“I’d love to do that, but I can’t afford it.”

In case you hadn’t noticed, the whole world seems to be having a rough time financially.  Even in the best of times, staying fit can have a price tag.  But I’m here to argue that it’s not as spendy as you may think it is.

Reuters this week had a nice article on how to stay fit on a budget.  Titled Fitness Freebies for Belt-Tightening Times, I liked it because it shared a pretty wide variety of suggestions.  Here are a few of my favorite ideas from the article:

• Volunteer for a worthy organization:  Building a house, doing trail maintenance, engaging in crop gleaning, or participating in a beach cleanup are all free and feel-good ways to get outside and get moving.
• Don’t snub your nose at used equipment:  Let everyone else’s flubbed fitness attempts be your gain! The article mentions finding used weights at thrift stores, but I’ve also seen wetsuits, workout clothing (many with the tags still on!), and other sporting equipment in local shops.  I would also check out yard sales, see what pops up on Freecycle, and start cruising the ads on Craigslist.  The retail chain Play It Again Sports also resells gently used sporting equipment.
• Start your own fitness program:  Getting a group of people together to start an activity is as easy as asking your coworkers and friends if they’d be interested.  Or, post an activity partner advertisement on Craigslist or a sports-specific site like See Mommy Run.

I think it’s also important to point out that for many activities, entry into the sport may not be as expensive as you think.  For instance, take triathlon: when you’re starting, you by no means need to invest in a swanky bicycle, a new wetsuit, or fancy clothes. Many things that triathletes wear are NICETIES rather than requirements.  As evidenced by this guy, who I saw two weekends ago doing his ocean swim in only these trunks…and then finished the rest of the race decked out in a matching Hawaiian shirt:

Look, Ma...no wetsuit! (From TriCalifornia's Pacific Grove Sprint Triathlon, 2011)

If entry fees to the competition are daunting (it’s true, they ain’t cheap), many organizers will offset or waive the cost if you or a family member can volunteer for them in some way.

Some other ideas for saving money:

• Pick a new, less-expensive sport:  Cross-training is considered a good thing, right?  Now might be the perfect time to discover a new activity.  Check out the list “101 Activities” and you’ll see many of them don’t require fancy equipment or costly lessons.
• Look into rent-to-own programs:  If you’re starting a new sport that requires special equipment and you’re not quite ready to drop a lot of coin, see if your local rental shop applies any of their rental fees toward the cost of a new item.  For instance, a local sporting goods store let me apply the rental fees for a wetsuit to the cost of a new one (within 90 days). It gave me a chance to feel out a couple of styles before committing to a purchase.
• Discover local, informal events: Sometimes, entry fees into races and tournaments can seem atrocious.  (These are the same events that often come with “free” t-shirts and other swag, elaborate timing and scoring equipment, and music pumping through massive loudspeakers.)  If you’re willing to give up the fluff, you can find less-formal events at little (or sometimes no) cost.  One of my favorite examples: Tom’s Run, held in Western Maryland and Washington DC every summer, is a 200 mile relay run. Rather than see who can do it the fastest, the goal of the “team building fitness event” is to time your arrival at the finish line at midday on a Saturday.  There are no aid stations, camera crews, or even a well-defined finish line.  You can pay extra for a t-shirt if you want, but otherwise your base $12/person entry fee goes toward a modest lunch that is served at the end, and a finisher’s medal. It’s all the camaraderie of the flashier Ragnar Relay (which shares much of the same course), but Ragnar will set you back $90/person, and also requires locals to provide at least three volunteers at the event.

What other cost-saving measures have you used?  Leave a comment and let us know!

Finding Time, Part 2: Attack the calendar

So, in my previous post I advocated aiming for an hour of exercise daily.  But where do we find the time?

I find it useful to really get to understand where your time goes. Sit down with a calendar that has space for scheduling every hour of the day for an entire week. (The daily planner on this page would work well if you used two pages per day. Or try an electronic tool like Google Calendar).  Now, start blocking off allotted time.  Pick the big and easy thing first: those eight hours of sleep you’re getting every night. (You are getting eight hours, aren’t you?)  Then take the next big chunk of time—usually work or school—and mark that time off. At this point, most folks will have at least six hours left in their day to work with. Go ahead and add in the other essentials, like bathing and cooking and cleaning; taking the kids to dance class; and commute times.  You might be getting close to filling up your calendar, but chances are you still have an hour or two left in your day—plenty of time to get a workout in.

A sample calendar (made with Google Calendar)

But wait!  Even if the calendar still has a few holes, you’re going to tell me that there is NO way you’ve been overlooking an entire free hour in your day.  I’ll buy that…you just need to start figuring out where it went.  Just like you might review your credit card and bank statements at the end of the month, start looking back at your days and seeing where the time is being spent.  Did you use 30 minutes to check email and browse the internet?  Pass a couple of hours at the movies with friends?  Read a few books with your child and help them with their homework?  Write all of these things down—even the little ones—somewhere where you can remember them.

Now we get to the fun part. For every day of the week, you’re going to block off one hour for exercise.  In order to do that, you’ll likely need to make tweaks to your schedule.  Start by asking yourself the following questions:

• Is there anything on your schedule that you can easily erase, or at least cut back on?  Easy targets in my house are things like time spent watching TV or browsing the internet.  If it’s hard to let go of something, ask yourself:  Do I really get a lot of pleasure out of this? How long do I have to do this activity to get what I want out of it? (Is two hours of television really better than just one?) Why do I dedicate my time to this activity?  And, of course, don’t be afraid to apply a little guilt and ask yourself: is this really more important than my health?  Also, keep in mind that I was serious about those eight hours of sleep. Don’t even think about cutting back there.
• On your busiest days, is there anything you can do to shift some of burden to another day? For instance, you might find that doing some food prep or laundry on the weekends could save you time doing chores during the workweek.
• Are there any activities you can do more efficiently?   Could a little planning and list-writing minimize the time spent at the grocery store?  Does it take you 30 minutes to get through 10 minutes worth of emails because you’re distracted by other websites?  Even shaving five minutes off of your time spent showering could add up when combined with other time savings.
• Can you multitask?  See if you can do two tasks at once and, overall, save time.  For instance, while it might take a little longer to use public transportation to get to work, it might save time if you can review your expense reports or catch up on email simultaneously.  And don’t forget the mother of all multitasking options: walking or biking to work.
• Will rearranging the time that you do things help? I’ve known more than a few people who have discovered that they’ll spend significantly less time sitting behind the wheel of their car if they leave half an hour earlier.  You might find that the extra 10 (or more) minutes saved makes all of the difference!  Similarly, picking off-hours to do grocery shopping saves time spent waiting in the checkout line.
• Can your family/friends/coworkers help you out?  Sometimes, making time requires  a team effort.  Don’t be afraid to ask for a schedule shift or swap (within reason) to help fit in your fitness.

With all of this analysis done, shuffle around your schedule and see if you can’t get an hour freed up in there. If you still can’t eek out a full hour of time, start trying to find smaller chunks (e.g. a half an hour in the morning and another in the evening).

Either way, once you’ve found the time, block it off for fitness.  REALLY block it off.  I mean it!  This time should become nearly sacred for you.  You CAN rearrange your schedule to accommodate unexpected events, but just make sure that fitness always has its place on the calendar.

As time goes on, periodically revisit your schedule.  Just as you can ditch an old outfit to make room for something better in your closet, activities you originally didn’t think you could live without often will not seem as important as time goes on.  Or, sometimes things just disappear, allowing you more flexibility. (Maybe your favorite TV show got canceled…do you really need to go looking to find a replacement?)  Checking back from time to time to time helps ensure that exercise remains a priority.