Ah January, when our wallets diminish and our waistlines expand. Many of us promised ourselves, maybe in a champagne or eggnog fueled hangover, that we would turn ourselves around in 2014. “This is the year,” we slurred, absentmindedly nibbling the head off a chocolate Santa, “this is the year we get in shape and save money and basically win at life.” Gym attendance generally goes through the roof in January, with everyone trying to fulfill their resolutions, but memberships can be pricey. Here are some ways to get in shape without bending your finances out of shape.
Free Yoga
San Franciscans are very good at sprawling out in various recreational positions in Dolores Park but this year you can start doing it for fitness! Every Sunday at 11 a.m teachers from the nearby Purusha Yoga Community come to the park to teach an hour-long class to anyone with yoga mat. The teachers accept donations and tips but money is not required to participate.
Swim Laps
Swimming is a great way to build strength and endurance. It’s also a good way to clear your head at the end or beginning of a busy day. There are several indoor public pools that host open swim hours and even classes. According to the SF Parks and Recreation website you can swim once a week for less than it costs to buy a decent pint of beer ($6). They even offer a way you can apply for a discounted membership that shakes out to ten classes for the price of one month ($24).
Learn To Dance
As Kevin Bacon’s banging bod in Footloose taught us, dancing does a body good. Lindy In The Park is an organization that teaches free beginner swing dancing lessons in Golden Gate Park. Swing dancing is energetic and fast paced so you can get a workout while learning cool moves to impress people at your next social gathering.
Join A Group
Sometimes you just can’t motivate by yourself. You need a buddy, or a nearby stranger, to encourage /surreptitiously judge you to really be productive. The Bay Area has several running or biking groups but many of them charge hefty membership dues. Sports Basement stores offer free meet-ups of local fit fanatics and some locations even host group runs or classes every week.
Tai Chi
Tai Chi is a martial art whose name literally translates to“supreme ultimate fist.” If that epic moniker isn’t enough to entice you, Tai Chi can also help you learn self defense and meditate better. The IT Bookman Community Center runs a free class on this ancient art every Friday morning at 10 a.m. The community center also offers other free fitness classes throughout the week.
YouTube Is Your Gym
Want that “organized class” feel inside your very own cave of solitude? Many other people feel the same way and some of those people are fitness instructors who post their classes online. A quick search will yield tons of step-by-step videos in the same vein as those old fitness tapes your mom used to watch (my 5th grade workout was a combination of Cindy Crawford and Darrin’s Dance Grooves). You can even go way back and work out like this, which I believe is how people in ancient days did Zumba.
Hiking To Happy Hour
Remember how earlier I suggested you forgo one beer a week to pay for a fitness plan? If you chose this option, you don’t have to. This local group leads people on “urban hikes” most weekends and walks for a few hours before ending up at a local watering hole for happy hour.
Citi Bike
Biking is a great way to get exercise, especially in a hilly city like ours. However some of us are too traumatized by stories of theft to risk loving and losing one of our own. CitiBike is a program that lets you rent out bikes all over downtown and by the waterfront. You just go to one of the many Citibike racks, input a debit card, and you can ride the bike for free for half an hour. You can also check bikes out for a 24-hour cycle and return them to any CitiBike rack in the city. Heck, you could even totally game the system by riding really hard for 30 minutes and then returning the bike without paying a cent.
The City Is Your Gym
With enough ingenuity, imagination, and lack of disposable income the world can be your gym! Why pay a company to let you use their Stairmaster when this city is full of actual stairs you can climb 24/7 for free! Increasing the speed you climb can increase the strength and endurance benefits. You can also incorporate hand or foot weights to add an extra layer of conditioning.
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Photo courtesy of Flickr user Sarah Siblik.