Probably the most frugal thing I've done doesn't have much to do with finances: I lifted weights pretty regularly for about two years. I started with baby steps and worked up slowly. I used dumbbells at home. It was fun!

Then I got hit by a car while crossing the street. I walked away despite cracking two bones from the side impact to my knee. My doctor wondered why I was walking: that should have badly hurt my ACL (anterior cruciate ligament). I told her about the deadlifts, and she said that had to be it. I didn't even need a brace. Sure, it was a lot of luck, but weight lifting help me make my own luck.

So strength training is frugal. Not only did it improve my strength and health, it also saved me an expensive surgery, a lot more time lost from work, and a lot more pain. Not to mention the probable future osteoarthritis in that joint.

My favorite lifting website is http://stumptuous.com/cms/index.php. It's aimed at women, but several of the serious men I know use it too.

Staying in shape is one of the best investments you can ever make. Taking care of yourself in today's society could save you thousands of dollars in the long run.

By lifting weights, you're building muscle and burning fat. By burning fat, you're lowering your risk of many diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Plus, you will have more energy to MAKE MONEY and think clearer. IMO, exercise is a must for anyone who is serious about financial success.

What an interesting post, I had never thought about exercise being frugal. I guess it makes sense if you think that you are less likley to get unwell and so you will have less medical expenses, less time off work from illness etc. In the UK you can also get cheaper life insurance if you can prove that you are fit.

Also, the more time you spend working out, the less time you're spending ... spending (at the mall or somewhere).

That's true to a point -- if you pick something that kills your joints, or work out unsafely, or use poor form, you might end up with higher bills. But yeah, it saved me a lot of pain and surgery.

Now, I just need to get back into it since I'm healed.

I recommend t-nation.com for a great source on working out. Their sources will get you into whatever shape you want. It's also good for figuring out the proper form and training regimines too.

Good luck!

That site can be deeply annoying for women; I wouldn't recommend it generally. A fair bit of good information, and a lot of pictures of girls in skimpy clothes. Sometimes I find stuff there I want to read, and I kind of have to take a deep breath....

http://www.stumptuous.com can be useful for those who don't like t-nation.

As many of you probably know, I started lifting weights recently. I've only done a couple days, but already it's making a difference. Maybe it's all mental. I don't care. I feel stronger, whether I actually am or not. Plus, it's not nearly as awful as I thought it would be.

And Daedala is right -- all you really need are a couple of dumbbells and a bench. I wasn't aware of that. I thought you needed a setup like at a gym.

In any event, I'm looking forward to getting fit slowly!

I like free weights MUCH better than a gym. The latter causes horrific high school flashbacks; and because I'm a shorty, I don't fit on the machines well anyway. And I couldn't do cardio because of exercise-induced asthma. I usually don't listen to music or anything, even; I find it meditative. And besides, I have to be careful not to squish the cats, who like to "help."

For the first few months of weight lifting, you're not actually getting stronger; your nerves and muscles are learning to use what you've already got. So yeah, the effects are nearly immediate, because the nerves wake up fast, and you can feel the increased blood flow.

However, remember not to push it. It's tempting, because it's fun, but the first few months also means your ligaments and tendons are catching up. Concentrating on good form for a while gives the connective tissues time to adjust, and your body time to get used to doing the moves correctly.

For a good book, I was pretty impressed with The New Rules of Weight Lifting.

I was pleasantly surprised with stumptuous.com. I'm going to include it in this week's roundup of cool links. It's nice to see a site that dispels the many myths of weight lifting and women (that women would actually READ!)

I know that t-nation is somewhat abrasive to men and women alike. It's somewhat locker-room talk. I'm most impressed with the articles themselves, although I have to ask. . . you mention complaints about the girls in skimpy clothes but nothing about guys in banana-hammocks (a far more serious violation of man-law, in my opinion).

What annoys women so much about seeing other women? When I see male bodybuilders all gussied-up, I generally don't feel anything regarding them, except maybe a bit of concern for they're general lack of bodyfat, use of steroids-- and maybe a little concern over their choice of garb.

I agree. As long as you aren't paying to visit a gym and are doing workouts with equipment you already have or low cost equipment, and are using proper form, you are doing your wallet and your body good. A few months ago I joined a local roller derby league, and while I've had my spills, I don't play full contact and have found that the skating and the 3 days of working out we do per week in addition to 2 days of practice has helped me get over bugs faster, become stronger and more able to do other things on my own, and has helped my mood dramatically. My advice is that if you have trouble becoming motivated, joining an adult sport league or a workout group with little or no cost can really help you out. My strength has enabled me to do more physical things around the house, which is saving me money too! I haven't been to the Dr. in... 7 years? A lot of that time I NEEDED to go, but just didn't have health insurance, but nowadays, I haven't even had a reason to need to want to go but not go... ha ha, did that make sense?

So in short, workout smart, eat smart, and you'll do yourself a lot of good.

Amen every dollar spent on your body is ten dollars spent on your mind!

Hope no-one missed that. My ex-husband used to flush thousands of dollars a year by signing it over to the Weider corporation, then not using it or letting me touch it except to dust it or, more likely, trip over it when he left it out for several months and I sulkily refused to put it away for him. (He has since married a wonderful woman and grown up a great deal, in the interest of fair disclosure. And he's a great guy---- we were just not great together.)

I have a friend who filled plastic milk bottles with sand instead of buying dumbbells, wetting the sand down when that got too light, then upgraded to thrift-store weight bench and weights as a reward for working out consistently. I have another friend who trades use of at-home weight equipment and spotting help for help with the housework. When I was incollege, not too many years ago, the local YMCA had a program where if you were a current student at a college in town, you would get a year's membership for $100, and the first day you used their facilities each month for the first seven months, they would refund $10 of your membership cost, and a local parochial high school will let you use their free weights at certain hours if you do volunteer work for them in such a way that you are covered by their insurance. Some (very few) health insurance policies will lower their rates if you can prove you work out regularly, and if I recall correctly, my insurance policy gives me free membership start-up and half-off of Curves or Bali's or similarly heavily-marketed workout club (I don't take advantage of this. I have sneakers and my best friend from high school is a PIlates instructor who trades baby-sitting time for pointers on form. $20 a month is $20 a month, and and invested in debt payoff at 7.22% is much more than that in three years' time.).

Just saying--- like anything, you get the best leverage if you also use the muscles between your ears for your workouts.

I'd actually warn against the sand-filled milk jugs -- unless the form factor is different than the kind I'm thinking of, they're not really safe to lift, and it's difficult to use good form with them. If you want to try that, do some research.

(The rest of the post was great, I just don't want anyone to hurt themselves.)

...