In our society almost everyone tries to stay as cheap as possible when looking for a product. We look around for the cheaper gas station, we cruise the aisles in a supermarket looking for the cheaper (but still high quality) item. Everything has a price tag, treadmills can cost well over a thousand dollars; but there is a way to stay in shape and only spend a few hundred dollars compared to thousands spent on gym memberships, treadmills and elliptical trainers.
First, one of the most effective cardio machines in the world can cost you less than three hundred dollars. Stationary or spinning bikes are a great tool for staying in shape. They do not take as much space as a treadmill or an elliptical, and they are very effective. For every half an hour spent on a spin bike going 10 mph you will burn 175 calories. Now if you are spinning while watching your favorite movie that has a runtime of an hour and a half you will have burnt 525 calories. Spinning is a very effective way to stay in shape, if you have ever watched The Biggest Loser it is one of the staple workouts in their gym.
Another cheap way of staying in shape is jumping rope. A typical fitness oriented jump rope can cost as little as $10-$20. Jumping Rope burns on average around 11 calories per minute. For every twenty minutes of jumping rope you will have burnt around 220 calories (which is almost the same amount of calories burnt for running on a treadmill for a half an hour). Jumping rope is a tough impact workout, you should jump rope on a softer surface (concrete is not recommended), and you should build your time up to your own goal time. Jumping rope is a workout that is favored by tennis players and boxers, the workout can be modified to include harder more technical jumps as soon as you master the single jump.
