There has been a focus on eco-friendly products, green business practices, and general do-good-for-the-environment consuming and it’s clear the trend isn’t going away anytime soon. There are plenty of little ways for you to support the movement and reduce your carbon footprint, such as shopping locally, taking public transport, composting your food waste, and so on. But what about your weekly workout? Follow these tips on how to incorporate eco-friendly fitness and make sustainable changes in your fitness routine:
Dress For Success
What we wear to the gym isn’t just determined by laundry days. Depending on the workout for the day you might pick running shorts or leggings, a tank top or long sleeve it all depends on what choice you’re making that day. Challenge your fitness fashion choices with one more variable: What are your clothes made of?
Choosing an eco-friendly workout outfit is as simple as checking the labels before you buy, just like at the grocery store. Companies are proud to declare the green efforts behind their products and most major brands already do. Take Nike for example: They use recycled water bottles to create their polyesters, which reduces the amount of trash in landfills and reduces energy consumption throughout the manufacturing process by 30%! You can find a list of additional eco-friendly fitness apparel brands here.
Come Prepared
Making a few tweaks to your workout can not only save you money but also save the planet from an excess of unnecessary trash. Using reusable water bottles may seem like a no-brainer for most, but making this small change can have a huge impact: Going to the gym three days a week and buying a plastic water bottle each time contributes over 150 water bottles to landfills every year!
The same goes for what you eat. Bringing healthy snacks in reusable containers from home means you won’t get hangry and purchase protein bars after you crush leg day. Greatist has a full list of pre- and post-workout meals that’ll make you want to give your kitchen a workout, too!
Give Back With Your Workout
One of the largest contributors to every individual’s carbon footprint is energy usage. At a gym, that energy can be used everywhere from the music that pumps you up to the overhead lighting that’s perfect for workout selfies to the cardio equipment you pound away at every afternoon. Fortunately, the energy you produce during that cardio workout can actually generate enough power to offset the former. The trouble is getting the power to go where you want it — back into the facility’s grid.
By choosing gyms and studios that use SportsArt ECO-POWR™, up to 74% of your energy is harnessed and converted into utility-grade electricity. Unlike the other suggestions above, users don’t have to make a single change to their workout or gym routine to accomplish this. Simply working out on our ECO-POWR™ equipment is all you have to do!
Is your gym letting energy go to waste? Find out what steps they are taking to make their facility a hub for eco-friendly fitness or contact us at [email protected] to find an ‘eco-gym’ near you!
