Six ways to improve your health without a gym membership

Thom Carroll/PhillyVoice.com

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You don’t need to rapidly alter your lifestyle to lead a healthier life. These simple tips will significantly improve your overall health and will encourage you to begin living a healthier lifestyle at your own pace.

1. Work out at home

It’s easy to get a full-body workout without even leaving the living room. You might enjoy working out with store-bought DVDs. The Internet puts millions of great resources at your fingertips. Workout videos can be found on YouTube, blogs or fitness websites. Workouts can also be found on the go using Instagram or similar platforms. You can even break a sweat playing video games; Wii Fitness is fun for the whole family.

2. Join a local sports team

Joining a local team is a way to get involved in your community, all while working out. Push yourself to try a new sport or rekindle an old passion. The beauty of joining a team is that you’re not alone and have a support group to rely on. Kindling your competitive spirit will make you forget that you’re even exercising!

3. Park far away

Parking far away is a good trick to walk more. Whenever you’re going to the mall or running errands, parking farther away will help you rack up your steps and take your health in the right direction. Simple lifestyle changes like this will help you maintain a healthier lifestyle.

4. Integrative exercise

Integrative exercise means incorporating more robust activity into your life like gardening or biking to work. If you don’t like intense exercise, incorporating more activity into your daily routines can lead to a happier, healthier you. Walking 30 minutes a day will transform your fitness, without even having to put on exercise clothes. A pedometer is a great investment to encourage you to walk more. Because it tracks your steps, a pedometer makes it easier to see how close you are to achieving your goals. As you get more comfortable, you can challenge yourself to more varied activities like hiking or jogging.

5. Modify your diet

Simple changes to your daily meals can help improve your health without actively dieting or going to the gym. It’s all about creating positive habits. Replace sugary drinks or soda with water to greatly reduce your calorie intake. Research suggests that this simple swap can potentially reduce the new diabetes cases by up to 25 percent. Other easy swaps that can improve your health, without sacrificing flavor, include swapping out butter for olive oil, pasta for spaghetti squash and mashed potatoes for mashed cauliflower.

6. Yoga and meditation

Finding a way to release stress is a key factor in improving your overall health. With so many resources online, yoga is easy for beginners to start and can be done right in your home or at a nearby park. Meditation has a long history of increasing calmness and enhancing your overall health and well-being. Similarly, incorporating routine stretching into your lifestyle can help improve flexibility and decrease your risk of injuries.

Going to a gym or fitness class doesn’t guarantee a healthier life. What really matters is careful attention to your body’s needs and making small changes and adjustments to help you lead a healthier lifestyle. Whether that means going for daily walks or taking your coffee without sugar, your path to health is ultimately in your hands.