Aspire, Perspire, Nourish Yourself

Fitness Freebies & Cheapies

GetActive Getting fit doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. There are many things you can do to challenge your body without equipment or a gym membership. We’ve posted several workouts and activities you can do just about anywhere with little or no equipment, and we’ve also featured links to free online videos in previous posts. So explore our site! Type in ‘workouts’, ‘spin class’, ‘yoga’, ‘fitness’ in the search box to see some of these posts.

If you’re looking for free or relatively cheap fitness activities that are more structured, then look closer to home. Many retailers like Lululemon, The Running Room, Niketown, and smaller businesses offer local events that are free of charge or donation based. Local groups like running clubs or ski clubs also offer structured activities that may only require small membership fees.

Here’s the scoop for Waikiki and Honolulu locals. If you’re not local and are planning to visit soon, please check out these freebies and cheapies. Use these venues as examples for searching for fitness opportunities in your local area.

Lululemon

Waikiki Store

Free yoga classes held twice per week – Wednesdays at 7:30 am and Saturdays at 8:30 am

Ala Moana Store

Free yoga classes held once per week – Sundays – 8:30 am
Oahu Trail Run Club – Sundays -7:30 am to 9 am

Honolulu Marathon Clinic

This is a group that is not directly affiliated with the Honolulu Marathon Organization but is a great training community. Even if you are not planning to do the marathon each December, this group offers great running camaraderie.

The Running Room

All stores across North America offer free running clubs (typically Wednesdays and Sundays). Their national website has a ton of fitness information and relatively cheap training offerings.

Waikiki – Kapahulu Store

Run Group – Wednesdays at 5:30 pm and Sundays 6 am (Wednesday sessions are typically less than 6 miles, while on Sundays runners loop around Diamond Head, which is about a 6 mile run)
In Honolulu, besides the free Wednesday and Sunday runs, the local Running Room’s website gives lots of information on training clubs for running, triathlons, and other events. Explore their ‘LINKS’ tab for this information. Keep in mind that not all of these are free.

Lanikai Juice – Waikiki

Wednesdays – 5:45 pm – They typically run 3-5 miles routes, and offer lots of goodies like weekly raffles for gift cards, and monthly free seminars on fitness and nutrition.

Island Triathlon and Bike

If you have a bike (preferably good for roads), check out their website for more details on the following free rides. If you’re visiting, you can rent a bike from IT&B.

Tuesdays – 7 am Bike Ride – Ride up Tantalus at a conversational, fun pace. Typically around 8-9 miles.
Wednesdays – 4:30 pm – Beginner and Intermediate riders split into groups and ride 40 km to 50 km to Hawaii Kai.

Waikiki Swim Club

This swim club has been going since 1971! They promote fun and safe ocean swimming. They have a core group of members who are or have been competitive swimmers so the swims can be demanding. However, they do welcome newcomers and visitors. See their website for more information on weekly swims, races and other events.

Meetup.com

Find boot camps and yoga classes on the beach, in parks, in community centers, and find all kinds of other fitness activities and enthusiasts to hang out with using this great social website and app.

You can specify the type of activity you want to find such as ‘fitness’, ‘yoga’, ‘hiking’, etc. in your city and within a specific radius. Some activities are donation based, while others are free.

In addition to being affordable or FREE, many of these venues are great places to meet others with similar interests. If you’re the type who likes company for fitness activities, or needs the extra push, then show up and get started.

Please share other resources, activities and events in our comments section so we can add to this list.

Recipe of the Week: Lemon Basil Refresher

Stairs for Total Body Workout

Got a set of stairs nearby or in your house? Here is a workout you can do any day of the week.

This workout combines both cardiovascular and strength training, with the emphasis on strength. You can easily split up the cardio and strength on two separate days if you want to save time or maximize your workouts.

Why Stairs?

Versatility. You can walk, run, or hop up and down. You can do dips, step ups, jumps, push ups, and so on.
Accessibility. You can find stairs in parks, apartment or office buildings, houses, malls, in the woods, and other auspicious places – maybe a nearby church!
Twenty Other Good Reasons. StepJockey gives us 20 other good reasons to use the stairs.

Workout Options

Finding the perfect set of stairs for doing both cardio and strength training may sometimes be difficult so make due with what you find. For the cardio portion of the workout, look for a set of stairs with 12 steps or more so that running or walking up and down doesn’t get too tedious. For strength training, find stairs with deeper rises that are better suited for dips and push ups.

First, warm up. Remember to start off with a warm up by walking the stairs for 2 minutes or doing a few jumping jacks.

Cardio

Run Stairs .jpg Run, briskly walk, hop up and down the stairs.

Options:

Determine a set time to run, walk, hop – e.g. 5 minutes x 4 times.
Determine number of sets to run, walk, hop – e.g. 10 sets of stairs.
Run up, walk down or vice versa.
Run, walk, hop two steps at a time; walk, run down.
Combinations are endless.

Strength Training

There are a number of strength training moves you can do using stairs. Pick and choose among the following or make up your own.

Options:

Rotate from upper body to lower body moves.
Do all upper body and then lower body moves.
Split into two workouts on separate days, i.e. upper body one day and lower body the next.
Mix it up by picking 4 to 6 moves per workout.
Add weights and/or use resistance bands with moves.
Get creative!