You don't have to commit to expensive gym membership to get yourself in shape. Holly Williams finds out from the experts how to lose weight and get healthier – without leaving the house
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It's that time of year again. You've consumed your own body weight in
mince pies and gin, while the most strenuous exercise in weeks was a
sozzled bout of dancing on New Year's Eve. It's resolution time, and
somewhere near the top of your list is adopting a more healthy, active
lifestyle.Such resolutions traditionally also lead to new gym memberships – also known as the forking out of large sums of money to alleviate indolence guilt. In a recession, pouring money down a communal shower's plughole may seem even less appealing, and according to Mintel the average gym membership in 2009 cost £442. That's about £37 per month, with some chains charging significantly more than that.
So perhaps it's no wonder that 23 per cent of consumers say they have already cancelled their gym membership, with a further 6 per cent saying they plan to do so, according to the report, which is out this week.
"The drop-out rate is built into gyms' business models," says Wesley Doyle, fitness editor for Men's Health magazine. "Everyone feels guilty after the Christmas binge and joins a gym and then drops out after three months." Drop-out rates of 30-40 per cent used to be eased by new members who stayed the course, but in tighter times this fresh in-take is less reliable.
Matt Punsheon, manager of Lifetime, a training consultancy and Centre of Excellence for Fitness, suggests our approach is changing: "Over the last year, the people using clubs have changed. It's much more hard-core. People who've been less enthusiastic and self-motivated in the gym have looked at other avenues."
Even if we're falling out of love with the cross-trainer, as a nation we still need to shape up. For general health we need at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on five or more days of the week, according to Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer at the Department of Health. His guidelines go on to say that "it is likely that, for many people, 45-60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity a day will be needed to prevent obesity".
A recent survey by PruHealth found that only 10 per cent of us exercise
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