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5 Cost Effective Workouts For Total Tight Arses

5 Cost Effective Workouts For Total Tight Arses
Carly Jacobs

I used to be a total gym junkie for about 6 years and then all of a sudden I stopped. Why? Because I had a succession of jobs that for different reasons came with free gym memberships. When I left those jobs and had to start paying to go to the gym I was like ‘$1000 per year? Do you have ANY idea how many pairs of shoes I could buy for that amount of money?‘ and I promptly stopped renewing my memberships. Of course I needed to keep my fitness up somehow so I needed to adapt and quickly. Here are a few tight arse fitness solutions for those of us who don’t want to drop lots of dosh on fancy gym memberships.

5 Cost Effective Workouts For Total Tight Arses 

Get Your Shape on Xbox Kinect

Confession: Mr Smaggle owns several different gaming consoles but I have no idea what any of them are called and I actually had to Google the name of this game. It is however the best at-home exercise game that I’ve ever used. I tried the Wii Fit. It was fun but not really hard-core enough. I couldn’t get my heart rate up at all (except for the hula hooping game, strangely enough) and I’d work out for 90 mins and burn something silly like 120 calories. Needless to say, I was delighted when I stumbled on Your Shape for Kinect. It actually senses whether or not you’re doing each activity correctly and gives you a score for your form. There’s strength, cardio, yoga, dance, agility… I’ve never done the same activity twice which means I’ve never been bored. Unfortunately my disc went missing when we moved last year and I haven’t had a chance to replace it but if you have an X-box and Kinect, I cannot recommend Your Shape highly enough.

Hit the Pool

If I want to go to my local gym for a one-off class or session it will set me back around $18. If I want to go to the pool, it costs me $6. Bargain. Grab your togs and goggles and jump in for at least 20 laps at a decent pace. Try doing 2 laps freestyle, 2 laps breast stroke and 2 laps kicking with a kickboard and repeat. Perfect for strength and toning and much cheaper than a gym class.

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Try The 7 Minute Work Out iPhone App

I only just discovered this app recently but it’s one of the best fitness apps I’ve used. It consists of 7 different exercises that you can repeat to customise the length of your workout. You don’t need any equipment so it’s perfect for home or travel workouts. The best part is that if you’ve only got 20 minutes you only do three reps. Easy. You can also tweet your workout when you’re finished to piss off all those people who hate fitstagrammers. Win.

Look Up Outdoor Fitness Stations In Your Area

There was an amazing school that I used to teach at that had outdoor ‘gym’ machines that used your own body weight as resistance. So you’d sit on a platform and use a tricep press motion to lift your own weight up and down and on weekends people used to go to the school to train. There are also lots of parks that have chin up bars, tricep dip stations and steps for lunges and squats. Meet a friend on a Saturday morning and have a great work out in the sunshine… and then spend the cash you saved from not going to a gym class on a delicious cafe breakfast.

Make An At Home Gym

All you need is a spare area of floor, some tin cans for weights, a chair for dips, some music and some water. Check YouTube fitness channels for some awesome at home workouts or go old school style with fitness DVDs like Tracey Anderson or even Cindy Crawford’s collection. They’re not only hilarious but also effective. Give it a whirl. Butt floss optional.

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Do you have a gym membership? Personal trainer? Or do you prefer to save your pennies and do cheapskate at home workouts like me?

17 Comments

  1. Harlow 10 years ago

    Love this! I am a gym tight ass – every time I consider a gym membership I just think all of that money that could be spent on other things that I actually enjoy – like shoes! Clothes!!! Then you also have to factor in the cost of petrol getting to the gym, it all adds up.

    So I have a stationary bike ($100 , sit up bench – $70, weights – $30) and the house I rent has a swimming pool. And I go for walks and runs!

    Speaking of being cheap, have you watched the show ‘Extreme Cheapskates’? If not, you really need to, it will blow you away 😛

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      I so haven’t but I’m so going to! Sounds amazing!

  2. cilosophy.blogspot.com 10 years ago

    Personally, I find the best exercise is the one I have to show up for.
    So I do a running group, pilates and a group PT session.
    Plus I do a long run.
    It works out expensive but the thing is that I actually get good quality exercise in with people I like and with instructors that will push me.
    all other things have failed in getting me motivated and being consistent.

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Yeah I’ve totally done that before too. Every now and then I book in for an expensive bootcamp and it always works to give me a bit of a shakeup.

  3. Nicole 10 years ago

    The only time I’ve had a gym membership that actually got used was when I had an eating disorder at 19 and hitting the gym hard sort of went hand in hand with it. I’ve had two separate gym memberships since, but they’ve both been in America where I have to rely on my exercise-hating husband to get me there in non-public transport optional places. And it was just too easy to go “bah, let’s not go today”
    I find working out at home way more convenient (especially with my cyclical sleep disorder) and cheaper. I don’t have to rely on another person’s level of enthusiasm to exercise and I can work out at 3am if that’s when I’m awake. It does become easy to get tripped up by repetitiveness and boredom, but if I prepare for that, I can usually get around it. Right now, I’m in the early stages of getting back into regular exercise so I try not to do anything crazy lest I psyche myself out of doing it altogether. So I do a sort of fast paced marching + knee ups for my cardio and then follow various different strength training workouts from PopSugar that only require one set of hand weights. The cardio is starting to get a little dull, but I try to keep it fun by changing up the music I work out to.Thinking about getting a mini-trampoline as I’ve heard it’s got the benefits of running with less strain on the joints. Also, might get back into Dance Central for the Kinect.

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Dance Central Rocks. I always do jumping jacks in between the dance to up my heart rate. I’m a huge living room workout gal.

  4. maddi 10 years ago

    i used to have a membership, but it got expensive and i was less and less able to make it to the gym because of my job. now, i go for walks and jogs occasionally, as well as youtube workouts (blogilates is the best!)

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      I had to give up mine because although it was just down the road it was a pain in the butt to get to. I’m much happier now I’m not ‘not’ going to the gym and I just work out on my treadmill at home.

  5. Erika 10 years ago

    Used to do gym (and Best Beloved still does), but a major episode of CFS meant it got dropped. Not much point when it was a huge effort to get changed and drive there, let alone actually use any equipment. I think the last time I went I managed to get a small walk done then lay on the floor and wept in despair and frustration, while trying not to fall asleep. Since then, energy levels have increased, but pay levels have dropped as I had to go part-time. I take one dog for a gentle walk and get a bit of gardening or housework done. The important thing is to do what you can within your limits.

  6. Nina 10 years ago

    I just got an awesome leg workout by refusing to hold on for my train ride home! And I didn’t even fall in a random persons lap… Bonus!

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Good on ya! You could call it Nina’s Butt and Train Thighs… maybe.

  7. Niki 10 years ago

    Used to be a member of Fitness First until they cancelled my membership for no reason and then tried to get me to sign me up again at almost twice the fortnightly rate. (!) Haven’t been a gym member since. Did Oztag once a week for several years. Now I go for runs, occasionally make it to yoga, and cycle. My partner and I bought an exercise bike 3 years ago that gets used (mostly by him) almost every day. I used it last night while I caught up on Redfern Now – so convenient for if you can’t be effed leaving the house. I’ve seen those outdoor fitness stations on my running route, but have always been too embarrassed to stop and then not know what to do. Having a mate meet me there sounds like a plan!

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Bastards! Totally go nuts on the outdoor fitness stations they rock and you feel heaps less dicky if you do it with a friend.

  8. Dr Na 10 years ago

    The only type of exercise I’ve stuck at is my boot camp – maybe because it’s about being forced to turn up and actually keep going. It’s not too bad at $100 a month, particularly given it means I actually exercise.

    A good free exercise app is the Tabata timer – you can do short workouts or long workouts. Tabata workouts are always high-intensity, high-rep resistance training wherein you rep for 20 seconds and then have 10 seconds rest, and you repeat that for several minutes (usually 5). The idea is that you do shitloads of reps in a short space of time so you totally burn your muscle groups and ergo lots of calories. It’s easy to do and you can get versions where you can program in what exercises you’re doing (push-ups, sit ups, tricep lifts etc), and then you can exercise wherever you want!

    • Author
      Smaggle 10 years ago

      Bootcamp is awesome because you’re literally wasting money if you don’t go. The Michelle Bridges thing I’m on does lots of tabata sessions. They’re killer but they totally work!

  9. Alexandra Brovco 10 years ago

    Home workouts all the way. I’m also an ~*~aspiring runner~*~, but that might take a while.

    My favourite at-home work out is probably *whispers* Jazzercise. AW COME ON, five boogie body breaks throughout workday (I work from home), and there you go, 20 minutes of exercise!

  10. Nessbow 10 years ago

    I haven’t had a gym membership in about seven years. I prefer to work out at home. I’ll download 30 minute yoga or pilates workouts off Youtube to do in my living room. I’m lucky enough to live in a gorgeous town, so I love slipping on my trainers and taking a brisk walk around the lake. Free and relaxing!

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