Green your fitness routine

couple running in park © Marcel Mooij - Fotolia.com

Making your fitness routine more eco-friendly is easier than you think. Read on for some green workout tips

It takes a lot of energy to heat and power a regular gym. The equipment alone is energy-hungry, and then there’s the lighting, the air-conditioning – it all adds up. 

So why not try some alternative and greener ways to keep fit? Here are our top five tips to help you green your workout – don’t worry, they’re all simple and easy to incorporate into your regular routine.

1. Exercise outside

Ok, it’s pretty obvious, but why be stuck indoors when you can get fit in the great outdoors? This is the easiest way to make your workout more environmentally friendly and it will save you the cost of a gym session too. Plus, you’ll also have lots of fun getting to know your local environment and your community.

2. Find your nearest BTCV Green Gym

If you want an alternative way of working out and improve your local environment in the process then the Green Gym is for you. It helps people of all ages to be physically active.

Groups meet in their local area at least once a week and “work out” in the open air by getting involved in environmental conservation and gardening activities with a supervised trainer.

There are fifty Green Gym groups up and running throughout the UK, all free. Use BTCV’s interactive map to find a green gym near you.

3. Consider riding your bike or walking to the gym

If you can’t give up your gym habit, try reducing your carbon footprint by leaving the car at home. And, by cycling or walking to the gym you can work out less when you get there.

4. Get gardening

Weeding, pruning, planting and raking – any keen gardener will tell you how much effort goes into keeping a garden tidy. Plus you’ll find it satisfying and rewarding fun.

You could even try growing your own vegetables to make your diet truly local, as food miles are reduced to the length of your garden (check out our guide to growing your own veg).

5. Recycle your worn out trainers

Nike’s reuse-a-shoe initiative repurposes old athletic shoes of any brand. You just need to take your trainers to the nearest drop-off location, where they are shipped to one of their processing facilities to be ground up into a material called Nike Grind. Nike Grind is used to make basketball courts, tennis courts and running tracks in communities around the world.