As far as our health, fitness, and general well-being is concerned, most of you will probably already be well aware of the fact that on top of a healthy and balanced diet, regular spells of physical activity and exercise are also crucially vital for us. Experts recommend a minimum of three hour’s worth of physical exercise per week. Obviously this amount can vary depending on your goals and personal circumstances, but generally speaking you should be aiming to exercise at least three hours each week, preferably more than that. When you hear the word exercise one of the first images to springs to mind is that of a gym. Gyms come in all shapes and sizes and cater for an incredibly wide audience. We have strength-training gyms, MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) gyms, fitness suites, generic gyms, and much more on top of that. Gyms are obviously incredibly beneficial, but they aren’t without their flaws and drawbacks. To begin with, the better the gym is, generally the higher the monthly membership fee. Then there’s the distance and the travel to consider, as well as the fact that they do tend to get pretty cramped at peak times. If this doesn’t bother you then that’s perfectly fine, but if it does, or anything else about working out in public for that matter, why not consider building yourself a home gym instead? Here are four great reasons to build a home gym.
You don’t require much space, or equipment
If you walk into any commercial gym and you’ll immediately see dozens upon dozens of complicated looking machines, treadmills, exercise bikes, free weights, benches, etc. Whilst each piece of equipment and machinery is without doubt highly beneficial, in reality the same movements, or very similar movements at least, can be performed using an adjustable bench and a set of dumbbells. Building a home gym does not require much space or equipment. If you’re lacking space, a corner in the garage or a spare bedroom will do perfectly fine. In reality, to get a great workout in that will work your entire body, all that is required is a set of dumbbells, an adjustable bench, a power rack of safety cage, and possibly a piece of cardio equipment such as an exercise bike. If you have more room however, I.E an entire garage space, you can of course add other pieces of equipment but if not, those listed above will more than do the job, and all can be picked up for very reasonable prices.
You save money in the long-run
Ok, obviously you will have to spend a fair bit of money on the machinery, the equipment, and the weights themselves, but once you have everything you need, it becomes an investment and you can then begin saving money. To begin with, your gym will now be on your property, which means no travelling so you will save on fuel for your vehicle. Then there’s the monthly membership fees you were paying. As it is your gym you will obviously not be paying any membership fees, so each month you can watch your savings grow. On top of that, providing you keep the equipment in good condition, you can then sell it on if you do no longer require it, and could possibly even make a profit on it.
No more queuing for equipment and dealing with large crowds
Let’s face it, when you go to the gym at certain times, you’ve probably noticed that some times are much busier than others. If you were to go to the gym around 1pm in the afternoon for example, most people would be at work, or at school, and so it would be relatively quiet. If you were to train between 4pm – 8pm however, it would probably be very busy as there will be people looking to get a workout in once they finish work or school. This can lead to overcrowding and having to queue to use pieces of equipment and machinery. With a home gym however, you won’t need to queue for any pieces of equipment, or deal with large crowds as there will only be you, plus any of your friends or family members that you may train with. You can move from exercise to exercise, from machine to machine, without wasting your time standing around waiting for a piece of equipment or machinery to become available.
Listen to the music you like, as loud as you like
The problem with commercial gyms is that as there are so many people training there, the music tends to be pretty generic and catered towards everybody. If you hate pop music for example, you may be in trouble at a commercial gym as that is what most gyms tend to play. Listening to your favourite music can make a huge, huge difference to your training, and with a home gym that is exactly what you can do. Of course at a commercial gym you can use headphones etc, but headphones can be uncomfortable and distracting, and they never sound as good as a real stereo system anyways. Another bonus of a home gym is the fact that you can crank up the volume as loud as you like, which is also beneficial and can really get the adrenalin pumping and help get you fired up.
