Workout Without Equipment – Fitness on a Budget Made Easy

Workout without equipment is possible if you hate the idea of spending monthly fee for a gym membership or taking up precious space in your home with a huge home gym. When I spend the time researching ways to set up a fitness program for myself inexpensively, I was surprise to find I can burn way more calories per hour by doing activities without the involvement of expensive gym equipment.

For people who are researching ways to get more fitness in a regular basis, joining a gym is ideal for those who require inspiration to get them to be more active, since a gym environment is specifically geared toward fitness. Obviously, a gym provides more equipment and offers more amenities compared to what most people could afford to equip their own home in the same standard.

After all, how many people do you know who can outfit a house similar to a gym? So if this is within your budget, a regular gym membership is often a step in the best direction to get more exercise. There’s only one problem standing between lots of people and joining a gym membership…which is a combination of the cost of initiation fee plus an ongoing monthly fee. Even one of the most bare-bone gym isn’t cheap, and when you’re looking to join the gym that offers all the amenities plus the juice bar, you’re looking at a possible investment of several hundred or so dollars in regular membership and one-time startup costs. Beside money, you need to be sure you will have the time and are willing to commit to using your gym membership regularly.  Otherwise, it is probably not an option for you.

But don’t give up yet, the good news is you do have so many other exercise options to  get fitness on a budget. Living healthier and being more active can be done without adding a huge expense to your monthly budget. Workout without equipment can be fun too if you keep an open mind. For example, joining a hiking or biking group allows you to socialize and workout at the same time. Or you can sing up learning a new sport or skill such as riding a Ripstik (a skateboard/snowboard hybrid) or dancing. If you can find a friend to commit to the same workout with you, you’ll less likely to give up and quit.

For a visual comparison as seen in the table below, you can see that workout without equipment when being planned out carefully can actually burn more calories per hour when compared to activities using gym equipment such as a treadmill, elliptical machine, or even an exercise glider.

Workout Without Gym EquipmentCalories Burned
per Hour
Workout With Gym EquipmentCalories Burned
per Hour
Running/jogging; bicycling(more than
10 mph)
590 Rowing, stationary, moderate effort415
Swimming
(slow freestyle laps)
510 Ski machine561
Jumping rope750Weight lifting
(vigorous workout)
440
Brisk walking440Treadmill456
Racquetball 750elliptical machine415
Basketball564Execise Bike252
Judo, karate, kick boxing590Circuit training472
Dancing420Zumba500
Hiking and backpacking408Aerobics, water 292