First off I have no clothes you’d ever wear to a gym. I wear jeans and a t shirt pretty much daily (think Hank Hill). Second, I don’t get what you do there. I hated gym time in school (workout gym, not like throwing balls and running around gym, thats fun) and I don’t get what you do. Run on a treadmill and lift some weights? I feel like I could do all of that at home. Gym memberships are insanely expensive. Are home workouts actually effective? Does one even enjoy gym time?
I loathe gyms, they are usually full of smelly obnoxious people.
The alternate I found is putting on running shoes, headphones, and go outside.
You’re absolutely correct that you can do all that at home. Will you? I find that going to a place puts me in the right state of mind to do the thing. They do have a lot of equipment available, but you can mostly replace it at low cost by running outdoors or buying a few dumbells.
Likewise for the costume - when I started going, I was very worried about making sure I had gym shorts and running shoes and a sweat wicking shirt and a gym bag. I got that stuff and it did help, just mentally put me into the place for it. But after a while I realized I could just go in casual clothes (though my gym bans jeans) and it’s fine. Up to you what’s more motivating - workout clothes or reducing friction by wearing what you’ve got.
As for what to do there - again, it’s your call. Generally they have several flavors of weight machines, cardio machines, free weights, usually some kind of aerobics space.
You set your own goals and routines. In contrast with something like school, no one’s going to force you to exercise. You have to want to - whether that’s for the fun of it or to achieve some health result.
Gyms also tend to offer classes, or personal trainers you can hire if you want more structure.
Even just the full set of free weights at a gym is the price of an annual membership (more than some discount gyms), let alone the expensive machines.
I think it was like 150 dollars a month for a membership here which is what made me go hell no!
That’s not a gym, it’s a full on spa
Nah. Just silly short sighted thinking.
Are you only going to exercise for a year or two? Yes? OK, well THEN you might have a point about gyms being cheaper…
but even a full set of weights and some minimal equipment is maaaaybe 5 years of gym memberships, for the cheap gyms.
Are you going to work out for less than five years of your life? If you answer “no”, even financing some weights might be worth considering.
Sure, if “financing” didn’t involve interest
Sometimes there are no easy answers and you have to do something more than complain. Is it a perfect, convenient solution? No. Do you need a perfect solution before you fix anything?
I never liked gyms. I get great workouts at home with a little open floor space and a stationary bike.
Very good questions. I think the primary is that some form of workout is very important to your overall health, and you should just pick which type of workout works for you in the long run.
It doesn’t really matter if you get a home gym, or go to parks, or to a gym, as long as you are consistent and have fun. For many people, the gym is intimidating, they might be better off with a home gym. I find the place semi-social, which means I get distracted by people watching, but don’t have to chat with anyone. Works for me.
The key, I think, is to shift from “I can do all of that at home” to “I will do all of that at home.” An insane number of home treadmills and exercise bikes collect dust because the mind is willing, but the flesh lazy. I love the distraction, others love the camaraderie or the friendships you make at a gym. They push you to go even when you don’t feel like it, and that’s the important part.
Something tells me you don’t own a treadmill at home, so Im not following how you’d do that at home.
I went to the gym for a couple years and managed to increase my PR’s consistently and doubled my bodyweight at the same bf %.
Then i decided i was disciplined enough for a homegym as the gym attracted a crowd of generic fools instead of the old club of bodybuilders and powerlifters…i wasn’t disciplined enough.
I really need that: “since i’m already here, might as well go balls to the wall”.
My old gym cost about €13, now generic shit gyms cost more than twice as much. I won’t be going back at those prices because food and rent also tripled, i don’t grow money from a tree or something.
Increase my PR’S
I don’t see how gym makes you better at coding
I did say i was going balls to the wall, right?
I was actually studying during cardio but not coding, lol
Clearly they were increasing their public relations. /s
I went to the gym for a couple years and managed to increase my PR’s consistently and doubled my bodyweight at the same bf %.
What weight did you start at? Doubling your weight in 2 years maintaining the same bf% is a very hard equation to solve, without the use of steroids, which I assume you didn’t use since you didn’t mention it.
Run on a treadmill and lift some weights?
Yes, that is exactly what you do at a gym.
I feel like I could do all of that at home. Gym memberships are insanely expensive.
Absolutely correct.
Are home workouts actually effective?
Yes.
Does one even enjoy gym time?
Yes.
I’ve seen plenty of jeans at my rural gym. Just don’t wear them on leg day.
Otherwise, you might exercise too hard and end up like The Hulk.
Here’s another place you can ask !fitness@lemmy.world
Ah perfect, I should have looked for that
Depends how consistently I’ve been going. Early on I’ll pick majority muscles like bi/triceps, glutes, pecs, or abs to break them into work out routine. Like I’ll pick 3 and wear them out because that easy to do early on. As conditioning kicks in over the weeks then I can pick 2 category for a day like chest/abs, arms/legs, shoulders/back, etc so that more specific muscles get trained.
When I was working out regularly I’ll say that home workouts are great. I didn’t have the equipment or weights at the gym but dumbbells can be used to target very specific muscles that won’t get in the way of next two workouts days
That’s a lot of questions, but I’ll try.
What do you do at a gym? Use dedicated equipment to lift weights and build strength, work with a coach to help set workouts, and workout with other people who have the same goals.
A gym membership can be a way to meet other people and build community. If you see the same 5 people regularly due to similar gym schedules, you might build some friendships.
Primarily a gym can become a place where you are expected to exercise, so you’re more likely to do it. If you have a treadmill and some dumbbells in your bedroom, your brain might not give you the motivation needed to use the equipment. You might hop on for 5 minutes, but then get distracted and stop using it. But if you traveled 20 minutes to a dedicated exercise location, then you’re much less likely to stop and leave right away.
So what do you do? Well, depends on what your goals are. Did you want to get healthier? Some cardio where you get your heart rate up improves your cardiovascular health. Lifting weights, can help build muscle and bone health, which would make it much less likely to be injured, and much more likely to recover from an injury quicker.
If you can motivate yourself to workout at home, and if you can find a good routine that meets your goals, you can certainly do that all at home, even without much equipment at all. The problem is, are you actually doing what you need to do, or are you just moving around and wasting time with little actual effect? A coach that knows what their doing would be able to help you actually use your time.
I realize that if I don’t go, I feel weak, to the point where I struggle to carry a 3kg bag of potatoes.
If you’re wondering what the point is, you can just go to one and ask for a tour.
I pay $65 a month for a membership to my local YMCA mainly so I can use the pool.
If you’re motivated at home you can run on street/walk/trails, you can do core body workouts, you can get some cheap equipment that will get you most of the benefits of a gym at much less cost. You can always find cheap used equipment for sale from people cleaning out their houses
Going to the gym gets you better equipment, more equipment, and helps establish a routine to keep you going when motivation isn’t enough.
If you get home equipment similar to what you’d use at a gym, the payback time is much longer, it may be difficult to move or store, and you can’t get rid of it when it’s time.
At home I have a good set of dumbbells, an Exercycle, and exercise mats I never use. However I’ve never really been able to establish a gym routine so that’s a waste of money. My brother has a good half ton of exercise equipment he’d give me free of charge but I have no way to transport it and it would cost too much.
I actually am considering getting more home exercise equipment. At least my teens would use it and maybe I would too. It’s expensive but it’s not continuous cost like a gym would be.
