I've had a gym membership off and on for years. As everyone knows, they are expensive. However I've mostly considered them a necessary evil since equipment can take up a fair amount of precious space and can be expensive in it's own right. I also have a sedentary career with no compute (literally, I telecommute), so exercise is really necessary.
Anyway, I recently joined a gym that included two "free" personal training sessions when you sign up. During the personal training sessions I was introduced to TRX suspension training. TRX is a company the sells these little bands that mount to an overhead anchor and allow you to use your body weight for a variety of exercises. Here is a little video introduction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gagl23KZs0UI've been an athletic person all my life, but this workout really kicked my butt, and the challenge of it really kept me motivated. As I started really getting into it I started only using the TRX for strength training and a treadmill for cardio. And at some point the gym membership started becoming a bigger waste than it already was.
I started doing some research and considered buying my own TRX band and setting up a mount point at home. However the TRX bands come with a pretty hefty price tag ($200). I did a little research online and I found some videos of people making their own. I considered this but purchased this system instead ($40):
http://www.amazon.com/RopeInaBag-Black-Rope-Suspension-3000/dp/B005CS0XVG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332285801&sr=8-2While slightly less convenient that the TRX band when you need to adjust it, this band provides everything I needed. Add $5 worth of hardware to install a mount point and my new gym hangs in a little bag in the garage until I'm ready to use it. No more monthly gym fees nor time spent traveling to/from the gym.
Thought I would share.
