When money is tight (when isn’t money tight?) the last thing you want to be spending your money on is exercise. Sure, hot yoga on a rooftop is ace. An hour of kettlebells does give good results. And yes, a gym with GHDs and toiletries we can’t afford is bliss. But £15 a session? £12 for an hour of trying not to puke? We’d prefer our fine dollars went to a more worthy cause: the bar. That said, as much as we don’t want to splash out on fitness, we do want the results. The Giselle-like legs, the abs of steel, the arms so toned they look like they’ve been sculpted from clay. And just in time for the summer please when all that seems to be in the shops is crochet crop tops and butt-skimming prairie dresses.
Luckily, London has a whole plethora of ways you can get sweaty for free. Read on, be fit and with funds.
Get your swimmers on and brave the cold
Not quite as glamorous as the azure seas of Instagram but the option to swim nonetheless, London is full of lidos, ones that aren’t as gross and teeming with kid wee as you’d think. London Fields is just fine. Tooting Bec is nice. Brockwell is just lovely. Brave the cold and swim yourself to the summer body you want for just a couple of quid a session.
Work the free trial circuit
Do that thing you used to do at uni when you had no shame in having no money and werk the free trial circuit with pride. You might only be able to blag one free gym pass per gym, but there’s a heck of a lot of gyms in London that will keep you going ‘til what, September? It’s fine, they don’t know you’ve been to every other gym in the city’s free trial this month. Plough that treadmill with pride, taking pleasure in your own wonderful savviness.
Google running clubs and bootcamps
Sweaty Betty, Lululemon, Nike and Asics all have free clubs and bootcamps at their stores, which usually happen on weeknights. Clear a night in your diary, fuel up with a flapjack, pull on your trainers and join in. Group motivation/ public shaming, call it what you will, it’ll get you moving.
Download 7 Minute Workout app
Right, shake off that feeling of everyone thinking you’re a wally working out on your own in the park and listen up. Go on, shake it off now. Download the — wait for it, free — 7 Minute Workout app and be sassy by summer. 7 small minutes a day of star-jumping, squatting, lunging and press-upping and you’ll have buns of steel and rock hard abs in no time. Okay, 7 minutes doesn’t sound like a lot but trust us, you’ll be achey when you first get started. Okay, okay you might look like a bit of a wally, but soon enough you’ll look like a fit wally. It’s fine.
Join N+TC workouts
We spend all of our wages on new Nike kicks but it’s totally fine because they give back. Nike Training Club sessions (N+TC, they call ‘em) are bloody great and...free. They’re basically free circuit classes across London, often held in parks or Nike stores, that have you working out using just your body, no equipment. Go expecting muddy burpies rather than sparkling clean Pilates reformers…
The classes are fun (honest) and chances are there’s one pretty near your house/ office, so no excuses. Check out the schedule online and sign up. Classes tend to get booked up quick so be snappy.
Hit the pavement
Obvious, but remember running is free. And a killer way to get lean. You probably don’t (well, you don’t) enjoy it right now but stick with it because soon, you will. Break the back of the 4km mark and it’s pretty much smooth sailing from there. Trust a girl who gave herself ankle injuries by doing 1-minute jog, 2-minute walk intervals in Air Max kicks for the first 3 months of trying, before changing shoes, learning to breathe, and eventually just kept running. Mind over matter. And one day, running might even make you quids in. If you can skirt public transport and run your commute instead (so long as there’s a shower at work), that’s money straight in your pocket. Run 5km to work and that’s an easy 350 calories right there. That’s a croissant, right?
Get extra bouncy in the bedroom
Anything that results in sweat is exercise in our eyes, thus sex is most definitely a sport. ‘Least it is if you go at it hard enough. Get even more satisfaction from a steamy session with Sex Calories, an app that tells you how many kcals you just humped off. Note Cowgirl is the best calorie-busting position. All that riding is gonna get you lean.
Get a bike
Faster than public transport, far nicer than sitting on a sweaty tube, and a sure fire way to score killer pins. Buy a bike: live happy and free. Just wear a helmet. And don’t, we repeat don’t cycle drunk. Been there, done that, didn’t end great.
Scrounge off someone else’s Fitness First membership
Can’t afford a gym membership? Us neither. The solution: find a housemate/ colleague/ boyfriend with a Fitness First membership and get extra friendly. They get to bring a friend for free every Friday and that friend is going to be you. Get full access to their gym — classes too — for sweet nothings.
Like this? Then you might also be interested in:
How To Make Swimming Your Number One Exercise If You’re As Crap At Exercise As Me
Here's How To Take Up Cycling If You're A Massive Newbie To The Whole Thing
Follow Alice on Twitter @AliceTate_
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.