When I arrived back from my “free” holiday, one thing I felt within 24 hours was sluggish! When on holiday in the west country, I swam every day for an hour, I hiked or took long walks along the coast or in the countryside for a good two hours each afternoon and enjoyed a nice brisk 30 minute walk each evening around the village after dinner. I came back to London 5 lbs lighter (!!) while enjoying the same food I do here and probably consuming more calories as I enjoyed a meal at Wagamama (udon noodles – yummy!) and a pizza (albeit homemade) with friends, neither are normal parts of my diet. So, while my calories have probably decreased since arriving back here in London, boy do I feel heavier.
This leads me to a dilemma. I really don’t want to join a gym. I will have to move at some point within the next 2 months and don’t want to pay a charge to join for such limited use, I also very much prefer natural choices for exercising like swimming in the sea and hiking. Neither are possible where I live. The other major challenge is crime. I thought nothing of walking around a lovely village at 9pm, but the other night I had finished dinner, dishes and prep for work the next day and desperately wanted a walk, it was 9:30pm and I decided against it. While I don’t live in a crime hotspot by any means, I have been followed, there have been stabbings within a mile radius and I have had to call the police on one occasion in the short time I’ve lived here. While I really really wanted to simply go for that walk, in the end I decided not to.
So, here I am, I’ve been back in London for less than a week and yet I feel like I’ve gained a stone (of course I haven’t!), have less energy and am desperate for the outdoors. On top of that I’m on a strict budget. So far I’ve started encorporating a 45 minute brisk morning walk around my part of London, which feels all too clinical for my liking – I mean how many different cars zooming past you & sirens do you really want to hear between 5:45 – 6:30 am? But it’s a start, albeit an early start! This month instead of buying pay as you go bus pass, I bought a monthly buss pass, with the hope that at least one day @ the weekend, I head out to one of the bigger parks (Hyde Park etc) and get walking with some nice scenery to enjoy. It may not be as ideal as heading back to the west country or Brighton each weekend, but it’s frugal and I’m hoping fills the need for exercise and feeling like I’ve escaped the city!
Any tips for how you get exercise in a city without joining a gym?
Hi NFTFT,
Get involved in some local community work. They do some great things from collecting rubbish along rivers and canals, helping kids to grow veg on allotments, general voluntary work… great to meet people have fun and it’s free too! You can use your bus pass to get there and take your lunch too. Just an example for east London I found by Google is:
http://www.envirotrust.org/
“For volunteering opportunities, please contact The Environment Trust on 0207 264 4660″
By the way, you’re admirable in you determination to follow your dreams!
Emma
I walk the dogs, but even if I didn’t have them, walking is a great exercise and free and gets you out in the fresh! air. There’s always the classics of getting off the bus a few stops earlier and walking a bit further home.
I’m trying to find a pay as you go swimming provider near me, which I know costs money, but I figure it money well spent if I’m exercising.
Any luck with a bike off freecycle yet? That would be great exercise..
I tried walking along the canal bank as an alternative to cars whizzing by, but it was awful – after passing dog poo, dead rats and lots of littler I came home via the road.
Perhaps I should take Emma’s advice and see if there is a volunteer group to clean it up. and if not start one.
I really enjoy your inspiring blog!
OOh Emma thank you, I’ll check it out now!
Apieceofwood, makes me really miss my dog, always a super excuse to walk 2x a day!
I too love walking, just after a week of walking in green space, I’m alreay growing tired of noise!!
Thanks for the compliment French Knots, I’m hoping there’s something near me!
in regards to gym/pool costs, councils usually have gym facilities much cheaper than private gyms… ours is £2 per session (however long you want). it may not be ideal but it’s an alternative to a large charge for a month or two’s use.
Hi Sarah, sadly my local council gym I’ve been told is either not open @ the moment or closing and the next one (about 2 miles away and 2 buses, eek!) is over £4 per session and sadly a friend and a co-worker have both had bad experiences there, so I’m a bit unsure about going. I’ll check it out again, thanks for the tip!
Do you have a bicycle? Is it safe to ride where you live? Or push the bike to a nearby park and do a few laps?
You may not have room for a bike….. Just thinking out loud really ….
Just read the post about a bike off Freecycle …. should engage brain before reading this!
Check out the Green Gym too
http://www2.btcv.org.uk/display/greengym
there are lots of public pools in London – depends where you live plus you can advertise or look for advertisments on dog walking – it can pay too!
Just three days in London and I was longing for the peace and quite of a country walk.
Where in London are you? Would Epping Forest be within reasonable hitting distance? It’s beautiful, ancient and has lots of walking potential. Mind you, Hyde Park sounds good. I’ve walked there many a time myself (although that was many moons ago).
If you can utilise your monthly bus pass at the weekends this is an excellent idea, also from the library you could get a guide to suggested walks around London-this would ensure an interesting Saturday or Sunday for sightseeing and exercise too!
i like getting off the bus a few stops early. i walk to work through downtown and it is quite noisy. i got a cheap mp3 player and put some music on there. that really helped. just remember to still stay alert and not get too distracted by the music!
i run in the morning. i gave up my gym membership a couple of months ago and i haven’t really missed it. I fill up water bottles with sand to lift weights with too! if you got to self.com they have lots of weight workouts that you can do available for free, and weights is important for building bone density
it’s not my favorite part of exersise but we will be thanking ourselves for it when we are older – taking care of bodies is as important as taking care of savings, as you know!
My London exercise regime is pretty much walking these days! If I plug in my ipod I find the noise doesn’t bother me at all, and you can download loads of free things on ITunes (comedy podcasts etc). See my post about walking – http://thejunglefever.blogspot.com/2008/07/hi-my-names-jade-and-im-walkaholic.html
Also, see if you can find out if there’s anything free near you. There are free tennis courts in the park near me which I use when I’m not being lazy.
Oh, and just back on the walking thing, there’s a Time Out book on country walks accessible from London. I’ve done quite a few now and they’re FAB (and usually incorporate a pub on the way!). Only advice is if you’re travelling by train to book that early as it can be a fair expense last minute. If you plan it though you can easily get out into the countryside for a fiver. If you want to try a couple before you splurge on the book email me and I’ll scan a few of my favourites in for you
J x
One of the big gym chains – LA Fitness, I think – has apparently got a free month’s trial thingy going on. Not being a gym type person myself I didn’t really take in the details – except for the fact that you’ve got to remember to cancel the subscription after the first month or you’ll be charged – but I did read about it in The Telegraph so presumably it’s pretty kosher.
Good luck with that. I have always had a love/hate relationship with excercise. I love it once I am out doing it, but motivating myself to go out is the trick. Getting a medium sized dog “for the kids” has greatly improved my chances of going for a walk. And he is a bit of protection too. I’m not saying you need a dog though, they are more expensive than your average gym membership and hamper travelling plans significantly!
Check out FITNESSMAGAZINE.COM.
They have a lot of ideas and things that you can adapt, and not everything involves equipment.
There’s a stretching exercise on the website right now that only requires a towel.
Also, my personal stress relief method at work could be adapted as well – if there’s a set of stairs that aren’t in use by many people, you can use the stairs for cardio and strength training. I use the stairs to do push ups, tricep lifts and other exercises.
Gym fees in London made me want to cry. So I went jogging around the block every morning before work.
It wasn’t the most salubrious of areas and the route used to take me down the infamous “Murder Mile” (in Clapton), so I can appreciate your concerns about crime. However, I found that at 7 in the morning, all the thugs and gangsters are still tucked up in bed! It was always nice and quiet, and I never had any problems.
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Hi, I took tightrope classes at the Circus school – it was brilliant!
I live in a city. For me, exercising without joining a gym has involved: 1) cycling to work (or on errands) and a longer ride just for pleasure on the weekend, 2) exercise videos (purchased cheaply for under $15 or borrowed from the library), 3) energetic walks, 4) hiking on Mount Royal, 5) a twice a week lunchtime exercise class subsidized by my employer. Running would also be an option, but it’s not my cup of tea.