How I Ditched the Gym and Saved $5,080

I used to have a gym membership that cost $40/month. I cancelled that and signed up with my local Gold’s Gym for only $10/month. $360/year in savings. Awesome right!

Well, yes. But you can go even further. Why go to a gym at all?

There are a variety of exercises you can do at home. Pushups, squats, pullups (with an Iron Gym Total Upper Body Workout Bar), situps, burpees, handstand presses, a multitude of jumps, etc. The list goes on. Here’s a video demonstrating 5 pushup variations to get you started.

If you want, you can even invest in home-workout programs like Insanity or P90X. At $145 for Insanity and $140 for P90X, both alternatives are cheaper than years of gym memberships. Or you can pay $40 for the Naked Warrior, a book that outlines a complete body-weight strength program.And let’s not forget about running outside or playing sports with your friends!

The point is there are a lot of different ways to get a good workout without paying for a gym membership, and it will save you LOTS of money.

Just doing some quick back-of-the-napkin calculations, if you are 20 years old and figure you can workout at home for the next 40 years until you’re 60, at which point you’ll HAVE to go to the gym and do all those wimpy machines, and you’re gym membership costs $40/month, that equals $5,080 in savings! (discounted for inflation).

So run the numbers and decide if the gym is worth the money.

Do you work out at home? What routine do you use? If you go to the gym, do you feel it’s worth it, and why? I want to hear your thoughts in the comments!