Most people aim for post-Christmas fitness regime. But in a cold and dark January, that’s hard to do. The colder it is, the harder it is. In 2021 with most gyms closed and advice to limit outside time, your options are limited. How to get fit cheaply or free, while ensuring you don’t break lockdown regulations?

Take Up Jogging

Believe it or not, winter is a great time to take this up because of body temperature regulation. It’s daunting for most, but luckily there are many online tools to help you start. The best known is Couch to 5K, the NHS website and app to help you go literally from having never run before to running 5 kilometres (3.2 miles). 5k is a nice length, about half an hour for even average paced, average fitness joggers. For greater motivation, go with a flatmate.

Walk More

Harder to do in the colder weather, admittedly. However, if you forego using the car or public transport to get to university or go to the shops and walk instead, you will soon notice a difference. Walking is one of the easiest and most accessible forms of exercise. It’s also something we all do every day. Start by walking around the block, around campus, and before you know it you will find your legs stronger; your lungs will breathe easier, and better general fitness.

YouTube Home Workouts

One of the biggest growth areas of 2020 was the “from home” tutorials. Everyone jumped on the bandwagon, although these tutorials were not new in 2020. Personal Trainers had to change their focus and used such free videos to build an audience and (hopefully) lead to paid custom. Naturally, there is no need to become a paid customer. You can use all the videos you like in your warm student digs.

Home Fitness Apps

On a similar note, home fitness apps for your tablet or smartphone can help improve your fitness. Most are free although they might have optional in-app purchases. This is still a popular moneymaking tool for app developers. The beauty for you is that most have enough functionality to use basic features and still get fit.

Change It Up

Familiarity breeds contempt. This is as true of fitness as it is of everything. Doing the same thing day in, day out will get boring and you’ll lose motivation. So why not do a combination of the above things? Build variety into your routine and you will keep that motivation longer. Go to different places, use different apps, have a running day, a walking day, and a YouTube workout day.

The key to good fitness is to make it fun. Don’t do anything you don’t enjoy, or you will look for excuses not to do them.