Home gym or fitness club. Which one is better for you?

There are many theories about the profitability and effectiveness between home training and working out in fitness club. In our opinion, it's hard to consider and compare these solutions in terms of better or worse. They are simply different. You should start with ask yourself "what do I want to achieve?"

In this article, we will try to give you the key advantages and disadvantages of both solutions that may help you decide which one is closer to your daily training needs. We've broken down the topics as follows:

• ◾ Your routine
  ◾ Availability and time saving
  ◾ Space
  ◾ Type of training
  ◾ Equipment
  ◾ Learning
  ◾ Costs
  ◾ Social Aspect
  ◾ Hygiene
  ◾ Summary

Your routine

What is your routine for training training day in the club?

Before you leave, you probably prepare your bag - shoes, shorts, T-shirt, underwear, shower stuff etc... All this takes time. Many times just the thought of getting ready to go out causes that some people are skipping their workout.

Then you have to walk/drive to the club, and if you drive a car additionally you need to looking for free space to park, you change your clothes and start warming up.

During the workout the equipment you want to train on is not always free to use and sometimes you have to wait. Not only you're wasting your time again, but also getting stiff, and you've only just warmed up.

After the workout you have to change your clothes again, wash up (if the conditions are not too bad) and go back to your place or to your office ( we hope not in traffic jams).

Therefore, a workout that takes about 1.5 hours usually extends to 2.5-3 hours. If you multiply this by several workouts per week, you accumulate a lot of time that could be spent on something else.

Availability and time saving

By creating your own home gym, you are saving a lot of time. That's a fact. Especially if your fitness club is not in close proximity to your home/work or on the way to them.

Training at home is undoubtedly a great convenience whether you train in the morning or in the evening.

In both situations, you gain time to devote to:

• ◾ Getting there
  ◾ Getting out of bed earlier
  ◾ Waiting in line for equipment

So what do you lose?

Some people are motivated by going to the club for a workout and it helps them stick to their workout routine.

Space

For a home gym, this is a key factor. You should have a room of at least 15 m2 to fully organize your workout area. This is often the primary blocker against owning home gym.

Having such a room, you are able to adapt it 100% to yourself, including the music you like, which you can't do in a club gym.

A very important factor will be proper planning of the space and equipment, so that once incurred expense will serve you for years.

Type of training

A fitness club is ideal when you are exercising using station method. By occupying one machine at time you are doing a certain number of sets and then move on.

The problem appers when you want to train in circuits and you need to have at your disposal 5-8 machines exclusively. Sometimes such training may be imposible to to be done. Especially during busy club hours.

There are many situations when doing AMRAP (as many round as possible) or For Time circuits someone will occupy one of the machines used in our training when we are doing another exercise. Then we have to stop training and irritation occurs.

The best solution is to train at off-peak hours in a club or adjust your home gym to the specifics of the workout you will be doing.

Equipment

Fitness clubs have a lot of machines at the disposal of exercisers. Your workout plan can be expanded into many more variations than is the in the home gym.

If you don't like routine and getting bored quickly, a fitness club is certainly a better choice.

On the other hand, if you work out consistently focusing on core exercises, don't need fancy stuff, and get overwhelmed by the variety of equipment - your thoughts should be more towards home training.

Learning

Living in the 21st century, workout education has moved to the internet. We have access to workout plans, workout videos, online personal training, and books that educate us about diet and sports.

However, nothing can replace physically meeting with a trainer in a club or training studio. A professional coach is able to notice the imperceptible. He can catch anomalies in the basic movements, limiting our development or disfuctions which can lead to injury.

Practicing in front of a mirror and recording ourselves helps. However, we will not always be able to catch everything. That's why it's a good idea to go to the gym from time to time and ask for help from people more experienced than us, or take advantage of individual classes with a personal trainer (you can also make an appointment for training in your home gym).

Costs

Fitness clubs usually have annual contracts. Every month you pay a certain amount for the membership. The situation is different when it comes to home gyms. Here we pay one-time cost for the purchased equipment (there are, of course, also the possibility of consumer leases and split payments). So at the very beginning you have to reckon with a much larger investment.

Looking in the long run, the costs of your own gym and fitness club memberships equalize. If you stop exercising, you can always sell the equipment.

Looking at the current rise in prices of steel and other raw materials, sometimes after a few years of use, we can not lose even a single penny.

Social aspect

Health is not only a physical aspect. To stay mentally fit you need to take care of your interpersonal relationships. In this point, a fitness club crush home gym. The possibility of group workouts combined with competition give a lot of motivation. Many people consciously choose the gym instead of exercising at home for only this very reason.

A fitness club helps to socialize and expand the circle of friends. Working out with friends builds consistency in attending the gym.

For a home gym, you can of course train together with a friend or neighbor.

Hygiene

A club gym is a place accessible to everyone. The more members, the less chance there is to maintain hygiene in all club areas.

Home gyms and smaller workout studios unquestionably win in this aspect.

Summary:

Domowa siłownia zalety:

• ◾ You save time commuting. Especially if you don't have a health club in your area or on your route to work.
  ◾ You can customize the space and equipment to suit your needs. Everyone has a different workout needs and uses more or less varied equipment. In a home gym, you decide what you need.
  ◾ If you work from home sometimes you can do your workout on-site. This also allows you to set your workout times differently, sleep longer, or complete your workout during the day.
  ◾ You don't have to wait in line for equipment at the club. This is a very frustrating point comparable to standing in a big traffic jam. A workout that you usually do in 1.5h can take up to an hour longer and wreck your schedule.
  ◾ You're skipping rush hour at the club. Typically, most people work out in a similar timeframe in the morning or after work. This point is closely related to equipment queues.
  ◾ You have your "cave." That's right, it's your extra "private" room where you can get away from your day-to-day responsibilities

Home gym disadvantages:

• ◾ You don't have enough space for a gym. A poorly planned space will be less comfortable for training, plus you won't be able to put all the equipment you need there.

• ◾ You don't change the environment you're in, especially when working from home. Going out to a club helps you to get away from your daily responsibilities and additionally stimulates you to workout.

• ◾ You will need to invest and buy equipment. The level of investment will vary depending on your needs, but at the beginning you will spend noticeably more than a year's pass to the gym. On the other hand, once purchased, if it's not low-end equipment, it will last for years.

• ◾ It's harder to get a trainer who will catch mistakes in your technique - it's feasible, but you'll have to make an appointment with him at your gym once in a while

• ◾ Social aspect - if you like company you'll have to arrange for a friend or neighbor to help you

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Both the home gym and the health club have their advantages and disadvantages, which need to be tailored to your type of training and daily lifestyle.

One thing is constant - motivation and discipline. If you don't build the habit of daily workouts, a home gym can be a waste of money. Each of us knows himself best and should answer the question - What will be best for me?

If you find that a home gym is something you would like to create read this article, which will introduce you to the process of creating a Professional Home Gym.