Home gym or commercial gym?

Who use what here?

Personally I'm a home gym user, used to use commercial gyms for years and then I decided it was time to start building one at home.

I think it's great, no queuing or switching between sets, supersets without needing to worry someone pinching your weights.

Just wish I had room for a cable machine, oh well! can't win em all eh!
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Replies

  • JustMissTracy
    JustMissTracy Posts: 6,339 Member
    I have a home gym too, <3 it, but we're pretty crushed in the basement, so I think my toy buying days are done for now! I have:

    my beloved treadmill, my first real "toy"
    elliptical/recumbent bike
    Various free weights
    Various size kettlebells
    Weighted jump ropes
    bands (never use them, I think my legs are too short!)
    dozens of videos/DVD's

  • IAmThunderHawk
    IAmThunderHawk Posts: 231 Member
    My next move will be to a place that has a garage and I will kit that out properly.
  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,262 Member
    edited July 2016
    I have a home gym but also go to a recent center from time to time.

    I like the home gym for the reasons you mentioned. Something I don't have is any mirrors. Once in awhile I want to try something new and thing a mirror for a former check would be nice. My gym is in the basement, though, and I'd have to move my equipment to less optimal spots in order to clear a wall for the mirror. Right now I've got it all set up to where the slightly unlevel floor isn't a problem :dizzy:

    I have a cheap cable machine. It's good for lat pulldowns and face pulls (if I sit on the floor) and cable rows. I can't do pull throughs with it because the lower cable isn't smooth enough at lower weights. And the weight increments when using the lower cable are not great. For example, I use it for rows and it goes from 78 to 105 pounds with one plate, which is a very big increase and makes for some creative set/reps combos.
  • IAmThunderHawk
    IAmThunderHawk Posts: 231 Member
    jemhh wrote: »
    I have a home gym but also go to a recent center from time to time.

    I like the home gym for the reasons you mentioned. Something I don't have is any mirrors. Once in awhile I want to try something new and thing a mirror for a former check would be nice.

    Mirrors is a good solid reason to us a commercial gym
  • julie_broadhead
    julie_broadhead Posts: 178 Member
    I use my home gym right now:-) I have a squat rack, bench, oly plates, fractal plates, oly bar, 15 and 25lb kettle bells, some Dumbbells, and a plyo bench. I love the flexibility I have with my home gym. I miss the programing and coaching I received at the Crossfit gym and at the strength and conditioning facility I went to before I had my baby.
  • RainaProske
    RainaProske Posts: 636 Member
    I have a few things around here I could use as a home gym, but I haven't put any real money into it. Furthermore, all of it is in the basement, and it's unfinished and unpleasant. We have a couple only occasionally used guest rooms, but neither have ceilings high enough to use as a gym. Disappointing.

    Not far away, however, is a gym that is really very nice, and I need to start using it. It's free to senior citizens. I have no excuse, except that I won't let myself drive until I get surgery on my cataracts.

    I need to do something!
  • DresdenSinn
    DresdenSinn Posts: 665 Member
    edited July 2016
    I go to a "commercial" gym but it's only commercial in the sense you pay for the privilege, member's only, 24hr access, but it's nothing posh or fancy...you can grunt, scream, holler, fart...whatever you want and not get kicked out ; )

    At home I have 2 "loadable" dumbbells I can load up to make #77's and a stability ball. I probably work out as much if not more at home as I do the gym albeit the home workouts are shorter in duration.
  • bketchum1981
    bketchum1981 Posts: 130 Member
    Group fitness at a local studio. Very small but the people there are the greatest in the world!!

    I did a lot of stuff at home before I found this place. I find that group fitness is not only effective, it pushes me beyond where I ever thought I would be!

    Love it!
  • mlcollins89
    mlcollins89 Posts: 87 Member
    I pay a membership to a "commercial" gym that I like. I find I workout best when I have others around me and treat my workouts as a job. I have a small gym in my condo (very similar to a hotel hym, quite cramped) that I'll use once in a while but I tend to not push myself as hard. At the commercial gym, I like the peer pressure of someone else possibly judging me. Keeps
    Me on track (that sounds terrible! Lol)
  • Willbenchforcupcakes
    Willbenchforcupcakes Posts: 4,955 Member
    Private gym. Competition grade equipment, no mirrors, and awesome teammates. The only thing it's missing is being convenient to the rest of my life, but that doesn't stop me from showing up 5 days a week to train, and every other powerlifting gym is even less convenient for me. I don't think I could even behave in a commercial gym - it is nothing for me to take up a rack for 2+ hours, and it's simply not a deal at my gym.
  • CipherZero
    CipherZero Posts: 1,418 Member
    Home gym all the way. Plates, Rogue rack with safeties, bench, platform, and a pair of bars. Only downside is the purchase price, but that gets made up by not paying gym fees, travel time and costs, and the ability to spend two hours in a squat rack if the mood strikes.
  • pdxhak
    pdxhak Posts: 383 Member
    Wish I had the space for a home gym. Maybe with the next house. Until then it is a commercial gym.
  • heatherheyns
    heatherheyns Posts: 144 Member
    I use a commercial gym and also a rock climbing gym. I could never afford the amount or quality of equipment that the gyms have, and I enjoy group classes. Lastly, I like child care so I can work out in peace, so commercial gyms work well for me
  • AMS58
    AMS58 Posts: 183 Member
    I use a commercial gym, I love to socialise there. I do have a few items at home, treadmill and weights for those days I don't really want to go out. I really don't have the room for a home gym.
  • DresdenSinn
    DresdenSinn Posts: 665 Member
    AMS58 wrote: »
    I use a commercial gym, I love to socialise there.

    Oh no I hope your not one of "those" people. You know the type, like a guy at my gym...he likes to brag about his 3 hour workouts...when it's actually an hour working his body and 2 hours working his mouth!
  • kronin23
    kronin23 Posts: 59 Member
    I have home gym
  • Domilg23
    Domilg23 Posts: 44 Member
    both
  • IAmThunderHawk
    IAmThunderHawk Posts: 231 Member
    Group fitness at a local studio. Very small but the people there are the greatest in the world!!

    I did a lot of stuff at home before I found this place. I find that group fitness is not only effective, it pushes me beyond where I ever thought I would be!

    Love it!

    Classes are brilliant for that, my house mate uses classes. It's the only way he'll be motivated. He's tried using our home gym and he just doesn't have the motivation for it.
  • sgt1372
    sgt1372 Posts: 3,971 Member
    I have a very comprehensive homegym and have no need to go to a commercial gym any longer. IMO the $ saved on gym fees was much better spent building my home gym.
  • dlm7507
    dlm7507 Posts: 237 Member
    edited July 2016
    It's not as much the cost of a gym for me as the time wasted by others at a gym and the commute time. Training at home is more efficient. I'm not into machines although I do have a dreadmill. I like outdoor training but when it's over 110 outside AC is a good thing.