No gym fees, no fancy equipment: it’s the skint bouncer’s guide to fitness!

Forget treadmills, rowing machines and air-conditioned exercise suites: you can get in shape with a staircase, a chair and fridge. Take it from a man who can’t afford to throw money around

Even a basic gym membership in Britain can easily cost you £30 a month or more. This means it’s likely to be one of the first things to get binned if you’re on a low wage during this cost of living crisis. In my job as a licensed bouncer and security guard, I earn £11.76 an hour. Even if I work my contracted 48 hours a week plus all the overtime I can grab, and door work on the side, I’ve got as much chance of signing up to KX Life Chelsea’s £615 per month membership, which includes a wellness assessment and access to the spa, as I do of getting handcuffed to a ghost.

But I also can’t afford to be lazy: my job needs me to have a basic level of fitness. Along with my shift mates, I’m a first aider and emergency responder as well as just a human roadblock. I need to be able to sprint, restrain people, carry cones, stand upright for hours, and sometimes jump up to catch an escaped 18th birthday balloon. Away from work, I also need to be confident my heart won’t pop when I open my notifications and see the gas bill has shot up from £25 a month to £143.