DreamPictures/Getty Images
READ MORE ABOUT:
Ditching your gym membership in favor of these at-home workouts can have major green payoffs. Forget the treadmill, and try slimming your booty while saving the planet. The gorgeous indoor pool in “La Casa Verde” gives Robin and her daughter a serious splash of fitness, but you don’t need anything fancy to get your cardio groove on at home. Actually, you don’t need anything except a little bit of time, and some info about what’s safe, smart, and healthy for you to do.
When you look around a gym, you’ll notice that almost everything, from the treadmill to the television overhead to the fans that keep you cool, is plugged into a wall socket. Gyms and commercial fitness centers may help you burn calories, but you can see at a glance that they gobble serious electricity. There are carbon-smarter ways to raise your pulse with a home workout, and some of them are even totally fun.
Try a casual jog or walk around your neighborhood, or one of these easy workout plans. You could even turn your cardio routine into a source of power for your household. Change things up with workout videos from secondhand stores, or from the library, and put them back into circulation when you’re done. It’s also cool to work on integrating exercise into your lifestyle. Lots of great green activities, like gardening or DIY household improvements, or biking to the office instead of driving, will definitely get your heart pumping.
In addition to flying solo, get your pals involved in your green exercise plans. Try carpooling with some friends to a class that’s more eco-friendly than a gym, like beach yoga, or organize your buddies to go out and play a casual sport like touch football in a local park. Whatever you do, remember to stay hydrated with a sustainable water bottle.
If you do have a fitness center membership, whether you’re planning to keep it or not, talk to the staff about what your gym is doing to go green. Letting the institution know that environmental impact is one of your concerns, and that you’re thinking about leaving because of your gym’s ecological footprint, will help put pressure on the business to switch to smarter energy solutions. If you work towards helping green your gym, pretty soon you might be able to head back into your favorite Kickboxing class with the knowledge that it’s eco-smart as well as great for your bod.
This post was inspired by World’s Greenest Homes.
-
- {}
