Commute, smells, grunts, stares, dirt…all things found working out at a public gym. I know from experience that gyms can be a little intimidating, not to mention disgusting. In fact, I have actually gone through 5 gyms in Naples trying to find the least disgusting one to join. If I had the space for a squat rack at home, I would do it 100%, but we unfortunately don’t right now. Most of you would actually prefer to workout at home, which is great! Maybe you hate the gym, maybe you don’t have one near by…whatever it is, working out at home is perfect. If you have been around for awhile, you know I am a huge advocate and all my programs are home based. In case you need a reminder, or a looking into starting a healthy lifestyle, here are 8 reasons it’s better to workout at home.
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Before we dive it, let’s get one thing clear….exercise is exercise. It doesn’t have to be pretty, perfect or scheduled. You just have to show up, and move your body. So if you are thinking you need a “gym” room in your house, or a bunch of fancy equipment, you’re wrong. All you need is a few staple pieces of equipment, a space big enough to fit your body, and a rockin’ playlist!
This is hands down the #1 reason it’s better. Unless your gym is across the street, it just takes time…which is valuable. So valuable that you cannot buy more of it.
So not only do you have to convince yourself to go workout, you have to also account for the time it takes to get there. Most people already don’t have too much time, so adding in drive time can actually be the difference between going or not. Because if we only have 20 minutes to workout by the time we account for driving there and driving home…most people aren’t going to go. So a main reason to workout at home is no commute time!
The average gym membership costs $35/month. So, that is a chunk of change you can save every year. But let’s also mention that a gym membership doesn’t get you anything but entrance in (and maybe classes if they have them). So you still have to spend time figuring out what to do at the gym, how to get nutrition on track, and just overall how to be healthy. Unfortunately, gyms are just a space you can use, but you first have to know what to do. Otherwise you are going to definitely waste that #35.
Gym intimidation is a real thing. Especially if you are just starting out on your journey and don’t really know what to do. You might just head to the cardio equipment because pressing “quick start” is pretty self explanatory, but that will only get you so far. You need to lift weights and change your routine if you want to see results – and this is what gets difficult in a big gym. People watching you and judging you because you are unsure. But it also leads to you spending time watching other people and trying to mimic them. Either way, it can be uncomfortable. But at home, you can do whatever you want. You can have a video playing that you watch, you have have music blasting, you can workout without anyone watching or judging you.
Stay at home moms, or just new moms in general, are usually pretty eager to get back into exercising…but that to do with the kids. You either have to find a gym that offers childcare (which let’s be honest, no one working in those rooms are qualified) or send your kid to daycare while you go workout. But this leads to more mom guilt of leaving your child to workout, as if you don’t already do next to nothing for yourself. A perk of working out at home is not having to deal with these things. You can just grab your equipment and workout during nap time, before they wake up, after they go to bed..or maybe even have them join in with you!
This can actually go both ways. When people are at the gym, they are usually people watching, talking, or sitting on their phone between sets. This leads to a lot of downtime, and wasted time, during your workout! At home, you don’t have that. But at home you do have the laundry, the dishes, the sweeping, the phone calls. So there can still be a few distractions…but really if you put your head down and get it done, it is a lot quicker than the distractions at the gym!
This is a major one. No. Pants. Workouts. But really, being able to workout in whatever you want is great! You could workout in your dang underwear if you wanted to! Hair a mess, no make-up, no pants…it’s perfect. Not to mention you don’t have to spend a bunch of money on cute workout clothes, because no one is ever going to see you! Unless you are like me and you wear them in public 24/7, too. Then I would suggest a cute outfit.
Gyms are full of equipment, and most of it just collects dust. Like, how many people actually use every single machine in there?! Anyways, working out at home allows you to use the basics, get creative, and for cheap! You only need a few staple pieces of equipment (like the ones in this blog post) and you are good to go. No time wasted staring at the “how to” on the gym equipment, and more time using things that actually work!
I am someone who works out in the morning, because if I don’t, I spend all day convincing myself I don’t need to. There are also other excuses that start to creep in when it comes to having to head to the gym…I don’t have much time, I forgot my clothes, the traffic is bad, it’s raining, it closes soon, etc. But working out from home eliminates all those. All you have to do is change clothes, and get to work. No more excuses!
Now that we have decided home workouts are best, let’s figure out what it is we are going to do…
There are so many different programs out there and most can either be modified for at home, or are already created for at home. So if I were you, just do a quick search for at home workouts. Youtube has a bunch, instagram etc. If your goal is to lose weight and move your body, you can’t go wrong. There is also this great program called the Endorphitness Accelerator (see what I did there, lol). 6 weeks of workouts that can all be done from home! I only run them a few times a year, so check out when the next one is!
There is also a program launching (or maybe it already has) called Endorphitness Collective. This is an exclusive membership for those wanting to get healthy and lose weight from home! Make sure you join my newsletter to get all the information when it becomes available!
The biggest takeaway from this needs to be…just move your body! Doing it at home makes it convenient and cheap – and doesn’t take away from the results aspect of things. I know a lot of people loathe the gym, or don’t even have one within driving distance. So instead of making excuses, make changes! Go buy some dumbbells, and set yourself a goal!
