dorkseid wrote:
I have a gym membership. But they want to charge me $500/month to teach me how use the equipment and lift weights, and I can't afford that. And if I try to do that without knowing the proper way I could seriously injure myself.
This is not a valid excuse. You don't need to solve all problems by throwing money at them. There are bodyweight HIIT workouts you can do literally in 15 minutes and without any equipment. My daily minimal workout is about 10 minutes, some warmup and stretching mostly to avoid injury and intense burpees.
I don't have a gym membership and never paid a penny to learn how to use equipment and lift weights. I've never even used any gym equipment except squat rack and press bench.
Before lockdown I would go to a local gym twice a week to use their squat rack for like 10-15 minutes, at first I paid per visit, but they didn't feel comfortable charging me for 10 minutes and just let me use it for free when we got to know each other.
Now in addition to my daily workout I commute on my my dirt cheap bike and take longer rides couple times a week as my aerobic/endurance training and workout with kettlebells I bought for less than $30 each as strength training.
If I take into account increased brain power, productivity and motivation my exercise literally contributes into my income and saves me a lot of money. I exercise because I can't afford to be depressed and unproductive.