Home workouts vs. the Gym

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Replies

  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
    Home


    Cons;

    No hot guys to watch live.


    I even have one of those at home!

    I actually belong to a free gym where said hot guy works. I only go to classes there when my schedule allows, as I don't even know where the after hours security kiosk is, and the security computer keeps losing my name. It is only eight miles away, but it takes at least 20 minutes with all the lights. It just seems like a waste most days. If they had a pool, I would probably feel differently.

    I never have an excuse to not be in my living room. It is just as easy to turn on the Wii, as the TV. Resistance bands can provide a great workout as long as you use the right ones for your strength level and they store better than weights.

    Definite con, my partner stubbed his toe on my dumbbells the other day when he went to turn on the computer.
  • 1brokegal44
    1brokegal44 Posts: 562 Member
    Both. I pay for the gym--motivation to go. And there's the competitive streak that comes out in the gym which makes me push myself harder. Home is more relaxed but I have dvds for specific training that my gym doesn't offer.
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    Exciting project - all best with that.

    Home Pros
    With just a pull-up bar you can strength train the whole body without any extra equipment or use bits of furniture around the house.
    I can take a bodyweight exercise routine with me anywhere: home, work, visiting family, travelling for work in hotel rooms etc.
    It is more fun in my opinion to see how you can make exercises more intense without using external equipment, weights etc.
    You could have completed your bodyweight exercises at work, leaving the evenings free.

    Home Cons
    Unless you are assertive enough, you could end up cancelling or breaking up your bodyweight session to do things for others. I am lucky as my home sessions are my own.

    Gym Pros
    Can't think of any - no, sorry - can't think of any.

    Gym Cons
    You have to set a whole evening apart for travel, changing clothes, working out, waiting for others to finish with equipment you need, showering, changing and going back home - by the time you have done all this you have no time for others, ot relaxation.
    Expense
    You can't take it with you if you need to travel
    Gyms and locker rooms stink


    As you can see - I am biased!
  • cuinboston2014
    cuinboston2014 Posts: 848 Member
    For a few years I was living with my parents and our basement had a pretty nice home gym. I'm also a big runner so I usually just worked out in the basement. I loved the convenience of it. I could workout at 11pm or when my daughter was sleeping or hanging out and everything was fine. I was still following any marathon training plans and keeping up with mileage and cross training. I was not, however lifting.

    Now I joined a gym where 3 days a week my only workout time there is 5:30am. But when I'm there, no matter what day or time, my workouts are longer and harder. Hey, I made the 7 minute drive there I'm using my time there as best as I can. I now lift more, workout longer, and have more space to do plyometrics. My gym is also super cheap.

    So- the pros of a home gym - convenience, cost (after everything is paid for of course), and you can be comfortable there (you don't even have to match for goodness sake!) which is especially important if you feel uncomfortable in your own skin.

    Cons - you can cut yourself short because you know the couch or your bed is so close!

    The gym itself - pros - more equipment, can be motivating to see other people working out and be in it "with you", you pay for it so you should maximize your benefits from it

    cons - it costs money and more time
  • hrussert
    hrussert Posts: 1
    I do both but really enjoy the flexiblity of working out at home plus it is free. I use fitnessblender.com to follow videos at home and they are just as intense and some times more intense than my workouts in the gym. It helps that I have the room and the equipment to work out at home and it probably wouldn't be as productive if I didn't do both. The gym is good because there are other people working out with you and it is more encouraging but working out at home is quicker and easier.
  • peachygreen
    peachygreen Posts: 4
    In my current life, working out at home is the only way I can work out. I have 2 young kids and work full time+ so the only time I have to work out is while they are taking their bath in the evening or when they are sleeping.

    Pros to working out at home - schedule flexibility, more time with the family, model healthy habits for my kids, not self conscious at home, can sing at the top of my lungs when working out without interferring with anyone else

    Cons to working out at home - limited equipment (I have an elipitical, a treadmill a few hand weights and the total gym so I have a lot to work with, but I can't do everything you could do at the gym). No free weights as I have no spotter and I am not comfortable with free weights without a trainer around to correct my form. No one to correct form. Must be self motivated

    I used to work in a company that had an awesome full service gym (cardio machines, weight machines, free weights, running track and morning,lunch and after work exercise classes) and I loved working out there. It was convient and I could get in a great workout at lunch because I never had to leave the building. It takes to long for me to drive from my office to the gym and back at lunch to get a good workout and shower in now.
  • Sugarhiccup03
    Sugarhiccup03 Posts: 88 Member
    I think I prob work out harder at home cuz I am more comfortable there, but the gym has more variety of equipment so that's good also. But home is alot less expensive and you can get the same results if you are diligent.

    This exactly.
  • Anthonydaman
    Anthonydaman Posts: 854 Member
    Working out at the gym is more motivating. Home exercise equip tends to gather dust. My mother-in-laws treadmill is now a place for her to hang her clothes...
  • jessmlugo
    jessmlugo Posts: 1
    Gym by far! At home it gets boring and I have way less motivation. The atmosphere is what it is all about when working out! Also doing the same routine like DVDs it so annoying! I have momorized P90x so I just do some of those moves at gym lol
  • HypersonicFitNess
    HypersonicFitNess Posts: 1,219 Member
    I've had gym memberships, but I currently have a home gym:

    Home Gym --

    Pros:
    No monthly cost
    You don't have to travel
    You can roll out of bed and start your workout
    You don't have to buy fancy sports wear (if your in your own house you can workout in your underwear if you like)
    All the machines are available all the time
    The "class" you want is always on your schedule
    You can workout any time; even if you only have 15 minutes
    I can listen to what ever music I want at whatever level I want
    I can watch whichever channel I want on the TV with the volume at the level I want w/out ear buds

    Cons:
    Start up cost
    If you do not have self discipline you may not workout
    You may not know how to do an exercise
    You don't have interaction with others
    No access to a personal trainer (this I do not have a problem with personally b/c my husband is certified trainer although retired)


    Gym --

    Pros:
    You may be more inclined to workout harder because people can SEE you
    You have access to a personal trainer
    You can interact with others
    More machine/weight options

    Cons:
    SmellyNasty people
    Can't get in a class/on a machine
    Naked people in the locker room
    You may be self concious
    You have to "dress" to go to they gym
    You have to (possibly) drive to go to the gym
    Stuck with ear buds and your iPod for music
    Stuck with whatever boring crap is being shown on the tv screens

    Like I mentioned I have gone to free gyms while my husband was military, I've had gym memberships, and for the last 7 or so years we've had our own home gym and we really love it. We have everything you could possibly need.
  • tenajh
    tenajh Posts: 208 Member
    Been doing my own research, I have physical afflictions and am just getting into strength training and with my history - it would be best to join a gym short term and get the knowledge base that the personal trainers have. I would also like to be able to swim and don't have a pool anywhere near my farm. For me is all about knowledge base and not re-injuring my healing body.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
    My pros for working out at home... no commute (felt like such a waste of time!), no wait, no monthly fees, no dress code or need to be clean before I exercise and get smelly again, no creepers, no locker room anxiety (a holdover from junior high), the ability to watch/listen to whatever I want, no worries that I'm making anyone else wait, able to multi-task (throw a load of clothes in a dryer between sets while lifting, counting walking the dog as exercise).

    The cons for working out at home... limited equipment. I have weights and I run outside, but I don't have a squat rack (but then again, neither did Planet Fitness!) or chin up bar. I'd like to see what kind of numbers I can do on weight machines now, to compare to what I used to do. Sometimes the weather is just too bad to run outside... like when there's blizzards or hurricanes. I still wouldnt' want to use a treadmill, but I sometimes miss an exercise bike, just not enough to buy one.

    But overall, I much prefer working out at home to the gym.
  • Moosiklaydy
    Moosiklaydy Posts: 37
    Working out at home can be too distracting because you can easy just quit early to go clean something or do laundry and such. The gym offers NO DISTRACTIONS.
  • NikkiSixGuns
    NikkiSixGuns Posts: 630 Member
    1) If I had to go to the gym to work out, I wouldn't.
    2) At home I never have to wait for a piece of equipment, don't worry about strangers' germs on the equipment I use, and there are no creepsters giving me looks (except my dog)
    3) The money I would spend on gym membership goes toward home equipment.
    4) I can work out any time I want. My house doesn't have hours.
    5) No commute.
    6) I work far harder at home than I do that the gym.
    7) I work out before work every day, and being able to shower in my own shower instead of the icky gym ones is a HUGE factor.
  • gfedex
    gfedex Posts: 226 Member
    Gym for me. I live in a large city in a small, cluttered home (my housemate's stuff, not mine!) It's freezing outside. I don't have an extensive group of friends and I work freelance, so some weeks it's 14-hour days, and other weeks, nothing at all. Going to the gym gets me out of the house when I might normally be inclined to sleep in, watch tv and do nothing.

    When it's nice out, I have no issue running outside (no treadmills for me), going for long walks and hooping in the park across the street. However, when I don't feel like going it alone, I attend a variety of classes at my gym- I'm there pretty much every day I'm not working.
  • Camille0502
    Camille0502 Posts: 311 Member
    I work out at home and prefer it. I have had gym memberships, though. I like a home workout because it is right there and I have no excuse. If I only have 30 minutes, I can still exercise. I also like it because only **I** have sweat on the equipment! Since I am female I like it that I have equipment for my size (weight plates in increments of 2.5 pounds instead of 10 pounds; 5 pound bar instead of 45 pounds, etc). I don't feel self conscious at home feeling like everyone is looking at me. I don't have to wait for any of the equipment and don't have to deal with people talking on their phones and hoarding equipment. No annoying "posers." Don't have to drive, don't have to park, Don't have to worry about the weather. If a person is motivated to work out at home, I think it is far superior. I have a great exercise DVD collection - so I have access to great instructors instead of so-so ones at a gym.
  • claritarejoice
    claritarejoice Posts: 461 Member
    My vote is for working out at home. To me it's more motivating because I can roll out of bed in my pajamas, work out and then get dressed for work - no excuses. When I was a member of a gym I had to dress, drive to the gym, find and pay for parking, walk from the lot to the gym . . . it took too long and it made me not go. We also have a small one-bedroom apartment and my husband and I make it work - a corner of our living room has the weight bench, bar, plates, balance ball, foam roll, etc, so lack of space is not a factor to me. Of course if I had a house I would have more equipment including an elliptical.
  • amysj303
    amysj303 Posts: 5,086 Member
    I have done home workouts and they are more convenient and affordable, also let crowded, don't have to worry about not getting a machine or what-have you.
    But now I work out almost exclusivley at the gym, which was necessary to lift heavy and I just prefer having that dedicated time and space to fitness.
    My gyms are close to where I work so they are not terribly inconvenient or crowded.
  • amyncrook
    amyncrook Posts: 14
    I have never had a gym membership and only worked out in a gym 3 times. I am a mother of 5. Getting to the gym is my major problem with 2 kids still at home. I can workout at home doing aerobics, lifting weights, and walking at nap time and not worry about getting the kids to child care at the gym. It is much cheaper as well. I like being able to workout whenever I want to. I would like to try more of a variety of machines and exercises. I think a personal trainer would be great as well!
  • bluebug2013
    bluebug2013 Posts: 8 Member
    I've worked out at home, in classes, in various sports clubs, in the local streets/park and at the gym over the years.

    Working out at home:
    1. More space restrictions
    2. Limited equipment - I have no cardio equipment as I know it would be a clothes horse most of the year
    3. Good for doing resistance exercises after working out i.e. running in the street
    4. Efficient timewise as no need to travel somewhere else and can exercise while simmering food
    5. Thanks to youtube and fitness DVDs I can have a variety of dance like, circuit training and body resistance exercises.


    Working out at the gym:
    1. Have to travel there so have to use a locker to store coat and valuables.
    2. Have to wait for others before using equipment
    3. Cannot have my own music choices playing in the room so have to use an MP3 player and fight with headphones
    4. More choice of weights and cardio equipment for example rowing machines
    5. I get bored even when I've used gyms where I know a lot of people as I simply don't like exercising staring at walls
    6. When I've had sports injuries in the past the range of equipment allowed me to exercise the parts of my body that wasn't injured with ease.
  • GLR87
    GLR87 Posts: 17 Member
    I think going to the gym pushes you to attend. You are paying so why not take advantage? Also there is plenty of "motivation" at the gym for both men and women to enjoy :wink: I think certain healthcare plans will also pay for a portion of , or all of your gym fees if you prove to them you go.
  • albertjanetsky
    albertjanetsky Posts: 2 Member
    the only sexy woman I see at home is my wife...
  • dave4d
    dave4d Posts: 1,155 Member

    With just a pull-up bar you can strength train the whole body without any extra equipment or use bits of furniture around the house.
    I can take a bodyweight exercise routine with me anywhere: home, work, visiting family, travelling for work in hotel rooms etc.
    It is more fun in my opinion to see how you can make exercises more intense without using external equipment, weights etc.
    You could have completed your bodyweight exercises at work, leaving the evenings free.


    I work at a plant that has beams, pipes, and rebar hanging all over the place. I am fortunate enough to have 2 pieces of rebar welded to a beam at the perfect height, and location for pull ups. We also have some hand rails that have been bent and are about the right distance for dips. The only problem is they are located in a respirator required area, so it makes it harder to breath while doing them. I will knock out a few pull ups, and dips when I'm able.

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