5 reasons to quit the gym

1. Gym memberships are really expensive

A recent study in the American Economic Review (appropriately titled Paying Not To Go to the Gym) found that, given a choice of contracts, most gym users will pick a monthly contract over a yearly or per-use contract. Over a year, paying $71 per month on average, users only went to the gym about 4.7 times per month. That's $15 per visit, and $852 per year! You could buy a really sweet bike with $852, which would last longer and be far more rewarding.

2. The gym requires exercise

By definition, exercise is an activity that requires physical or mental exertion. The term implies strenuous effort, like paying attention to a boring lecture or solving a difficult math problem. In effect, physical fitness is no longer a fundamental right of existence, but something we have to earn by performing repetitive tasks that we don't enjoy very much. Instead of exercise, wouldn't it be better to simply be active in our every day life? Life is full of boring obligations like lectures and tax forms; physical fitness shouldn't be among them.

3. The gym woos us into a lifetime of gym dependence!

Binding contracts aside, as an effect of the above, the gym fools us into believing we need it in order to stay fit. Thus begins a hideous cycle where it's okay to drive the car half a mile to pick up a gallon or milk, or stay glued to our seats in front of a computer 8 hours a day - we can simply make up for inactivity (not to mention the ills of the food industry) at the gym.

It seems a pity to spend the day engaged in sub-par activities, only to have to make up for it with another sub-par activity. The gym is an easy way out, so we stop challenging ourself to be active in other ways. It's a strange paradox: has the gym actually made us lazier?

4. The gym distorts our fitness goals

"Summer shape up"; "Get yourself a beach bum"; "Get huge".

The gym offers two extremes, get big or get small, then reminds us that we're not big or small enough. So we exercise with the aim of burning more calories or lifting more weight. Spend a few minutes in the weight room and you'll inevitably see people sacrifice form (and their back) in order to lift more pounds than they can correctly manage.

When progress is measured in numbers, it's easy to forget the the point. We desire fitness in order to feel confident and comfortable in our own skin. But instead of confidence, the gym sends the message that we are not bootylicious. Through that negative feedback, we forget our goals. Remove goals and you remove the challenge, and suddenly, the gym just goto a whole lot worse.

5. The gym burns "empty" calories.

One of the most dominant features Fitness First is a row of TVs facing the cardio machines. Here's a typical line-up: "Pimp My Ride", "My Super Sweet 16", music videos, Sky News, and sports.

With the possible exception of sports, the television is predominantly crap. But people watch it! Grown-ups, bankers, educated types, watch "Celebrity Big Brother"! Sure, you're burning calories, but what are you gaining?

I tried podcasts as a way around the television. But even though i couldn't hear the TV, I was still bombarded by distracting images of people and things I don't care about. Sometimes I tried reading, which only worked if the book's binding allowed it to stay open on its own. Then I realized: wouldn't it be nicer to just read on the couch with a cup of tea and a comfy blanket then go for a long walk in the park? Why take two otherwise good things (reading and activity) and make them less good by putting them together?

Fitness needn't be as 1-dimensional as burning calories. Why not pair physical activity with some mental motion? If I go for a walk, I can listen to a podcast (or brainstorm reasons why the gym sucks) with only the trees and puppies and turtles to distract me*.

Admittedly, not every gym-goer is a zombie on a treadmill. So I give you

A few good reasons stick with the gym

• You have a gym buddy
• You like to swim and your gym has a pool
• You use your gym's group exercise courses (yoga, pilates, etc)
• You live in a shitty climate
• You're new to exercise and require the help of a personal trainer
• You're training for something cool (marathon, triathalon, iron man, spam toss)
• Weight lifting is your thing
• Your work doesn't have a shower

* Admittedly, a walk in London involves the added distraction of dog poop. I maintain that the crap on TV is much harder to get off of shoes.

Grove Farm Jersey Milk is the first raw milk I've ever tasted. It's unbelievable, in a delicious sort of way, and their labeling is just as good. Every week it changes to provide an update on their cows at the farm. This week's label revealed that Remembrence, Prima, and Ellerdine all calved in succession. Bring on the milk!

It makes me wonder why I bother with the Alpro soymilk, who's label doesn't exactly make for pleasant breakfast reading.

Available on Cafe Press for $19.99!

Today Tim e-mails me at work to say I have surprise waiting for me at home. I half expect some yummy dark chocolate or my favorite guilty pleasure, Coke Zero (I know).

My surprises are better than chocolate and diet soda (which actually go very well together, I'm embarassed to admit). No, Tim has two things which will last longer than a fleeting bite of bittersweet chocolate: books!

Tim knows that part of my freedom dream involves writing, and he found two books on the subject at one of our local used bookshops (how lucky are we to have more than one?!):

Writing for Journalists by Wynford Hicks

and

Troublesome Words by Bill Bryson

The first is a practical guide on writing news, features, and reviews.

Troublesome Words is a dictionary of confusing words and concepts in the English language. Here's one:

decimate. Literally the word means to reduce by a tenth (from the ancient practice of punishing the mutinous or cowardly by killing every tenth man). By extension it may be used to describe the inflicting of heavy damage, but it should never be used to denote annihilation, as in this memorably excruciating sentence cited by Fowler: 'Dick, hotly pursued by the scalp-hunter, turned in his saddle, fired and literally decimated his opponent'. Equally to be avoided are context in which the word's use is clearly inconsistent with its literal meaning, as in 'Frost decimated an estimated 80 per cent of the crops'.

"Can you dethaw some beans from the freezer?"

In March of 06 my partner Mikey and I moved from New York City to Truth or Consequences NM to join a pioneering spirit that was emerging in a small western town. In September of 2006 we purchased an RV park and mineral hot spring in the downtown hot water district to convert into an off grid hotel, venue and hot spring gathering place. Our goal is to build with as much re-use as possible, carefully considering our carbon footprint along the way. When finished, it is our intention to offer workshops, entertainment, yoga and a variety of cultural events at our on site venue. Like a Sufi Khankah, we are building a place where home, spirit and community come together in a harmonious whole.

My move to London put a stop to these regenerative mornings, so as soon as I got a job, I began beginner's Ashtanga at Yoga Home, taught by an insanely bendy person named Alex Thomas. This being London, yoga classes are way too expensive to attend more than once a week. But I have a great deal to learn, and a semi-regular dose of professional instruction is critical to my progress and motivation.

My strategy is to attend a yoga class once per week, and then practice the routine on my own in the flat before I go to work in the mornings.

Back to the present: Today was Day 1 of Level 2 "Ashtanga Style" yoga at the Bishopsgate Institute. The class meets for 50-minutes, once per week, for 12 weeks, and costs £69.

I arrived to class early and had a chance to talk to the instructor, Marina, who informed me that "Ashtanga Style" means we will use Ashtanga postures but will not follow the strict order of the Primary Series.

Of the twelve students, I am one of only two new students. I'm happy to hear people like the class enough to keep going back, but a bit intimidated by being the lone stranger in a group of friends. This feeling is silly, of course, because social pressure simply doesn't exist in a yoga class if the students are serious about their practice.

In my previous Ashtanga course, we jumped right into the sun salutes and the primary series. In Marina's class, we first warm up on the mat. This suits my creaky joins very well, and made the subsequent Surya Namaskura A a much more fluid and comfortable exercise. Also, the sound of other students' breathing helps me concentrate on my own breath.

We spent most of the class in introductions and paperwork, so the practice itself was short. But I felt invigorated afterwards. Marina assures me that we'll "kick it up" next class. I look forward to it.

Key take-aways for my home practice:

• Take some time on the mat before I start my practice to relax and prepare myself for the task at hand; there's no rush
• Pay more attention to my breathing; perhaps I can use that pre-practice mat time to really "connect with the breath", as they say
• Warm up on the yoga mat: lay on the mat, hug the knees and rock back and forth; practice the "cat pose".
• Take Savasana more seriously; again, there's no rush
• Remember: it's better to perform 5 minutes of quality, intentional yoga than 60 minutes of semi-distracted scattered yoga. There's no rush! Pay attention to the moment; focus on the task at hand.

The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly. -- Buddha

More rubbish means more work. Less waste means less wasted time and, therefore, more time for the important things in life, like sitting around in the sun with a bottle of wine and a few friends.

Take your household rubbish. Dealing with it requires an an enormous amount of work. There is the work involved in filling the black bin bag and lugging it outside. There is the work for the dustmen in collecting the black bin bags and taking them to a big tip somewhere.

Then there is the cost of transporting the rubbish to some hideous toxic wasteland where it will sit poisoning the earth. All wasted effort, since all rubbish is unnecessary.

And where does most of this rubbish come from? Plastic. Plastic bags, plastic milk cartons, plastic wrap, plastic containers for everything!

Read on.

I've been a regular at the gym since August 2002. In the beginning, my goal was simple: work off all the Mexican food and beer I was consuming as a math grad student in Austin, Texas. But over the years, my objectives gradually changed. I wanted more than to negate my indulgent eating and drinking habits; I wanted to be strong and healthy. As my goals changed, so did my diet; I began to eat to support my exercise, rather than the other way around. I developed a particular liking for weightlifting. And then I started running.

Running changed everything. I revelled in its multifaceted pleasures: oxygen, the outdoors, running with people at a 5k race, running alone with an NPR podcast, a cold smoothie after a long run, the burning sun on an Austin summer day.

Early last year my ankle started giving me trouble and no amount of rest or physical therapy has succeeded in eliminating the dull pain I experience every time I run. In the absence of running, I rely on the gym's weights and cardio machines to maintain my level of fitness. But lately, the gym frustrates more than invigorates. I've lost sight of my goals. It's as if I use the gym to manage a phobia of reverting back to the soft and squishy math dork who couldn't run a mile without breaking for a Tecate halfway.

But these days, I don't want to simply burn beer calories; I want to enjoy the journey. That's why running is so glorious: the mind is invigorated along with the body. The feet connect with the grass (or asphalt, or gravel), the eyes absorb the passing scenery (rather than a TV screen), the nose takes in the fresh air (or not so fresh if you're running in London). Running feels like freedom. The gym feels like a scam.

So last week, when I discovered that my gym membership is 3-months delinquent, I took the opportunity to get out. So far, I miss my workout buddy, and I miss the action of lifting weights, an activity I found somewhat meditative in the amount of concentration it required. But I think I've found my goal: to maintain my fitness holistically. That is, to transition exercise from something I do at a gym to something that emerges naturally from my other life choices. In effect, the goal is to stop exercising altogether, but instead to be active in my day to day life.

I don't need the gym to achieve personal health and fitness. So what do I need? Stay tuned for strategy.

Allen Galbraith shares two techniques for growing potatoes without a garden. Tempting - a "Potato Barrel" might make a wonderful conversation piece in the flat (not to mention an endless supply of roasting material.)

From Chapter 1 of Tom Hodgkinson's How to Be Free

Not only is it Easter weekend, but the weather is unseasonably perfect. In the race to enjoy it, city-dwellers are cramming into planes, trains and automobiles, readying themselves for a grueling journey to something better.

Is it possible to escape from the city while still enjoying the journey? I say yes. My secret? The humble yet powerful bicycle.

I say this now having never been on a long bicycle journey in England, but tomorrow I take the first of what I hope to be many cruises in the country. Tim and I are headed 54 miles north to Cambridge, traveling along the River Lee and passing through Newton (home of Sir Isaac!). I hope we get to Cambridge in time to see a bit of the town, and perhaps enjoy a restful beverage at a "quaint" Cambridge pub.

In the meantime, here are some links I've found useful in my planning:

Route plan via Gmap Pedometer

GPX file of waypoints between London and Cambridge (note: the waypoints between London and Ware along the River Lee are rough estimates at best)

Sustrans - the UK's leading sustainable transport charity, has loads of maps of the UK National Cycle Network

Matthew Belmonte's London to Cambridge bicycle route

So in the middle of all this dreaming and scheming, the boyfriend hands me a copy of Paul Waddington's 21st Century Smallholder. Less of a how-to guide and more of an inspiration, the book is a sampler of how one can go about becoming self-sufficient. From the garden to the compost heap, Waddington manages to inject a dry sense of humor into his outline, which covers cost, space, and time considerations. For example, Waddington considers bees to be the gateway livestock drug. A beehive is cheap to set up, requires a small amount of space, and beekeeping is an easily attainable skill (however, they do require a great deal of patience and "tenderness", which is why women are often considered better beekeepers than men!).

I don't know if it was the book or the conversation or the instant coffee, but I really felt inspired that morning. I came back to Stoke Newington, bought some dirt (for lack of my own compost heap), and checked out a book from the library on vegetables and herbs. I also designed a new t-shirt.

Okay, "design" may be a strong word here. But there you have it: the "make compost not war" organic t-shirt, just in time for summer. There are some girly tees, too, at the Compost Heap shop.

I want to be free.

No Impact Man has similar dreams. He's freed himself of garbage, carbon emissions, elevators, subways, plastic, air conditioning, and television, just to name a few. It's all part of a 1-year experiment to lead a no net impact lifestyle. He eats only organic food, uses no paper, composts everything, buys nothing, and is dragging his wife and 2-year old daughter along for the ride.

No Impact Man, aka Colin Beavan, and his wife are both writers, which to me is about as free as you can get while still earning an income. As inspiring as their no-impact lifestyle is their ability to make enough money to perform this experiment in the first place.

How did they become free?

No Impact Man Blog
The Year Without Toilet Paper - New York Times, March 22, 2007