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  • Q&A with Australian Health Practitioners

    Is joining a gym the best way to increase my fitness?

    Related Topic
    Fitness and Sports Medicine
    I understand the benefits in joining a gym in terms of having all equipment, classes and trainers under the one roof. However, do I need to spend money on a gym membership if I am serious about increasing my fitness levels or are there other equally successful options?
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  • Jason Tomlinson

    Personal Trainer

    Hey there,

    Gym's are good because all of the equipment you need is there however, there is no reason why you can't buy your own equipment in the form of weights and use the outdoors for cardio. You can do hill runs and the different types of cardio training outside and by doing so, isn't going to put you at any more risk of injury than what a treadmill would. I personally am not a fan of treadmills for that reason.

    You can also buy resistance bands which you can do a variety of exercises with along with medicine balls. If you search Google and Youtube you can find many different types of exercises that don't require equipment and just use body weight which can save you money as well.

    You can also do pool work for cardio and is a good form of rehab for injuries. 

    I hope this helps you!


    Jason

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  • Gavin Janit

    Personal Trainer

    Gavin is a Tennis Australia Level II certified coach as well as a Fitness Australia Cert IV Qualified Personal Trainer. Gavin holds a Master’s Degree … View Profile

    Hi, being a qualified personal trainer as well as a sports coach for many years it is my opinion that you do not have to join a gym to increase your fitness levels.  
    There are many  outdoor strength and conditioning classes you can join up with which will help increase your fitness levels, but you can also do it on your own without the commitment of signing up with one of these groups.  If you get somebody to put the correct kind of program in place for you it is entirely plausible that you can increase your fitness level on your own.  Having said this the reason people sign up to group training classes is that it makes you commit and working out with others provides motivation for many people to work harder.
    In summary I believe training outdoors in whatever form, individual or group, is the best way to increase your fitness levels.  Outdoor training can allow for much more variability in training and you can change venues and scenery all the time which makes workouts more enjoyable.  You can also do  more cross training outdoors, and including a sport where you keep your heart rate up is a great fun way to help increase your fitness level.  Sport classes like the Cardio Tennis programs I run have proven to be a great way to get the heart rate up  and have helped several of my clients increase their fitness levels.
    Hope this answers your question.

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  • Matt Tinski

    Exercise Physiologist, Personal Trainer

    Matt offers professional advice for introducing and / or fine tuning exercise for weight loss and has assisted many clients with various chronic illnesses to … View Profile

    Increase which aspect of fitness?

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