I have used a home gym off and on over the years, with my modern home gym being launched on January 1st, 2023. I nicknamed it ‘The Young Family Gym For Middle-Aged Muscles’ which fans of ‘The Office’ may recognize as a spoof on The Dwight Schrute Gym For Muscles. I find that nicknaming your home gym makes it a bit more fun.
Having a home gym comes with several benefits. Below are a handful to consider. If you are looking for workouts that you can do at home, with or without equipment, check out some of the recent articles on this website in the ‘cardio‘ and ‘weightlifting‘ categories.
No Commute
A major fitness hurdle for people living busy lives that includes a career and/or raising kids is driving to a gym after a long day of work and/or family activities. It may sound like a simple thing, but anyone who has lived this scenario knows how hard it can be to get motivated to travel to the gym when they are tired and burned out. One of the main benefits of having a home gym is it eliminates this mental and logistical hurdle. Instead of traveling from your home to the ‘regular’ gym you only have to travel from your couch to your home gym.
You Pick The Background Music
I use both a home gym and a ‘regular’ gym, and while I love my regular gym, the one critique I have is that the background music they play there is not my cup of tea. To be fair, I am middle-aged, and I recognize that my 80s and 90s music is probably not what most people want to hear while they are working out. However, it is what I want to hear while I am working out, and in my home gym, I get to decide what music to play. I can obviously put on headphones at the regular gym and listen to what I want, but I am not a fan of wearing headphones while I work out, and my home gym has a distinct advantage over the regular gym from the music perspective.
No Waiting For Equipment
One of my biggest gym pet peeves is having to needlessly wait for equipment to free up that I want to use. I don’t mind if someone is working through their sets and I have no problem finding something else to do while they finish up. But there are instances when someone ties up a piece of equipment for a seemingly endless duration of time. They aren’t actually doing sets. Instead, they are doomscrolling on their phone, taking a phone call, or chit-chatting with someone else at the gym. This never happens with a home gym. Additionally, you never have to worry with a home gym about someone not wiping down equipment after they use it 😉
Always Open
Whereas most ‘regular’ gyms have set hours and are sometimes closed on holidays, your home gym is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can fit your workouts around your schedule rather than fitting your workouts around the gym’s schedule. This is a major reason why I maintain a home gym even though I have a gym membership. Even if my regular gym is closed for whatever reason, I still can get a workout session in at home and never have to miss a day.
Privacy
I don’t personally mind working out in front of other people because I have very little shame, for better or worse. However, that is not the case for some people. Being self-conscious while working out is something that many people struggle with for one reason or another, and it is an understandable thing. As I often point out to people, few things will make you feel more self-conscious than doing glute-based exercises in front of a room full of strangers. A home gym gives you ultimate privacy, which is a priceless benefit for many people.
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