Part of my job as a coach is to help my clients [and you!] be as successful as they can be, and that includes talking them out of their objections. One of the ones I’ve heard the most, particularly from moms is “I can’t afford a gym membership, and even if I could, I have my kids with me.”
Money is a real thing, and that’s the entire reason this blog and this company exist. Not everyone can afford a big gym membership or personal training. I get it. That was me a few years ago. But guess what? Not having money is not an excuse for not reaching your goals. Free Fitness Friday is all about pushing those money excuses aside and sharing free ways that you can get moving for free.
The Park
Every city has a park. At least one. Even when I lived in the middle of nowhere in western Tennessee, there were multiple parks that were free to use and not crowded all the time. They offer a variety of equipment as well as plenty of space! (And they’re kid-friendly, unlike a lot of gyms.)
In true Coach Brit form, I’ve got this workout rated below on my adoptability scale to demonstrate how easy it would be to adopt into your life. The financial category will always be 0/10 on Free Fitness Friday because if it’s free, it’s free. The convenience category takes into account how hard the idea is to work into the daily hubub of life, 1 being super easy, 10 being really difficult. Notoriety is for our introverts who don’t enjoy being on display (which is totally okay! I have days like that too that you’ll read about in upcoming posts); 1 is invisible to everyone but yourself, 10 is more like being on stage. The effort scale is the estimated amount of mental and physical effort to get it set up (important note: not the exertion of the workout, as we want that to be
The Adoptability Scale
| Financial | 0/10 | Completely free! |
| Convenience | 2/10 | Only because you have to drive to the park |
| Notoriety | 2 – /10 | Depending on how crowded the park is and if you’re filming yourself like I was |
| Effort | 1/10 | Only because you have to drive to the park |
When I was in high school, I remember doing my afternoon workout by running a mile to the park near my house and doing a circuit very similar to the one included here every weekday after school. Run to the park, do a circuit, run a lap around the park, another circuit, and so on until I couldn’t go anymore or I ran out of time, then I’d jog back home.
Find a park near your home. Go to Google Maps right now; I’ll wait. I’m not saying you have to jog there like I did, but I can almost guarantee there’s one within 10-15 minutes of your home. Ideally, you find one with a playground of some kind, as that’s where you’ll get the most usable equipment for strength training.
What To Do – The Actual Workout
Here is a simple circuit workout that you can do at most parks with a playground! As a reminder, a circuit is a group of exercises that is performed one right after the other with little to no break. Move 1, move 2, move 3, … til the end, then rest. Then back to move 1, move 2, and so on.
- Step-ups – using a park bench or a stair on the equipment, or even a step down from a sidewalk, step up onto the bench and back down, keeping the working foot on the step at all times. For extra challenge, hold your balance on one foot at the top
- Progression: A higher step or carrying a weight like a backpack or a small child. (Your own child, please!)
- Regression: A smaller step 🙂
- Incline Push-ups – On pretty much any raised surface – Simply pick an elevated surface and place your hands on them to perform push-ups.
- Plank Hold – so this one sounds pretty basic right? Wrong. Of course, you could do a regular plank on the ground, but why do that when we have all this fun equipment? Grab a swing or two and perform a high plank with hands on a swing(s). You can also do these on an elevated surface or something a little unstable (Like those weird springy animal things that you sit on!). Your core will have to work overtime to keep you in position. Hold for 30 seconds or until failure.
- Inverted Rows – a fancy way of saying horizontal pull-ups – Find a bar or a rounded ladder like the one pictured, and place yourself underneath it. Keeping your legs either bent under you or straight, use your arms and back to pull your chin up to the bar.
- Hanging Leg Raise – a hard core move – Hanging from a freestanding bar or from a curved ladder like before, keep your torso still and raise your legs up in front of you until they’re parallel with the ground.
- Progression: side to side movement lifting legs in front at a 45 degree angle toward each side, alternating
- Regression: bend knees as you raise your legs!
The Practical Application
We all have a park near us. We all have bodies that need to move throughout the day. Some have kids that have energy to get out. Go to the park!
You don’t need fancy equipment. You have a body that has weight—move it. IN addition to the moves I have given you above, there are also tons of bodyweight movements that can be performed anywhere and can be done by kids!
For those of you with children, think about how much of an impact you can have on their mindset toward movement and fitness if they see their mom, dad, aunt, uncle, sibling moving at the park with them. They’re going to grow up with movement as part of their regular life. They won’t have to learn it as an adult like most of us did. Amazing. Life-changing. Generation-changing.
For more tips on free workout ideas, stay tuned here or checkout the Foundation Fitness Co. Instagram. If you have any questions or need additional help, feel free to DM me on Insta or fill out our contact form here.
Happy Free Fitness Friday—go move that body of yours!