Getting fit can be expensive. Between the gyms, the subscriptions, the supplements, the fancy clothes, the apps, the trainers and various other bits and bobs it’s easy to spend a fortune on fitness without really getting anywhere.
The good news in all of this is that having a fitness routine doesn’t necessarily break the bank.
Even something as simple as clothing can be approached in a more financially responsible way. Buying a few nice workout shirts is often more cost-effective than buying a ton of cheap t-shirts that will fall apart after a few washes. If you go to the gym regularly, a few good gym shirts mean you’re less likely to feel the need to buy a whole new load of clothes just because you think it’s time to refresh your exercise gear.
But the bigger issue is that it’s not always about spending money on fitness.
It’s more about how much you’re spending on it. A monthly gym membership doesn’t sound like much, but multiply that by 12 and it starts to add up. Same with other subscriptions or classes. £15 a month sounds pretty reasonable, until you realize that it’s £180 a year, and you’ve got another three or four of the same if you’re not careful.
Now, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I’m not advocating canceling a gym membership if you’re using it and enjoying it. If you use a fitness app or have a subscription to a program or magazine and it’s helping you, then it’s definitely money well-spent.
The point is, knowing what you’re spending on fitness is important. Before renewing a subscription or your gym membership, ask yourself if you’ve been using it. If you haven’t been, it’s probably easier to cancel a few subscriptions that you barely use rather than cutting out the few small expenses that you feel guilty about every month.
Only Buy What You Actually Need
Fitness marketing can often trick you into thinking you need something in order to be successful in your fitness goals. A new pair of shoes, new clothes or a new watter bottle. A new piece of equipment. Another collection of gym clothes. The latest and greatest fitness tracker. Some of these things can be useful. They don’t, however, need to be a regular occurrence. Buying something new because you want it is very different to buying something because you need it.
To avoid this as much as possible, make sure you can justify any purchase in terms of what it solves for you.
Something as simple as replacing worn out clothes makes sense. Buying a new nearly identical t-shirt is more of a want than a need, and should be treated as such.
You Don’t Need an Expensive Routine
One of the best parts about working out is that lots of activities that are useful in getting fit are either very cheap or even free.
Walking is free and requires very little equipment. Running can cost very little if you invest in a good pair of running shoes. Many exercises can be done using only your bodyweight. Parks are a great place to do various kinds of exercise.
Gyms can also be a fantastic investment, especially if they get you motivated or provide you with a structured environment to work out in. The important thing is not necessarily to go for the cheapest option available, but for the option that you are going to use.
A £40-a-month gym membership that you actually go to four times a week is a better deal than a £15 membership that you hardly ever use.
Give Your Fitness Budget an Existence
If exercising plays a large part in your life, it’s worth budgeting specifically for it.
Rather than just buying random fitness-related items throughout the month, set yourself a budget. Decide how much you want to spend on fitness in a month and stick to it. You could budget for things such as gym memberships, exercise clothing, fitness classes or even occasional bits of equipment.
This makes it much easier to budget because instead of wondering if every small purchase is something you can afford, you know how much money you’ve set aside for fitness, and you can spend it as you see fit within reason. It also means that you can buy the things you want without having to feel guilty about it.
Unless you have a really strict budget, it’s not worth putting too much pressure on yourself to save every penny when it comes to fitness.
If you want to buy a nice pair of shoes to keep your feet comfortable while you work out, do it. If a gym keeps you motivated and gets you to exercise more frequently, keep your membership. If you want to buy nice clothes to wear to the gym because it makes you feel good and it doesn’t hurt your budget at all, there’s no reason not to.
The main thing is to spend wisely.
Fitness doesn’t have to be expensive. It doesn’t have to be a huge sacrifice to your other financial goals either. With a little bit of budgeting know-how, you can create a routine that not only fits your lifestyle, but also sticks to a budget without spending a fortune on random fitness-related items and subscriptions that you barely use. At the end of the day, the most important investment for your fitness is whatever gets you to actually go and exercise.