[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLni8Zl6TeM&hl=en&fs=1]

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View of London from Hampstead Heath - cheaper than a can of beans

Chatting over our recession specials today (beans on toast, can of soup, free fruit from bowl), we were wondering about what you can do in London for free beyond limted access to museums and watching people at the bus stop.

We Googlised it and who knew? There’s a whole world of free music, free art, free comedy, free lectures, free films, free sports…even free knitting circles. We need a free nap just thinking about it.

Check out some of these cheaper than chips things to do:

London Is Free

Top 10 Free Things to Do in London

Time Out’s Free London

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Eat one too many turkeys over Christmas? So did we. Sick of hearing the words ‘detox’, ‘resolution’ and ‘move it fatso’? So are we.

That’s why it’s handy to have a client like LA Fitness.    

Last week, we teamed up with Celebrity Fit Club instructor Harvey Walden IV to launch a new 40-minute workout for LA Fitness gyms across the UK. Instead of spending lunch sifting through spam, a handful of Londoners put the ex-marine’s moves to the test during a military-style boot camp in the West End’s Golden Square. 

Designed to take participants back to basics with simple exercises and routines, the new workout can burn up to 500 calories–which can do wonders to eliminate the guilt of those 10 mince pies you scoffed during the Queen’s speech.

Here’s a sample of the workout. DO try this at home…

Warm-up

March/jog on the spot for 1 minute
Straddle jumps 1 minute
Steam engines 1 minute (Stand hands behind ears, bring left knee up infront to chest height and twist your right elbow down and across to touch left knee. Repeat on the right)

Workout

Burpee press x 10 (Start in a press-up position, perform one press up then bring the knees up to the chest. Jump up in the air, arms overhead then on landing crouch down and move the legs back to the press up position again. Repeat.)
Gun drills x 10 (Do a forward lunge then spring up, changing legs and dropping back to a lunge position in one dynamic move)
Hand to toe ab crunch x 10 (Lie down, feet and legs up and vertical. With hands forward, crunch up towards toes as far as you can)
Repeat routine as fitness improves
Stretch to finish

There now. You’re beginning to look more like Cheryl Cole / David Beckham already.

Get more info on LA Fitness gyms and the new workout at www.lafitness.co.uk.

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OK, by now it’s 359 days. But who’s counting.

Despite economic dominoes, an onslaught of winter vomiting disease (wash your hands, people!), and other myriad woes plaguing our nation, we’re feeling pretty optimistic about 2009. We’ve successfully surpassed the most stressful day of the year, so things are looking up already.

The Workhouse Diaries blog is going to be dedicated to what gets us buzzing here at Splendid. From compelling voices to new music talent to emerging media to clever ideas to things that make us laugh to cultural events around the world to what’s happening down the road, you’ll find a little bit of everything — and hopefully, a lot of inspiration. (You probably won’t find many lengthy cerebral commentaries, but we can point you in the right direction if that’s what you’re after.)

So, here goes diary entry numero uno: Music. It’s what we eat / sleep / breathe. In 2008, we worked with mammoth music talent, including the world’s biggest DJ (Tiesto), some hot producers (Mark Ronson and Pharrell Williams) and some legends (Grandmaster Flash, Guitar Shorty, Duran Duran). Inspired by music’s past and present, we decided to invest in music’s future — kids who rock.

Instead of lining your recycling bin, we spent our Chrismas card budget on some brand spanking new equipment for Haringey Shed, a charity that provides music and theatre workshops for children and young people with learning disabilities in London.

Thanks very much to Youth Music, UK’s largest children’s music charity, for hooking us up. We’ll be sure to blog about Haringey Shed’s progress. (Fingers crossed someday they’ll need a cracking communications agency to launch their first single.)

Happy New Year, all.

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