I have a motto when it comes to exercise. 

DON’T PAY FOR IT.

photo credit: Julia Balakshin

I’ve never been a big gym fan or an exercise fan in general. I used to play a ton of sports in school, but as you get older “sports” turn into “beer league softball” which doesn’t provide as much exercise as one would hope.

This is why the Nike Training Club has become my new favourite thing.  They offer free NTC classes (like outdoor bootcamps) for women only at 11 park/store locations in the UK.  These are literally 100% free classes that you just have to sign up for (or some locations aren’t as busy so you don’t even have to sign up) and then go.  Being Nike, they offer loads of rewards from t-shirts (I’ve got 3 from them so far), to free entry to the NTC festival this summer. Even if you don’t collect the rewards, the workout itself is a 60 minute high-intensity workout. What else could you ask for? 

For example, this week I went to a Tuesday NTC class after work and here is what we did:

• warm up cardio circuits: high knees, butt kicks, fast feet
• snake running around the park and having the last person sprint to the front
• more circuit work: jumping jacks, squats and planks with knee touches
• painful circuit: squat jumps, frog jumps (aka harder burpees), lunges
• more cardio circuit: jogs, sprints, jumps and more sprints
• parter exercises: plank + push ups, jumps, tunnel crawling, squat holds and more sprints
• stretches and warm-down

All of the class was do as much as you could, with a lot of people going hard and adding extra push-ups into their planks (crazies) and others going slower and focusing on doing 2-3 reps in good form. You don’t really feel out of breath much, but you sure do feel it the next day(s). Ow. 

In addition, Nike also runs weekly Nike+ Run Clubs at London parks.  You get a bit of training and coaching, not to mention a safe place to leave your bags while you run! I’ve also gone out with the Sweatshop Running Community running group which are awesome and a great way to ease into your first few months of running.

So there you go, weddings can be expensive enough – why pay extra to look your best?