by Amber Hilton

Created on: June 07, 2009

Everyone is looking for ways to trim the budget these days, and monthly gym memberships are often one of the first things to go. While gyms do offer a wide range of equipment, classes and experts to help you reach your fitness or weight loss goals, it is true that they can be costly and often inconvenient.

However, just because you can't afford your monthly gym dues doesn't mean that you have to trade in your active lifestyle for that of a couch potato. Don't despair my friend. For very little cost you can work out in the comfort of your own home and on your own time with the help of workout videos. You might laugh off this suggestion if your last encounter with a workout video included you watching your mother "Sweatin' to the Oldies". Workout videos have come a long way in recent years and are now a great tool to use to stay fit and active. They have graduated from video cassette tapes and leg warmers to DVDs, BlueRays and streaming video on the Web.

While workout videos offer an amazing and convenient way to stay in shape, they do have one drawback - you can only do one video so many times before you become bored and stop seeing the same calorie-burning results. Because of this, it is best to build up a collection so that you can change things up weekly or even daily to keep your workouts interesting and challenging. Therefore, you can see the importance of obtaining free or inexpensive videos if you want to keep your workouts both varied and budget-friendly.

Depending on your individual situation, you can obtain free or inexpensive workout videos by a variety of different means. Most (but not all) require at least some access to the Internet or a cable connection.

1. On-Demand. If you area cable subscriber, you should have access to what many cable companies refer to as "On-Demand" (Comcast is one option). From the On-Demand menu, you should be able to access a variety of free fitness videos from the comfort of your own home. Often, they are shorter videos (10-30 minutes), but they can be combined for longer workouts and offer you a chance to test-out videos before you buy. They offer popular workouts like Tae-bo, Carmen Electra's Strip-Aerobics and workouts with the trainers from the popular reality TV show The Biggest Loser.

2. Fitness websites. Many fitness websites, such as those created by Shape and Self magazines offer free fitness videos that can be watched on your computer (how well this works will depend on the size and placement of your computer

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