Cancelling gym membership - continue training at home
Discussion
I'm a newbie to working out but it's so convenient to just go into the spare room and do an hour.I've been doing it 3/4 times a week now since may and have hardly missed a session.
I have no interest in joining a gym at all and if I had a free membership I still wouldn't go.
Horses for courses
I have no interest in joining a gym at all and if I had a free membership I still wouldn't go.
Horses for courses
It works for me, but probably wouldn't work for everyone...depends if you like working out alone.
I just step out the kitchen and I'm in the gym, I can workout when the kids are in bed/before or after work in 40 minutes. Cost-wise I bought a pile of 2nd hand plates and bars for £100 with a bench, then bought a cage for £350. That was 3 years ago and I still train 3 or 4 times a week.
I stick to basics - Squat/bench/press/pull downs/row with a few other bits thrown in once in a while.
If you want all the cables & toys then it'll cost a bit, but I rarely have the desire to bother with all that when I get good results (for what I want) with the setup I have.
I just step out the kitchen and I'm in the gym, I can workout when the kids are in bed/before or after work in 40 minutes. Cost-wise I bought a pile of 2nd hand plates and bars for £100 with a bench, then bought a cage for £350. That was 3 years ago and I still train 3 or 4 times a week.
I stick to basics - Squat/bench/press/pull downs/row with a few other bits thrown in once in a while.
If you want all the cables & toys then it'll cost a bit, but I rarely have the desire to bother with all that when I get good results (for what I want) with the setup I have.
Otispunkmeyer said:
Rather than start a new thread on this subject, I'll post in here....
Home gymming, is it actually worthwhile?
Do those of you with home gyms actually use them and get value from them? Do you have a honeymoon period where you are always in there and then later you become complacent about it thinking "oh yeah its just there, I can go anytime I want, I'll just watch this first"..."oooh its time for bed, maybe tomorrow!"
Currently contemplating it because a years gym membership could almost cover most of what I use in the gym, so it wouldn't take long before it "owes me nothing" in a sense.
Home gymming, is it actually worthwhile?
Do those of you with home gyms actually use them and get value from them? Do you have a honeymoon period where you are always in there and then later you become complacent about it thinking "oh yeah its just there, I can go anytime I want, I'll just watch this first"..."oooh its time for bed, maybe tomorrow!"
Currently contemplating it because a years gym membership could almost cover most of what I use in the gym, so it wouldn't take long before it "owes me nothing" in a sense.
CaptainSensib1e said:
Hi all,
Thought I'd resurrect this thread rather than start a new one.
Basically, I'm in a very similar situation to the OP. A busy job, and a young baby at home, means I have less and less time to hit the gym these days. I'm therefore considering training at home instead, where I can be a lot more flexible with when I train.
Space is also at a premium at home, as much as I would love to I don't have room for a home gym, I need something which I can put away after a workout.
My training has always focused on resistance work, I'm not big by any standards but have built a fairly solid foundation of strength over the years that I'm keen to maintain.
The main options seem to be kettle bells and resistance bands. I like the idea of kettle bells, but am wondering if I'd need to invest in quite a lot of different ones to achieve the right levels of resistance on various exercises.
Resistance bands seem more flexible in this respect (no pun intended), as from what I've read you can fine tune the weight quite easily. How do they feel though? when I tried them once many years ago I seem to remember that they went from no resistance, to lots of resistance in a matter of a few inches. Have they improved so their resistance is more linear?
Sorry for all the questions. Feel free to share any experiences you have.
If you need something that doesn't take up space get kettlebells. Resistance bands just won't provide as good a workout.Thought I'd resurrect this thread rather than start a new one.
Basically, I'm in a very similar situation to the OP. A busy job, and a young baby at home, means I have less and less time to hit the gym these days. I'm therefore considering training at home instead, where I can be a lot more flexible with when I train.
Space is also at a premium at home, as much as I would love to I don't have room for a home gym, I need something which I can put away after a workout.
My training has always focused on resistance work, I'm not big by any standards but have built a fairly solid foundation of strength over the years that I'm keen to maintain.
The main options seem to be kettle bells and resistance bands. I like the idea of kettle bells, but am wondering if I'd need to invest in quite a lot of different ones to achieve the right levels of resistance on various exercises.
Resistance bands seem more flexible in this respect (no pun intended), as from what I've read you can fine tune the weight quite easily. How do they feel though? when I tried them once many years ago I seem to remember that they went from no resistance, to lots of resistance in a matter of a few inches. Have they improved so their resistance is more linear?
Sorry for all the questions. Feel free to share any experiences you have.
Depending on how strong you are, you'll need
A heavy one for swings/goblet squats/SL RDLs etc - I'd say around 20-30kg for most people
A medium pair for goblet lunges/rows (bent over row, one arm row, upright row)/Single arm swings etc - mayvbe 16kg ish
A lighter one for Turkish get ups/OH work/anything else you need a lighter weighr for - maybe 8-12kg.
Ultimately you'll beed to progress to heavier KBs as you get stronger and the lighter ones become redundant.
The thing with home KB training is that a lot of the movements are very technique heavy and will either be dangerous, awkward, uncomfortable or not hitting the right spot if done wrong.
TheBALDpuma said:
If you need something that doesn't take up space get kettlebells. Resistance bands just won't provide as good a workout.
Depending on how strong you are, you'll need
A heavy one for swings/goblet squats/SL RDLs etc - I'd say around 20-30kg for most people
A medium pair for goblet lunges/rows (bent over row, one arm row, upright row)/Single arm swings etc - mayvbe 16kg ish
A lighter one for Turkish get ups/OH work/anything else you need a lighter weighr for - maybe 8-12kg.
Ultimately you'll beed to progress to heavier KBs as you get stronger and the lighter ones become redundant.
The thing with home KB training is that a lot of the movements are very technique heavy and will either be dangerous, awkward, uncomfortable or not hitting the right spot if done wrong.
I like KBs.Depending on how strong you are, you'll need
A heavy one for swings/goblet squats/SL RDLs etc - I'd say around 20-30kg for most people
A medium pair for goblet lunges/rows (bent over row, one arm row, upright row)/Single arm swings etc - mayvbe 16kg ish
A lighter one for Turkish get ups/OH work/anything else you need a lighter weighr for - maybe 8-12kg.
Ultimately you'll beed to progress to heavier KBs as you get stronger and the lighter ones become redundant.
The thing with home KB training is that a lot of the movements are very technique heavy and will either be dangerous, awkward, uncomfortable or not hitting the right spot if done wrong.
In addition to my body weight exercises I use a range (16-36kg) of KBs at the gym. At home I have a 16kg KB for the aforementioned one arm swings, rows, military presses and high rep squats. I use weights in a rucksack for extra squatting weight at home.
I'm revisiting this thread, as I'm back to the same starting point as I was at the start of this thread 
As life, including a baby, got in the way. At least I haven't been spending £55 a month for it, although the (now) wife did rejoin the gym.
We are both making more of an effort to lose weight this year, but we have to be a bit smarter about it now that we have to factor in looking after a baby. My goal for the year are get my weight down to 90kg (it was 92kg at the end of last year) and most importanly keep it there! Obviously losing more weight is better, as I have a few other cycling based goals which will be easier the less I weigh. My wife has a similar weight based goal and wants to get her Parkrun time under 30 minutes. We are both on board with eachothers goals and are going to encourage eachother.
To achieve my goals I've laid out what I'm going to do each day in the week, hopefully this will become my routine, as the cycling elements already have done.
Monday - Resistance training at home
Tuesday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Wednesday - Swim/bike ride
Thursday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Friday - Cycle to work, then take the long way home including some interval training
Saturday - Rest day/take my son to the park
Sunday - Longer bike ride
The main part that I need to work on, is what to do for resistance training on Mondays. I've mainly been doing press ups/crunches/planks at home but really need to expand it a bit. I got the wife some dumbells for Xmas (she asked for them!) so will be borrowing them.
As life, including a baby, got in the way. At least I haven't been spending £55 a month for it, although the (now) wife did rejoin the gym.We are both making more of an effort to lose weight this year, but we have to be a bit smarter about it now that we have to factor in looking after a baby. My goal for the year are get my weight down to 90kg (it was 92kg at the end of last year) and most importanly keep it there! Obviously losing more weight is better, as I have a few other cycling based goals which will be easier the less I weigh. My wife has a similar weight based goal and wants to get her Parkrun time under 30 minutes. We are both on board with eachothers goals and are going to encourage eachother.
To achieve my goals I've laid out what I'm going to do each day in the week, hopefully this will become my routine, as the cycling elements already have done.
Monday - Resistance training at home
Tuesday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Wednesday - Swim/bike ride
Thursday - Walk to work (1 mile each way) and yoga
Friday - Cycle to work, then take the long way home including some interval training
Saturday - Rest day/take my son to the park
Sunday - Longer bike ride
The main part that I need to work on, is what to do for resistance training on Mondays. I've mainly been doing press ups/crunches/planks at home but really need to expand it a bit. I got the wife some dumbells for Xmas (she asked for them!) so will be borrowing them.
Craikeybaby said:
I got the wife some dumbells for Xmas (she asked for them!) so will be borrowing them.
I doubt they'll be heavy enough.If you're doing bodyweight stuff, you need to be clever (well, informed) to get the best out of it at some point as it will be too easy. https://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/kb...
You'll almost certainly cock up the most common bodyweight exercises, too - almost everyone does. They're a recipe for injury for most people:
Press-ups: almost always done with bad technique; once you get strong, you'll need loads of reps, which makes the bad technique more likely to result in wear and tear and injury.
Pull-ups: anyone weighing 90kg will struggle to do a worthwhile number or proper technique, unless very strong.
Crunches: most articles I have read suggest that these are not great for your spine even if done with good form.
Plank: too easy if you are strong and too risky if you are not.
Squats: proper form requires a lot of careful and patience practice and humility. Almost everyone will just use bad form for loads of reps.
Conclusion: perfect your form on any and all of these before you start doing loads of reps (or substitute them for safer exercises, most of which will involve weights but not all).
To give a sense of balance, I do hundreds of pull ups most weeks, but they knackered my shoulders and neck for literally years because of one relatively small issue with my form.
I don't understand the idea of doing hours and hours of CV a week. It sounds so bloody tiresome. Just eat less. Anything that is being used simply to burn calories is much harder than just learning self control.
Press-ups: almost always done with bad technique; once you get strong, you'll need loads of reps, which makes the bad technique more likely to result in wear and tear and injury.
Pull-ups: anyone weighing 90kg will struggle to do a worthwhile number or proper technique, unless very strong.
Crunches: most articles I have read suggest that these are not great for your spine even if done with good form.
Plank: too easy if you are strong and too risky if you are not.
Squats: proper form requires a lot of careful and patience practice and humility. Almost everyone will just use bad form for loads of reps.
Conclusion: perfect your form on any and all of these before you start doing loads of reps (or substitute them for safer exercises, most of which will involve weights but not all).
To give a sense of balance, I do hundreds of pull ups most weeks, but they knackered my shoulders and neck for literally years because of one relatively small issue with my form.
I don't understand the idea of doing hours and hours of CV a week. It sounds so bloody tiresome. Just eat less. Anything that is being used simply to burn calories is much harder than just learning self control.
ORD said:
I don't understand the idea of doing hours and hours of CV a week. It sounds so bloody tiresome. Just eat less. Anything that is being used simply to burn calories is much harder than just learning self control.
Not everyone exercises to lose weight 
For many people, the idea of doing lots of CV is to become fitter and therefore better at whatever sport you partake in.
LordGrover said:
ORD said:
I don't understand the idea of doing hours and hours of CV a week. It sounds so bloody tiresome. Just eat less. Anything that is being used simply to burn calories is much harder than just learning self control.
Or eat more, of the right stuff; click.
RobM77 said:
ORD said:
I don't understand the idea of doing hours and hours of CV a week. It sounds so bloody tiresome. Just eat less. Anything that is being used simply to burn calories is much harder than just learning self control.
Not everyone exercises to lose weight For many people, the idea of doing lots of CV is to become fitter and therefore better at whatever sport you partake in.I do need to sort out my strength workout, so thanks for the links.
Apologies if this has already been covered, but picking up on what ORD was saying re technique etc - do you know how to do press-ups, pullups etc with decent form?
I've yet to meet anyone with no experience of training, who can do good press-ups, pullups or even just bodyweight squats straight out the box.
If you've got training experience and you know what you're doing, good - ignore me
If not, either watch some tutorials carefully, or even better, pay for a couple of hours with a good PT.
ETA: Just went back and read your OP, and spotted the bit about having previously trained. Guess the above may not apply then...
I've yet to meet anyone with no experience of training, who can do good press-ups, pullups or even just bodyweight squats straight out the box.
If you've got training experience and you know what you're doing, good - ignore me
If not, either watch some tutorials carefully, or even better, pay for a couple of hours with a good PT.
ETA: Just went back and read your OP, and spotted the bit about having previously trained. Guess the above may not apply then...
Edited by TheJimi on Friday 13th January 16:12
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