Why join a gym?

I once joined a gym. For the mere price of a few hundred dollars I got a pair of sneakers. No really - that was the only benefit I got from joining the gym. I don't even really like the sneakers ... I went to the gym maybe once a week for over a year, which did nothing for the extra 10kgs I'd put on from living with my grandparents. The gym wasn't my only form of exercise during that time too - I was riding my push bike too and from work on a daily basis (approx 4kms in total daily). I was lifting heavy boxes at work, yet only one thing helped the weight move.

Smaller food portions.

Crazy! I know! In one small change I saved so much.

• I saved money on food because I started getting extra leftovers from the meals I was making. 
• I started saving on the gym because I had realised it was a waste of money and finished my contract.
• I started saving on medical expenses. Now my extra 10kgs by no means made me largely overweight (it only just tipped me into overweight on the BMI) however as I have always done sport since I was a kid I have a few old sporting injuries - one of which is my hips (the risks of elite Gymnastics). Now 10kg doesn't sound like a lot, but the pain I had been experiencing on a daily-weekly basis has now become a once every few months pain. Which means I no longer am going to the doctors complaining of pain - and them referring me for x-rays or physiotherapy. Not to mention pain killers.

Now of course I still need to exercise. But you really don't ever need to pay for it - and you can even do with mostly makeshift exercise equipment. The only exercise equipment I have paid for is also my transport - my bike. I paid $250 for it over a year ago - and that has been my only expense. I don't need to pay for fuel or rego and I pump my tyres up for free at the local petrol station. If I wanted weights I'd fill old milk bottles with water or dirt (they even have a handle!). You only need a decent pair of sneakers to go running (really what clothes you wear doesn't really matter despite whatever Lorna Jane tells you!). Or even better situps, squats and pushups can be done for free in your own home so long as you've got a small square of floor.

Now exercise is never going to be easy. But neither are the side effects of a lifetime of neglect. I currently work in a pharmacy and on a day to day basis see a lot of middle aged and elderly people who have let their weight go and are paying for it. I am also fortunate enough to occasionally see a very spritely older customer (usually in their 80s or so) who swear by their daily exercise regime for keeping them fit and mentally sound. Seeing people come in missing body parts due to type 2 diabetes is always a good reminder for me for why I exercise when I'm feeling the muscular aches and pains of a good training session.