With more people realizing that fitness is an essential component of good health, an increasing number of people are making a conscious effort to incorporate exercise into their daily routines. If you are lucky enough to live in a region with moderate climate, outdoor exercise is a great way to keep fit. For the rest of us, finding a local gym nearby or setting up a home fitness gym are the only options for staying fit.
Home fitness gyms are gaining popularity as they save travel time to the gym, membership fees and are convenient for scheduling workouts around daily work routines and home chores. However, they are not for everyone. If you are the type of person who is not a self motivated individual, the gym may be a better option for exercising.
There are a variety of exercise machines that can help vary your routine and keep you motivated at a gym. Many gyms now offer fitness classes such as yoga, Pilates, dance and spinning classes with trained instructors; these classes are a fun way to get in shape and meet new people. For those at home, there are many TV shows and DVDs that can fill in for these classes at home.
Friends at the gym are a great way to stay motivated and to learn new exercises or tips about their workout. If you have a friend that will be at the gym at the same time as you plan on being there, you are less likely to back out and not show up. But some people prefer to workout by themselves and not allow the social aspect to interfere with their workouts which is why a home gym may be better for them.
For most, once you start to see small results, going to the gym becomes a lot less of a chore and you become more inspired. There is often a palpable energy that flows through a gym when so many people are working out together that may be lacking when you have a home gym.
The price of a gym membership will vary between health clubs, but they are generally not cheap. But, they will always have more features than a home gym. Gyms can also have a trained staff of trainers that can answer any questions you may have about how to use a machine or which form is best for a certain exercise. More expensive gyms will also have amenities such as a swimming pool or courts for racquetball or basketball, which in and of themselves can sometimes be the deciding factor between a gym membership or home gym.
Home gyms require a lot of space, especially if you are looking to buy several types of equipment. For most people with small apartments, the choice of workout equipment is limited to that which can be stored easily and is compact, and may not meet your fitness requirements. Commercial gyms offer much more variety in the types of machines you can use to target virtually every muscle in your body.
The convenience of a home workout can be a disadvantage too. It is easy to skip a few workouts when you're exercising at home. You're already home, don't need to get dressed or get the car out; you are your own boss and accountable only to yourself. Skipping a few workouts can become a habit and before you know it, you're working out barely once or twice in a week. Once you set up a gym routine, getting there for your workouts requires the effort to leave your home, so sticking to a gym routine is sometimes easier.
Ultimately, it comes down to one factor that you must consider when trying to decide which option will work best for you: motivation. Are you motivated enough to keep yourself working out at home or will the gym membership help to ensure that you will actually work out often. Another option is to get a few simple pieces of home exercise equipment like bowflex adjustable dumbbells that you can use in the instances when you can't get to the gym.
Will Douglas is a Chicago based reporter who covers health topics. Visit his blog Health, Exercise & Fitness Today to learn more about getting an adjustable dumbbell.
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