If You Hate Public Gym Workouts, Exercise at Home
There are various reasons why gym workouts are a turn-off for many of us. The time involved with going to a health club after work, the costs, maybe even an inconvenient location — these are some of the factors cited by people who wish to avoid public facilities.
You may even hate that the only gym available to you is extremely crowded during weekday evenings. In addition to the privacy and convenience, lifting weights at home will allow you to focus on your workouts by eliminating distractions. If these issues relate to your own situation, then perhaps it is time to set up a personal gym to exercise at home.
Can You Develop a Home Program?
A strength program does not have to be complex; just do basic exercises that hit all the major muscle groups in the chest, abs, back, shoulders, arms, and legs. This will generally include two to three sets of 10 to 15 reps for the basics such as squats, presses (barbell or dumbbell), and pull workouts (cable pull down, arm and leg curls, etc). If you don’t own a gym system or a set of free weights, you can do a variety of lunges, leg lifts, wall sits, bridges, and ab crunches right on the floor (preferably on a mat) without any equipment at all.
It’s Cheap to Set-up a Home Gym
If you are looking for a few inexpensive ways to set up a home gym, read our article on Compact Home Gyms: Getting into Shape on a Budget. Low cost items such as resistance bands start at about $30, and free weight sets and gym systems can run anywhere from $300 to $1500. More affluent homeowners and households with multiple users will find a large list of functional trainers and multi-station gyms to choose from. You will find that the home gym equipment referenced on this site to be of the best quality and the best price.
Deciding What to Buy
The key here is to build a home gym you are going to use. If you don’t like dumbbells at the health center, you won’t like them any better in your own basement. Your gym workouts need to reflect your fitness goals. Guys who want to bulk up will want to buy plate-loaded equipment while women who have a goal to be long and learn should look at a functional trainer with rowing capabilities. The advantages of multi-function gyms are that they provide a variety of exercises for both types of individuals.
Staying Motivated about the Home Workout
Just about any activity can get stale eventually if you do it long enough even in the comfort of your own personal gym. If you’re bored with your routines, or if you feel you have reached a plateau, seek out a trainer who can suggest new workouts to get you motivated. There are different aspects of strength training to explore, and many varieties of lifts and presses, that are sure to ignite your enthusiasm again.
Found a Routine That Works? Good, Now Change It
In fact, it is important to change your workout every few weeks anyway in order to keep progressing. Your body is a complex mechanism that quickly adapts to any fitness routine. It makes little adjustments as it tries to set a new plateau, which means that you must alter your gym workouts occasionally. You have to trick your metabolism by doing different things. This gives your body more stress than it is accustomed to. In other words, keep your muscles guessing in order to avoid those frustrating pauses in progress.
Can You Stick To a Home Program?
Will you enjoy training at home alone? That is a question only you can answer; however, it is true that most people who get hooked on fitness continue to exercise on a regular basis for the rest of their lives. They not only enjoy working out, they appreciate the benefits of better health, and when you enjoy home gym workouts, you get many tangible and intangible returns.
About the Author:
Kevin Urban is the editor at HomeGymAdviser.com. The site offers tips on home gym workouts reviews of home exercise and fitness equipment, a buying guide and other useful home gym resources.
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