What's the Value of a Home Gym?
Why a Home Gym?
Let me start by acknowledging that there are plenty of people out there who would benefit more from going to a public gym and paying a membership fee. You may be one of these people if you resonate with some of the following characteristics:
Social Butterfly Personality who is energized by being around people
You don’t enjoy gym training at all but don’t mind it if you get to socialize
Current living space is too small to have a dedicated space for training without feeling cramped
Living space is too hectic or your unable to separate yourself from home life demands when trying to train
You travel a lot and don’t get to spend regular time at home
Enjoy using big, fancy, expensive equipment
Enjoy (and actually use) the other amenities gyms and health clubs offer with memberships
Depending on your personality and circumstances a public space may suit your lifestyle better. But even if that’s you, don’t stop reading yet!
Now let me highlight the value of having a home gym:
Very accessible and convenient if you spend regular time at home (the equipment is available whenever you have time or want to use it)
You get to build the training environment you enjoy being in (including playing whatever music you like out loud)
You don’t have to share or wait on the availability of equipment during a session
Less distractions and social influences so you can focus on more efficient training
Ability to invite training partners over to enjoy socializing with people you like
Ability to move equipment outside for training on nice days or take packable items with you when traveling to still provide options
The foundational items listed offer a one-time investment with essentially life-long use if you don’t abuse the equipment (in this case, saving you money in the long-term).
Offers the ability to share the environment and your physical training values with your family (especially with your kids as they grow up).
I see a home gym as a huge value addition to my life because it makes my training easier to stick with, more enjoyable, more efficient, and as a result, more integrated into my lifestyle.
I believe it offers greater ability to train with a focus of measurable improvement (as opposed to having to adapt what you do or how tough you do it based on what's available).
The trade off with a home gym is that you may have to be patient with the accumulation of nice training equipment/tools that you want to use (depending on your budget). But it’s exciting when you get the next piece you’ve been wanting to use and it provides more of an appreciation for using that item.
If you can make the most of what you can afford initially and patiently budget for future items, it can actually be a fun process!
Making a Quick Case for Home Items Even With a Membership 🤯
Big Gym Membership
If you know you enjoy a public gym as your preferred training option that’s totally fine. What I would still encourage you to do, if you are determined to stick with a training program, is to at least invest into the five Tier 1 training items as a plan B option for when your routine is thrown off and the public gym is harder to fit into a particular day.
This will give you a faster and more accessible option to squeeze in whatever time you have for your training that day. If your budget and space allows you to include other items on Tier 2 or 3 that will only make your backup environment even more enjoyable and effective!
My brother-in-law also has a solid approach to this idea. He wanted his strength training to be more accessible and efficient but he loves playing basketball at the public gym. So along with his membership; he invested into a rack, barbell, plates, adjustable dumbbells, bench, and a couple other accessory items so that he can accomplish the progressive strength training that he values more consistently throughout his week.
By having both setups available to him he can enjoy being more social at the public gym when he wants to be and then can also count on his home gym for when he wants to lock in and focus on an efficient training session. Hey follows my Fit for Life Hybrid Athlete Training and his approach seems to be working very well for him over the past 3 years.
Small Gym Membership
If you like the team/family vibe of a smaller gym or value personal coaching at a private gym, deciding to also build a nice home gym space of your own will provide you with a great training environment the other days of the week.
Most of these types of gyms will have a certain number of days you are training with them each week. When you have a nice secondary option at home, you will be supported daily with environments that promote a physically healthy lifestyle!
My hybrid training clients (working with me in-person and online) will come work with me in my gym 1-2x per week and then for those that are interested, I love helping them build their home training environment so that it’s more attractive and accessible in their life for all of their other sessions.
What Really Matters
Regardless of your approach to your training environment(s), the main idea to keep in mind for a life-long effort is to try and integrate the activity and training you want to be doing as a part of your lifestyle.
Our environments play a HUGE role on the influences we have that draw us into the decisions we make.
If your environment screams it’s fun to train and be active, and it’s easy to start doing any given day; I’d bet your training and staying pretty active most weeks (as long as that's something you value).
If your environment makes you have to stay very self-disciplined and go out of your way to show up for your training sessions or to be active, you're likely to struggle with cycles of “being good” and “being bad” as life tends to wear down our self-discipline through different seasons of time and energy demands.
I believe having a nice home gym, or at least having some helpful training items at home, offer a lot of value when trying to stick with a consistent training effort and integrate long-term training/activity into our lifestyles.
If you're curious about how to get started with a home gym I have outlined the first 15 items I recommend in an article to help with that very question.
Thanks for reading!
Brian