Do you really need the gym to achieve to your goal?

Jaxster92708

In my case, I DO need a gym! The gym is where I go to get away from the bothersome people in my life. When I'm there, I am always inspired by the many people around me who are also busting their arses to reach their goals, whatever they may be.

^^^This! I took a break from the gym for about a year and did DVDs at home. Lost a lot of strength, and while I do have some weights at home, I do not have (and do not have the means or space to get) a power rack, Olympic barbell, and weight plates for home.

So, my goal being to build strength, back to the gym I went and am loving every minute.

Do I need the gym to achieve my goal? For building strength, yes. For losing weight? No-to do that I have to eat less.

Thanks to the OP for posting this: Some very lively discussion indeed!

Jackie

mylove0mylife

I enjoy my walks with my co-workers outside for lunch, but...for me, the gym may be a necessary evil. I agree that we should enjoy life, but I live in Florida, and it's constantly either raining or humid here. I have arthritis, so humidity makes me hurt. Also, for me, when I have to go by myself I feel safer being in a gym, then outdoors by myself in the dark (morning/evening times again).

The gym also offers weight machines that I don't have access too, though I'm sure I can do all those exercises some how at home, it's more convient to go somewhere that has it all set up already.

That being said, I still wouldn't give up my 30 minute walks around the lake by my office with my co-worker. They're relaxing.

Yogi_Carl

I dont need a gym to acheive my goal. I have a fantastic yoga class I go to twice a week where the teachers and friends I meet there are just lovely. It's one of the few places that I as a fifty plus year old am accepted as an equal by people half my age and that does wonders for my self esteem.

I hate the gym because they are usually over subscribed and you spend more time cooling down while you wait for a machine or even free weights while the gym bums hog everything.

I hve an allotment garden which keeps me fit, yoga of course and I am fortunate to live near the sea where I can swim wild. I also cycle to work and I have just started 30 Day Shred which I do at home instead of raiding the fridge at night.

So no, I don't need a gym but I respect those who do. Each to their own.

misskerouac

The gym is a must for me.

Like others have said, I walk a lot, my eating is quite healthy, but it's not like i am moving furniture everyday or lifting heavy boxes. I work as an accounting clerk. I go to the gym and for an hour I push as hard as I can and get stronger and stronger.

AlsDonkBoxSquat

I don't need to go to a gym, but I don't have the space or money for an at home weight room. I've been anorexic and know that I can be skinny without exercise, but I want to look good naked and be healthy so I do cardio, lift weights (both heavy and endurance), and I eat. That's just me. I enjoy the strength it gives me, I enjoy the results. I listen to music and enjoy that. I banter with other members. If I didn't like the gym I'd have to figure out a way to convert my garage.

kenazfehu

I'm on again/off again about the gym. They have more equipment than I have at home, so I like that. Plus I can watch what personal trainers are showing other clients and try the techniques out for myself.

Right now I'm off the gym. I have a lot of work planned to get my flower beds rehabbed (too many weeds; poor soil) and don't want to give up any hours that I could be gardening to go to the gym.

I'm sure I'll get tired of the limitations of working out at home at some point (dead of winter maybe) and re-join. We'll see.

hughtwalker

And to add to this, the OP is full of falsehood and fail.

I think that is a little harsh, isn't it?

hughtwalker

I enjoy my walks with my co-workers outside for lunch, but...for me, the gym may be a necessary evil. I agree that we should enjoy life, but I live in Florida, and it's constantly either raining or humid here. I have arthritis, so humidity makes me hurt. Also, for me, when I have to go by myself I feel safer being in a gym, then outdoors by myself in the dark (morning/evening times again).

The gym also offers weight machines that I don't have access too, though I'm sure I can do all those exercises some how at home, it's more convient to go somewhere that has it all set up already.

That being said, I still wouldn't give up my 30 minute walks around the lake by my office with my co-worker. They're relaxing.

It rains in Florida? <gasp>

pinkraynedropjacki

I've done great without stepping foot in a gym once. I have all the tools I need at home. I don't have a treadmill, weight machine, elliptical. I have 4 kettlebells of different weights, resistance bands, kinetic bands (google them), Pilates O ring, foam roller, medicine ball, step to do all kinds of work on, fitness ball, workout mat, balance board, 3 sets of hand weights of varying weight, leg weights, zumba dvds, youtube videos to go along with every item I have & them most important thing..... RUNNERS.

We all use the items & it's become a godsend

Ella_Bee

For me I do need the gym, but I think that's because it's all I know. I've had room mates who are bodybuilders & trained with them (that was 5+ yrs ago). But I think it's great that there are people who don't need gyms to get fit & healthy bodies.

FemininGuns

For me - I need the gym. No way I can change my body's appearance by just doing cardio. Sure I'll lose fat, but will NEVER build the muscle I want to change the way my body looks... Without the gym I still burn calories, but never do I burn as long as I do when I pump iron. BUT, I love pumping iron Not everyone does. I love the gym, it motivates me!!!

wifealiciousness

Yes yes and yes! I know so many people who live these weird sedentary lives where they sit in a car for the 4-5 mile journey to work, 1 mile to the shops in the car, sit on their arses all day then drive to the gym in the evening. It makes no sense!

I love doing stuff outside- walking, cycling, gardening etc.The world is my gym.

I often cycle past a gym in my local area, and I'm always whizzing past with a grin on my face- looking in on a sweatbox of pissed-off looking people trudging away on a treadmill! :-)

BarbaraC47

I am gonna join a gym for the first time in my life.... I'm fast approaching 65 and have no idea what exercises to do at home to help me firm up - I think a gym will enable me to exercise the right way for me - I'm still hugely overweight and at my age I need to focus on doing effective exercise rather that any exercise. I walk quite a lot but I want to do more....

xchinad0ll

I like working out at home because when im burning really bad i can scream as loud as i want lol i lost all my weight running and workout videos!

wifealiciousness

the op assumes alot.

1) that people have the time to go hiking walking with friend etc
2) that people don't do this already & also go to the gym
3) that they live in an area with the environment available to walk alone or go hiking, climbing
4) that everyone is able to & has friends available to drop everything & go walk for hours on end.
5) that everyone is free of responsibility to be able to spend hours walking/chatting with friends whilst out exercising in nature rather than "showing off" at the gym

I personally use the gym becuase I don't feel I push myself enough doing dvds at home & sadly, unlike the lucky op, don't have numerous hours to get such great exercise in nature.

I use the gym as I can go once I'm in from work, put my son to bed & dealt with the things that need doing for next day before heading off the the gym at 8.30pm. At the weekend I take my son to a kids active classes at my gym to give me an hour after cleaning & laundry & before food shopping & various other activities/jobs/chores that need doing to compliment my calorie controlled diet. And yes, there is results from using the gym, as there would be with any form of exercise, mine if mostly about toning & cardio. Other people like to build muscle.

Exercise, as it should be, is entirely up to the individual why & how they do it. And not the place of others to be snide about it.

1) that people have the time to go hiking walking with friend etc
(who needs "time" to go walking etc? It takes no longer than going to the gym- less even as your workout starts from when you leave the house!)

2) that people don't do this already & also go to the gym
(No assumption made that people can't do both)

3) that they live in an area with the environment available to walk alone or go hiking, climbing
(All environments are suitable for walking. Walking around the housing estate I live on is exercise the same as walking through fields)

4) that everyone is able to & has friends available to drop everything & go walk for hours on end.
(You don't need to walk with friends! It's the classic excuse of not doing exercise as they don't have anyone to do it with. Stick a podcast on and enjoy your own company. Walking for hours on end? Where has this idea come from? An hour in a Gym or an hour walking is the same hour!)

5) that everyone is free of responsibility to be able to spend hours walking/chatting with friends whilst out exercising in nature rather than "showing off" at the gym
(You can still have responsibility and choose to walk (with or without friends) with children (buggies, papouse, carrying them, them walking with you. You can walk at lunchtime if you have a busy job, during your breaks, sometimes to and from work.....)


I think the point was that gyms aren't for anyone. It seems that people are too good at making excuses not to exercise and some people feel like a Gym in the answer. When you think about it, the gym isn't really the aswer!

CassieReannan

No, I have never stepped foot in a gym and have lost almost 20kg.

hughtwalker

-another reason why I need the gym is that I know there will be someone there to call the ambulance!

ashumeow

i don't need a gym... i am a self-trainer.. also i already have some sports equipments in my home itself....and i have some good knowledge on fitness, nutrition and diet. =P

needernt

I am a swimmer and swimming shape me up.
But gym has other benefits.

SueGlazier

I have just posted this up on my blog and thought it would probably make a better topic, I'm sure it will stir up some friendly banter as many people will have different views! Here we go!!

Do you really need the gym to achieve to your goal?
Yes I have asked myself the question and NO I don't need the bloody gym. Why? Because it's crap that's why! It's the dullest, ugliest waste of space I have ever seen, well apart from a few ex boyfriends! ;-)

Unless you want to look like Johnny Bravo then why bother? Why would I want to pay money to do something I hate? I have enough chores at home! I don't want to stroll down to the local gym on my days off work, feeling worse than what I do when I'm going to work and pay for the privilege!

Just be active and live life! Go for a nice walk in the park or swimming with the kids! Drive over to your nearest seaside and swim in the sea. Go play sports games with your friends and go hiking with a picnic at national parks. Ride your bike to the city and have lots of sex with the person you love and just be happy!

Lets face it, I'm fat because I get cabs instead of the bus, I get the bus instead of walking and I eat takeaways more often than not because I finish late from work and I can't be arsed cooking! The reasons above are why I'm fat, it's not because I don't go to the gym, it's because I'm not active! The gym is for people who want to keep fit, not get fit! That's why they keep going back because that's what they like to do it's a hobby! Let's not kid ourselves here ladies and gentlement if I liked to go to the gym and bust my gut I wouldn't be squeezing into size 18 jeans I'd be on the cat walk next to Naomi Campbell! That's just it we all wouldn't be fat if we actually loved going to the gym because we'd be there flexing our muscles to the opposite sex instead of pretending we like it!

I had an amazing walk with my best friend today, we talked about life, love and our futures, it was great! We walked 9 miles and even more amazingly I burnt over 1000 calories! We walked to a small town outside of the city, found a local pub and had a diet coke and then walked back, it was great and I can't wait until tomorrow and we can do it all over again! I'll reach my weight loss goal enjoying my life thanks not killing my spirit in the process, ack!

That is all /takes a bow ;-)

What a brilliant post. Thanks for this and I totally agree. I attended a very small. cheap, local gym in a village I lived near many years ago and it was not doing anything at all to aid weight loss. Speaking to the gym owner he said to me that if I wanted to lose weight I should be concentrating more on calorific intake rather than burn. I admired his honesty as that meant that he was going to lose my custom (albeit only £3 per session at the time). I then concentrated on what I put into my body instead and finally the weight started shifting. I now have an active job so that is my current exercise which is accounted for in my weekly TDEE so I stick to approx 20% below my TDEE on a daily basis and the weight is shifting again now. No extra workouts or having to guesstimate how many calories I have burned in a day, just eat up to approximately a certain amount of calories and enjoy it.

stevewynjones

my Gym.

No fee...

No stress...

open 24/7/365

Hibbba

well said, and i totally 100% agree with you! I hate gym and i really need to lose this fat weight. I should start being more active and enjoy life thanks for the motivation post

sarahslim100

i go to the gym as its too humid in summer to walk in the tropics. excersize helps my mood

LadyLuckAJ

For me, i completely agree. I have NEVER been motivated by a gym. Too many years of paying for a membership that i ardly/if ever used. But i have no excuse but to set my alarm and get up in the morning and go to my home gym, turn on my dvds and get a great workout in before work. Another great routine i love is walking around a mall or shopping center. good cardio :-)

I know for some, the home thing is impossible for them and the gym is the only thing they can do, but me...Nope i don't need it!

hesn92

I like the gym. I either need the gym or a gym at my home which I don't have the space for.. so yes, I need the gym to achieve my goals.

beccyleigh

the op assumes alot.

1) that people have the time to go hiking walking with friend etc
2) that people don't do this already & also go to the gym
3) that they live in an area with the environment available to walk alone or go hiking, climbing
4) that everyone is able to & has friends available to drop everything & go walk for hours on end.
5) that everyone is free of responsibility to be able to spend hours walking/chatting with friends whilst out exercising in nature rather than "showing off" at the gym

I personally use the gym becuase I don't feel I push myself enough doing dvds at home & sadly, unlike the lucky op, don't have numerous hours to get such great exercise in nature.

I use the gym as I can go once I'm in from work, put my son to bed & dealt with the things that need doing for next day before heading off the the gym at 8.30pm. At the weekend I take my son to a kids active classes at my gym to give me an hour after cleaning & laundry & before food shopping & various other activities/jobs/chores that need doing to compliment my calorie controlled diet. And yes, there is results from using the gym, as there would be with any form of exercise, mine if mostly about toning & cardio. Other people like to build muscle.

Exercise, as it should be, is entirely up to the individual why & how they do it. And not the place of others to be snide about it.

1) that people have the time to go hiking walking with friend etc
(who needs "time" to go walking etc? It takes no longer than going to the gym- less even as your workout starts from when you leave the house!)
________________________________________________________________________________________
The op was making it out that she spends hours out in nature, many of us do not have hours & a gym offers an efficient way to get a workout in. 1hr walking does not have the same effect as 1 hr at the gym, at the gym in 1hr I can burn over 1000 calories & incorporate weight training, resistance & cardio. walking for 1 hr will give me a low level of cardio with around 400 calories burned & nothing else. _________________________________________________________________________________________
2) that people don't do this already & also go to the gym
(No assumption made that people can't do both)

___________________________________________________________________________________________yes, there was, otherwise why ask why people go to the gym & goon about how only going for walks & hikes is much better?
___________________________________________________________________________________________
3) that they live in an area with the environment available to walk alone or go hiking, climbing
(All environments are suitable for walking. Walking around the housing estate I live on is exercise the same as walking through fields)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
Yawn. Good for you that you feel safe enough to walk around but It isn't very safe for a woman to walk alone in my area late at night, which is the only time after work that I have. I would rather go to the gym, be safe, get a good workout in & not potentially get mugged, raped, stabbed or even killed. But clearly you know best!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
4) that everyone is able to & has friends available to drop everything & go walk for hours on end.
(You don't need to walk with friends! It's the classic excuse of not doing exercise as they don't have anyone to do it with. Stick a podcast on and enjoy your own company. Walking for hours on end? Where has this idea come from? An hour in a Gym or an hour walking is the same hour!)
___________________________________________________________________________________________
See above about walking alone late at night. but the op mentioned getting together with friends & walking for hours & hours enjoying nature. My friends all work, have small kids & the last thing they would want to do is go walking at 9 or 10pm cause they are usually asleep from a busy day, not an excuse just a FACT. But if it makes you feel better to think these people you do not know are making excuses, then go ahead.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
5) that everyone is free of responsibility to be able to spend hours walking/chatting with friends whilst out exercising in nature rather than "showing off" at the gym
(You can still have responsibility and choose to walk (with or without friends) with children (buggies, papouse, carrying them, them walking with you. You can walk at lunchtime if you have a busy job, during your breaks, sometimes to and from work.....)
_________________________________________________________________________________________
gawd, this is exhausting. read my prior answers as to safety & efficiency. But why would I drag my kid out at 9 or 10pm to go walking in a dangerous environment? To suit YOUR view on what people should or shouldn't do for exercise? I would much rather go to the gym after he is tucked up in bed & do an efficient workout in a safe environment that fits into my schedule & works so much better for my life.
__________________________________________________________________________________________

I think the point was that gyms aren't for anyone. It seems that people are too good at making excuses not to exercise and some people feel like a Gym in the answer. When you think about it, the gym isn't really the aswer!

How exactly is using a gym, making an excuse not to exercise? Anyone attending a gym regularly is clearly not making excuses not to exercise & are, in fact, exercising.

This need some people have to feel superior really does take on ridiculous proportions!. How YOU exercise & how I exercise are individual choices & one is not better than the other. Something to think about.

daphnemoon

What a crazy ridiculous thread. Sounds like a lot of people have chips on their shoulders about gym and I can't work out why.

Whilst an hour of walking might satisfy some people, it just wouldn't be enough for me, nothing gets the adrenaline going like a high-impact aerobics class with the motivation of an instructor and the energy off the group.

If that's not for you then so what? I can't imagine why I'd start a thread bashing people who go walking in the countryside.

Jeez.