The gym has never been more popular, with men and women of all ages, not to mention all shapes and sizes, lifting weights or hitting the treadmill with reckless abandon. Discounted memberships and no-contract options put the local gym within most of our price ranges, but wouldn’t it be better to work out at home? Let’s take a look and compare the two.
Workouts take many forms, and not everyone who exercises does so with the same goal in mind. Some want to build muscle mass, others are more concerned with losing weight. The emphasis on cardiovascular exercise in many modern gyms gives us a clue as to their clientele’s priorities. Some gym users can be there for hours and never touch a dumbbell.
For others, exercising may be about increasing flexibility, recovering from injury, de-stressing, or increasing metabolism. There are also those who only seem to go to chat.
Paradoxically, the popularity of gym membership calls into question its effectiveness compared to working out at home, and there are any number of reasons why it’s best to leave your car in the garage and buy basic but comfortable workout clothes. . you don’t have to be ashamed because no one will ever see you with them.
To begin with is the journey. De-stressing can be a lot harder when you’ve just had the dubious pleasure of sitting in traffic on your way to training. When you get there, you may feel uncomfortable because you don’t know anyone, or you may know too many people, or the wrong people, and end up spending much of your valuable training time talking.
So, of course, it costs money, and if you’re overcrowded, you may not be able to use the equipment you want when you want it. That is, assuming the equipment is the type you need to achieve your training goals, since membership-issue gyms tend to use training equipment that is aesthetically pleasing rather than providing optimal functionality.
Finally, there’s the obligatory showoff, the prowess of which can serve to demoralize, thus diminishing your own experience in the gym and possibly your training as well, as you strive desperately to emulate or impress.
With imagination and a little research, most of what can be accomplished in the gym can also be done at home. Even many of the movements involving heavy weights that are designed for muscle growth can be replicated with bodyweight exercises like squats, lunges, planks, and pull-ups.
Home training allows you to train in the comfort and convenience of your own environment, without stress, hassle or distraction, while offering almost every option available at your local gym. With a little thought and a little research, all of your goals can be achieved outside of the gym, whether you’re training for muscle mass, weight loss, or recovery.
