training, fitness 2023, exercise How to stay fit in a cost of living crisis. Image: Unsplash
Let’s be honest. The pinch is real right now. SSENSE orders aren’t getting any cheaper, the weekly shop is adding up, and tapping away with your card at happy hour is leaving you anything but happy. No one is really sure how long this cost of living crisis will last or how bad it will actually get, but the good old Australian Government has warned us all of tough times ahead.
This isn’t a doom and gloom forecast, in fact it’s quite the opposite—hear us out. Thanks to the past two years we have collectively experienced, communities have shown their ability to come together in times of stress, and there are now plenty of ways with which to manage the effects of difficult situations.
When it comes to tightening your belt, aside from online shopping (obviously), it's far more likely that your fitness routine and overall health will take the biggest hit. Whether it's using the extra time to work more, opting for cheaper (less healthy food), or dropping your gym membership—the rising cost of living frequently calls our health as its first victim.
But what if we said it didn't need to be that way? What if you could still prioritise your health without digging deeper and deeper into your wallet. If there was a way to keep a healthy lifestyle (you know, the one you promised you’d give yourself in the new year) and even get fitter than before.
One of the silver linings of the pandemic is that it forced us all to become more resourceful. We looked to the technology around us to see how it could help us, and in most cases, it led to a spike in cheaper classes that are no less informative and helpful than their IRL compatriots. Obviously there is no ‘perfect’ solution, but these online responses have picked up the gap in our fitness needs, more accessible information at a lower cost.
The pandemic shook up the way many of us have approached staying fit, and for the most part it has also led to a decrease in the average cost of it. Thankfully, against the rising costs of our favourite things, there are ways to keep fit without needing to completely overhaul the weekly budget.
Here are 5 ways to stay fit in a cost of living crisis, that aren't just cancelling your gym memberships.
There are plenty of people feeling the pressure of the rising cost of living, but with that communal experience, comes a community response. Team sports are a great way to start, and there are countless social teams forming with weekly commitments that encourage players to keep fit, whilst still maintaining that social aspect that so many of us crave in our fitness journeys.
Outside of team sports, individual sports like running, have taken to the community approach to broaden its impact on physical and mental health. Across the country, there are plenty of social groups that have been set up as free initiatives for people to get together, and go for a run.
Taking up running can seem like a scary prospect for sure, especially if you’re feeling out of shape or generally unfit. But plenty of programs are out there to help people gradually increase their distance until they’re ready to tackle the big stuff—then it's onto the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc.
So as the old saying goes, if you want to run fast, run alone, if you want to run far, run together. Once or twice a week, either find a partner to run with, or seek out a local group near you.
Locally, running clubs like Kings Cross Track Club, South Bank Runners, AM:PM:RC, the Perth Run Collective, the Run Club Adelaide, and Furies—run weekly shakedowns at a social pace that are absolutely free, and will help you commit to being active at least once a week.
For those looking for a bit more spice, or something with a bit more competition to it, another option is parkrun. Parkrun is a free, community-led event where you can run a weekly 5km run on Saturday mornings. And there will likely be one near you as there are currently 460 parkrun events around the country, taking place every weekend.
If you feel like you’re bold enough (and good enough at swimming) to give open water swimming a go, you will save a fortune in swim passes by heading down to swim at your local ocean, lake, or river. Although we’d bet the ocean is likely the cleanest option.
While Australia is yes, blessed with a plethora of beaches, we’d recommend sticking to the more sheltered, ocean-swimming friendly beaches. You won’t need to contend with choppy waves, and surfers to get those sweet laps in.
Not only is opting for the colder, open water cheaper, it’s also packed full of benefits not always achievable in the pool—such as lowered fatigue, as reported in a study by the University of Milan, and helps manage pain relief from other physical activities, should you find you've overdone it at some point.
Assuming that you’re already a member of your local gym, and might use it frequently, dropping your membership may look like a no-brainer for anyone looking to save money.
But that doesn’t mean the workouts need to stop there. Avoid investing in expensive gear or equipment if you feel that your commitment to any new fitness regime might be something for the short term (hey, we’re all guilty of that).
Start with your classic online vendors like eBay, Facebook Marketplace, and Gumtree, all of which are teeming with listings of other would-be fitness addicts who have since given up their hobby, or moved on to bigger weights.
Searching for medicine balls, weights, jump ropes, or resistance bands that will help get the home workouts into shape. It’s quite a sweet cycle, like a sisterhood of travelling pants—but its sweaty dumbbells. Otherwise, you can always ask friends or family members if they have old equipment to borrow.
Plenty of online fitness crew, like UVU, drop sporadic newsletters, which include everything from workout programs, to cardio exercises to help you commit to your program from home.
Tech is your best friend. With the rise of fitness apps and tutorials over the pandemic, many have stuck. There are great virtual classes hosted on apps, platforms like YouTube, and other dedicated fitness platforms. Where you’ll succeed here is with a lot of self-motivation, online fitness often falls to how much you’re willing to put in.
YouTube has catalogues of free-access sports coaching videos and exercise sessions to get involved in, regardless of whether you are hoping to take up boxing, yoga, or even dance classes. Elsewhere, Nike Training Club is a free app, with over 200 free workouts and targeted training programmes across several levels.
Going online is particularly great for anyone only just starting out in their fitness journey, and often these tutorials will provide you with the foundations you need to properly embrace fitness, stretching, or whatever activity you want to learn more about.
In times of difficulty and distress, a positive mood and attitude are likely to be your most effective weapons to fight back against becoming overwhelmed and falling further out of shape.
It’s important to take a holistic approach to your fitness, and that includes building on your mental strength too. Exercising and mental health have a symbiotic relationship, in which training and linking both will see the best returns for both sides.
Getting your mental health on track is much easier than it was in years gone by, with plenty of apps and tutorials on keeping centred and helping with overcoming life’s daily troubles.
Tools like Headspace, Daylio, and Health Tap, can help you manage your tasks, offer advice on meditation and mindfulness, and how to properly integrate fitness into your overall wellbeing.
Make sure you’re combining enough sleep and a correct diet with your fitness routines, to properly lock down the benefits. Investing in your mental health is investing in yourself, and the return on this investment will put you in the strongest position to come out of this fitter, and possibly better off, than before.
[Via GQ Australia]
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