The debate – The gym vs. home gym | Diet and Exercise | Real Life Fitness | PhitZone

The age old debate

To train at the gym or at home? There are pluses and minuses either way. Convenience, equipment, motivation, etc. Either way, we all have our preference.

The Gym

A “public” gym is stocked with all of the equipment that one could possibly need. From rows of treadmills, bikes, etc., to various strength training machines and free weights.

Some of these offer other services. There may be a spa or pool. Some offer a juice bar, pro-shop, and snack bar.

Most gyms have trainers available, although most of the time for an additional charge.

The bottom line is that if you can pay for it, a gym membership can be a good thing.

A few of my gripes from belonging to various gyms over the years is that they are typically crowded when I want to train. Getting on a certain piece of equipment can be a challenge.

At many of the more popular gyms, the atmosphere is more of a night club than a health club. Too many times I’ve had to break up a social gathering going on where I wanted to workout. When I’m at the gym, I’m there to get busy-not get busy.

Basically poor gym etiquette drives me batty. From people not wiping up the equipment covered in their sweat, to not putting the dumbbells away when they’re done.

Home Gym

Equipment isn’t cheap. However, if you have the room to setup a home gym, you can find good used equipment. Yard sales are good. Craigslist is a gold mine. I turned a couple of gift cards to Sears into Olympic plates.

We purchased a decent weight bench, weights, and Olympic bar from a co-worker for a song. He also threw in a stationary bike.

The treadmill was purchased new (a good idea for this particular piece of equipment). It was a little spendy at the time, but it has more than paid for itself.

Training at home means that I don’t have to share the equipment (Becca works out in the A.M., and I train in the P.M.). Everything is always put in its place. And when I get a shower afterwards, I have no concerns about who was there before, and what were they doing there.

And the winner is

The winner in the debate really comes down to each individual. Not everybody has the space for a home gym. For those people, a gym membership is probably the way to go.

For those with the space, and the money to purchase the equipment up front, the home gym is a comfortable way to go.

What works best for you?