of people in better shape than you judging you while you try to figure out complicated equipment. You get harassed by personal trainers trying to get your hard-earned cash. If you’re a woman you have to deal with creepy dudes trying to creep on you, and if you’re a man you have to deal with old naked creepy dudes in the locker room trying to have conversations with you while their dongs flap around in your face. (And why do old men wander around gym locker rooms with their bits waving all over? I’ve never been able to figure that out.) All while bad music plays loudly.

So don’t join a gym. But do get exercise.

You’ve probably tried to start an exercise routine in the past, but haven’t kept it up. Even if it didn’t involve a gym, you fell off the wagon. Or perhaps, climbed on the wagon and had someone pull you so you didn’t have to walk. The reason you didn’t keep it up was because you didn’t like it. You were relying on willpower, and willpower isn’t enough. Once your initial enthusiasm faded, your busy day took precedence, and you stopped doing it.

Why will it be different this time? Here is the trick:

Your exercise routine needs to be something that is easy and convenient, or even better, enjoyable.

If it’s easy and convenient, then it takes far less willpower. And if it’s fun, then you’re excited to do it and it takes no willpower at all.

So here are twenty-eight easy, convenient, and/or fun ways that out of shape people who don’t like the gym can get some exercise:

1. Buy a treadmill, stationary bike, or elliptical machine, and use them while watching TV or doing work.
2. Run in place while watching TV. It’s cheaper than buying equipment.
3. Walk back and forth while watching TV. If you don’t like running. My mother does this. She gets in 10,000 steps a day to satisfy the demands of her fitness tracker without leaving her living room.
4. Get a treadmill desk so you can walk while working, Facebooking, surfing the web, etc.

5. Lift weights at home. Just make sure you do the kind of lifting where you don’t need a spotter.
6. Lift homemade weights at home. You can find plenty of instructions online for cheap weight substitutes and workouts you can do without spending the money on an expensive weight kit. Milk jugs filled with water, and things like that.
7. Jumping jacks, push-ups, sit-ups, and other calisthenics.
8. Walk your dog.
9. Jog with you dog. Your dog will probably enjoy it.
10. Take a nice walk in the park with a loved one.

11. Go hiking with loved ones or friends. With great views and enjoyable conversations, you won’t even notice that you’re working out.
12. Go swimming. I’m not talking about swimming laps using proper technique. Just frolicking around in a pool, ocean, or lake is a lot more fun, and still burns plenty of calories.
13. Go boogie boarding. Taking up surfing is unrealistic, because you have to be in really good shape. But wading out to jump on a boogie board is something anyone can do.
14. Go skiing or snowboarding.
15. Play a one-on-one sport with a friend/loved one. You can either find someone in similar shape and at the same skill level as you, or find someone who is better than you and accept that you’ll lose a lot. But that’s okay, because the goal is to get exercise and have fun. The latter is what I did when I was first shedding off the pounds. I had a weekly racquetball session with my roommate. He had Thin Privilege, and could run circles around me. (Not quite literally, because I was fat and those were big circles.) But I didn’t mind, because it was fun. And when I finally won a game, after months of losing, it was extremely satisfying.

16. Join a sports league. If you’re embarrassed or feel like you wouldn’t be welcome in a league where your skill and stamina level is far below average, start your own. Call it the “Overweight and Out of Shape Basketball League” (or whatever sport) and recruit friends, or post on Meetup, Nextdoor, Facebook, flyers in coffee shops, your church newsletter, etc, to find others who are interested.
17. Take a fun bike ride.
18. Ride your bike to work. This isn’t practical for a lot of people, but it might be for you.
19. Walk a few extra bus/train/subway stops during your commute.
20. Take the stairs instead of the elevator to your office or apartment.
21. Play with your kids.
22. Take up a martial art. Usually people start martial arts as children, but there’s no law saying you can’t do it as an overweight adult. Martial arts instructors tend to be fairly direct people. Call around and ask them if it would make sense for you, until you find one who says it would.
23. Join a crossfit cult. Okay, I admit this is kind of like a gym. And a lot of crossfitters tend to be quite intense and intimidating. But some crossfit clubs are very welcoming and supportive of newbies. If you find one of those, it can be an extremely positive experience. And as a bonus, you’ll make a lot of new friends. This isn’t for everyone, but I have several friends that love it.

24. Yoga. Maybe not at a studio, but there are a gajillion YouTube videos and apps for beginners.
25. Play golf.
26. Go dancing.
27. Play a dance-based video game.
28. Put on music and dance/rock out while cleaning and doing your regular weekly chores.

How about you, readers? What are your favorite non-gym ways to exercise that might be easy or fun for someone trying to lose weight to adopt?