I woke up super duper early this morning for no real reason.  I was hungry and had a while before the sun came up when I could run outside, so I ate an early breakfast of buckwheat.

The bowl included:

• Buckwheat
• 1 Tbsp raisins
• 1/2 banana
• 1/4 cup Wheaties Fuel for some crunch

Since I stopped teaching weekly at Butler University’s gym this past August I have not had a gym membership.  Even though I haven’t taught regularly or been able to attend a gym daily I have not let that be an excuse to allow slack in my workouts.

Here are my tips on how to survive (if you are addicted to the gym like me) and challenge your body without a gym membership, and only owning minimal equipment.

Take advantage of free trials

Check out gyms that are local to you.  Many have programs such as 14-day free trials and drop-in class fees.  Also check out some free trials of online workout sources such as PilatesAnytime.com which offers pilates videos at all levels for a 14-day free trial and then a monthly fee after that.

Participate in Community Classes

Lululemon offers free pilates and yoga classes on Saturday mornings before the store opens.  Simply by typing your city’s name and free classes or community classes will pull up more information than you think!  In my hometown (Fort Wayne) yoga classes are put on in the library for free every week.  You never know what you will find.

Look for At-Home Workouts

There are so many great resources that provide at-home workouts that you can do with little or no equipment.  Here are some of the sites that I use as resources:

• ToneItUp.com
• Youtube.com
• Self.com (and the magazine)
• Fitness.com
• Shape.com
• Fitsugar.com
• Sparkpeople.com