Like millions of people, I have a pile of unused gym equipment at home including ab equipment, kettlebells, dumbbells, yoga mats and who knows what else gathering dust. On paper, a home gym sounds great. Work out whenever you want. Don’t have to share the equipment. Play whatever music you want as loud as you want. Eat whatever you want. Wear whatever you want. Yeah, on paper a home gym sound amazing but the reality is different. I’ve had all the workout gear I need at home yet never use it. I work out best and most intensely at a gym and specifically in CrossFit classes. If you’re thinking of building a home gym, read this list of absurdities before you do.
13. Must give up the opportunity to learn and train with professional trainers
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A little over a year ago I joined Crossfit. I started with a personal trainer there to learn the ropes and help with an injury. It was the first time in my life I hired a personal trainer and it was awesome. I never worked out so hard. I showed up consistently. I pushed myself. I definitely helped my knee injury. All-in-all being part of a facility with personal trainers was huge. I also got good supplement advice as well.
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12. Too easy to slack off and not get a good workout consistently
This is huge and it’s a recent thing for me. I did my own workouts for years and made zero progress. I did my own thing and didn’t push myself. I then joined CrossFit and hired a personal trainer. Once I was well-versed with Crossfit I joined the classes. I’m now in the best shape of my life putting in less time every day. A gym and more importantly, intense classes is what did it for me.
11. You have to give up a lot of space in your home
Space is a premium and if you don’t end up using your gym as much as you hoped, you’re wasting space. Heck, at the very least if you have no use for it you can rent it out on Airbnb and make money with it. One night rented out would pay for a sweet gym membership. There are a million uses for a spare room or garage so making a gym out of it isn’t great. One exception is this and that is if you use your gym regularly, it’s totally worth it. The point here is most people don’t use their gym and if they do, it’s not that great of a workout.
10. It costs a lot of money up front
Gym equipment is frightfully expensive. You can easily spend $10,000 and that won’t get you much of a gym. Investing that $10K would almost cover the cost of a gym membership or grow to a substantial amount of money over ten, twenty or thirty years. If you’re going to create a decent gym, expect to part with a ton of money. Again, if you use it, it’s money well spent. The problem is most people, including me, buy this stuff and never use it.
9. Less variety
Unless you have millions, your home gym will never be as good as a professional facility. This means there is no way you can have as much variety as a low cost monthly gym membership. This results in stale, boring and the same old workouts. I can tell you from experience, doing the same old thing will not get results.
8. You don’t get out of the house
If you work from home and work out at home chances are you might never leave and end up with cabin fever. That’s not great and could prove detrimental to your health. A good example is I have a home sauna. I use it somewhat regularly but I still enjoy going down to the local community center to sauna because it’s a social thing. I’ve also met great people at my CrossFit gym… so it’s both a workout and social thing for me. And fyi, I’m an introvert so I don’t need all that much social activity… but it’s still good for me.
7. It’s hard to replicate the value of intense classes
You don’t get classes at home and I know classes aren’t for everyone. I used to think classes were a joke until I joined CrossFit. Now I love the classes. It’s a different workout every day. I don’t have to think about what I’m doing to do today. I can trust the three classes I go to weekly that it will provide me a great series of workouts.
6. It’s isolating – gyms and classes offer a good social aspect
Some folks might be annoyed by this but IMO, it’s not a bad thing to workout with friends, spouse etc. Or it can be a good place to meet folks. Regardless, you have a better chance of engaging in some social activity at a gym than at your home gym. Of course, if you invite friends to workout at your home gym, that could be great. This list isn’t saying home gyms are horrible no matter what. The point is that most people don’t really take advantage of their home gym and realistically get more out of a gym membership.
5. Monotonous environment and routines
My office building has a small gym. It’s tiny and yet it’s probably better than most home gyms. It has three cardio machines, DBs to 50 lbs, barbell, bench, squat rack and a cable machine. I can do it all in there but before joining Crossfit, the fact is I did the same old boring, stale workout in that gym. It would be same in a home gym.
4. Ongoing reinvestment will add up – especially if have changing goals
Okay, gym equipment typically lasts a long time especially if it’s just you and maybe a few people using it. Where the ongoing cost comes along is outdated equipment and/or you changing your workout goals. Maybe at first you’re into heavy lifting so you invest in plates, barbell and DBs. Then you get into TRX which means buying TRX equipment. If you end up only doing TRX, you have all that expensive heavy lifting equipment which is no good. I used to just lift but now I do Crossfit. My goals have changed and if I had a home gym, I’d have bought a pile of stuff I no longer use. Actually, over the years I have bought a pile of stuff I don’t use.
3. No amenities
I love gym amenities such as sauna, pool, hot tub, juice bar etc. It’s a big reason I’ve long gone to gyms. Even now I have a sauna at home, I still enjoy using the sauna and steam room and pool at facilities. Yes, with enough money you can build an entire spa but the reality is most people don’t have that kind of money. And yes, you might be the type of person who has no interest in such amenities.
2. It’s stressful
I’ve never set out to equip a home gym but I suspect it would be kind of stressful because there is so much I would want but with a limited budget I’d have to put a lot of mental effort into picking and choosing. I don’t like being in that position and I know that I would have buyer’s remorse over some of the stuff I bought. A home gym is another thing you own that requires cleaning, investment etc. all adding to hassle I don’t need.
1. It’s a cleaning nightmare
Okay, “nightmare” is overstating it but it’s another room akin to a bathroom that requires regular, elbow grease cleaning. I sweat a ton and I know I would probably slack on the cleaning. I’d end up with a stinking home gym that would gross me out to the point that I’d not use it and go to a commercial gym where it’s cleaned daily lol.
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