For gyms across the country, environmental sustainability is a growing priority.
Case in green point: Eco-chic studios such as Sacramento Eco Fitness, Green Fitness Studio in Brooklyn, and Eco Power Fitness in Portland are popping up across the country, featuring retrofitted ellipticals and bikes that produce energy, solar panels for soaking up the sun, electrical fixtures that turn off when they aren’t in use, floorings made from recycles wood, energy-efficient infrared saunas, and living roofs.
Whether or not you belong to an eco-focused fitness studio, you can “green” your gym routine. Try these seven tips—they’re as good for your body as they are the planet:
1. Be Picky About Your Cardio Machine
Electricity usage varies widely between pieces of cardio equipment, and treadmills are the biggest power-suckers, using about 750 watts (or three time what ellipticals use) on average, says Greg Lay, vice president of engineering at Icon Health and Fitness. If you jogged 5 hours per week on the treadmill, generating electricity for the average treadmill would emit about 0.125 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year. That’s about 2.6 percent of the annual emissions from the average car.
“Choose machines that don’t have a cord attached,” says Kurt Broadhag, M.S., C.S.C.S., a LEED-certified gym management consultant and trainer. That means they’re self-powering. For example, the WOODWAY Curve Treadmill and Assault AirRunner use zero electricity. By powering these treadmills with your own body, you stand to burn 30 percent more calories than you would on a traditional treadmill.
The Assault AirBike or setting your road bike to a stationary stand can also help you get in your cardio without plugging in.
2. Increase the Incline
“Typically, when the treadmill is at a higher incline than around 12 percent, the power consumption becomes very low and above 15 percent, it becomes equivalent to ellipticals and bikes,” Law says. As an added benefit, you’ll reduce impact on your joints while developing more strength in your glutes, Broadhag says.
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3. Turn Off the Tube
Your smartphone will pump you up while using far less energy, Broadhag says. (TVs on cardio machines use about 40 to 50 watts of power.) Plus, 2016 research shows that when you position your head to see the TV screen, you throw off your running mechanics, potentially upping your risk of sidelining injury.
4. Pick Up Weights
If you want to avoid the cardio-machine conundrum altogether, stick with strength training. Unlike slogging away on the treadmill, free-weight workouts require zero electricity and may offer mind-body benefits: Not only do they help build metabolism-boosting muscle mass, but a study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that strength training leads to a longer-lasting drop in blood pressure than aerobic exercise does. It’s also linked with a greater spike in body image.
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5. Skip the Water Fountain
Or at least don’t drink straight out of it; a lot of the water misses your mouth for the drain, Broadhag says. Bring a reuseable water bottle to the gym and you’ll prevent wasting water—and time trekking to the fountain between sets.
6. Towel Off
Those disposable clean-your-equipment wipes are wasteful, but their formulas aren’t made to last long—so reusing isn’t a viable option. Instead, place a towel (ideally with writing on one side) down on any benches you use to keep the sweat away from you. After all, sweat may be gross, but it won’t make you sick, says Melinda Ring, M.D., with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
7. Be an Active Commuter
How you get to the gym matters. Driving a mile to and from the gym just three days per week will release more than 300 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions into the environment per year. Meanwhile, biking it will burn roughly 28,400 calories per year. (That’s the equivalent of about 8 pounds lost—even before you enter the gym.)