It Is Thursday It's Going Green - Walking Exercise

Some suggestions on how to improve your health,

while you save money and the environment.

1. Stop purchasing so many new things. Curb your consumerism. Buy less active wear, expensive running shoes and/or fad, workout clothes. You’ll leave a smaller carbon footprint and leave more money in your wallet too.

2. Join a neighborhood gym that’s within walking distance to where you work and/or live. You’ll be supporting the local economy and saving car gas emissions and costly parking fees.

3. Better still, what is more convenient than your own living room? Pop in an exercise video and you're ready to get started without leaving your house. We know what you're thinking: You don't have the equipment.

4. Look around your house, I’m sure you will find a few things to get you started with a simple routine: canned goods to use in place of weights, a few towels to lay down instead of a mat, a small stool or a stack of books to use as a step, a chair to use for triceps exercises.

5. Buy used workout DVDs, as it’s a great way to recycle and save money too. You can find great quality, popular used home workout DVDs for less than half price at Amazon.com, EBay.com.

6. If the weather is fine, walk outside it’s free. More intense cardio—like running, biking or jumping rope—works better with a little more space, but why waste the energy required to run a treadmill or stationery bike when the whole world is waiting for you?

7. Lacing up a pair of running shoes and going for a jog is the simplest do-anywhere workout; all you need are the shoes.

8. Working out with other people is one of the most effective ways to stick with your plan. Keeping each other accountable helps you both get fit faster. Finding a jogging partner or a tennis opponent makes it easier to schedule your workouts—and harder to skip them.

9. If you can, sign up for a group race or join a larger team to play soccer, softball, volleyball or any other sport you love. As a bonus, the team will likely have a lot of the equipment already, so you can skip buying your own or share.

10. If you are not a runner, you still have options. Hit your local hiking trails, take your two-wheeler out for a spin or just add a daily walk to your lunch hour.

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Remember, we can make a difference together by just one small action at a time!