Staying in shape without the gym

In these hard economic times, people are forced to tighten their budgets and trim expenses when and where they can. For some folks, that means saying adios to their gym memberships. Here are some frugal fitness tips.

• Walk/hike/run. Going for a walk or run doesn't cost a penny, and it's a great calorie burner and muscle toner.
• Home work. Chase the dust bunnies and burn some calories.
• Kids' play. Make a play date with your child. Encourage kids to go outdoors to run, bike and participate in active games.
• Climb the stairway to health for a cheap but challenging cardio workout. Walking up and down stairs strengthens the gluteal, hamstring, quadricep and calf muscles, and it takes only minutes before your heart and lungs are working double duty.
• Sports fan. Play pickup sports games with some friends.
• Get a jump on cardiovascular exercise with a jump-rope. Jumping rope is a terrific form of cardiovascular exercise.
• Take the plunge into pool exercise. A water workout builds strength, burns calories, is easy on the joints and can be done by almost anyone of any age.
• Plugged in. Tune into your favorite exercise class with fitness DVDs and get a workout in the privacy of your living room on your own schedule.
• Bag it. Instead of buying expensive free weights or medicine balls for your home strength-training exercise, try some simple sandbags for a workout blast.
• Boogie your body. To get a great cardiovascular workout that raises both your heart rate and your spirits, crank up the music and dance.
• Consider a group session with a personal fitness trainer. Although it's not free, it's usually less than half the cost of a private session, and you can learn by watching how others in the group are trained.
• Resistance bands are an affordable, versatile and packable exercise tool. Inexpensive (about $12 per elastic cord) and easy to use, stretch bands offer a great workout for all body parts.
• Move your weight. Use your own body weight to do exercises like push-ups, chair dips, crunches, squats and lunges.