Gym Alternatives

[dylanvb]

What's up Roksliders. I am an avid gym member and have been for the past 5-6 years. I average about 3-4 times a week, some weeks more some weeks less just depends on the life schedule but it has been a part of my life for a very long time. I love working out but lately I have been lucky if i have been able to make it 2-3 times a week sometimes only 1 day. I currently wake up every morning around 4:30 to take my pup for a run which has turned out to be the majority of my work outs lately due to work schedule. I could easily get up earlier to fit in an hour work out. I have been considering buying my own rack and equipment which would cost me about $1500 to get started. I pay about $30 a month for my membership and even though buying my own stuff will be a lot up front I will eventually recover my cost. I am looking for other alternatives and just other peoples opinions.

 

[Jbehredt]

Built my own gym In the basement with used equipment. Probably don’t have $2k in it including the two rack body solid machine. Be patient and watch for deals. People dump the stuff cheap after using it .5 times.

 

[*zap*]

I like the gym atmosphere and having competent trainers available to get guidance from on form issues. I also find it e-z to keep track of stats and make progressive gains when rucking on treadmill.

 

[Dustin the wind]

Personally I cannot do the gym thing and have not for years. I just don't like the environment and money spent/time spent going to and from. This may sound silly, but unless you are trying to be a power lifter or body builder, you basically can get yourself in just as good of shape with a few sets of good dumbbells and some good circuit training techniques on top of your preferred cardio. Add in the muscle retaining benefits of intermittent fasting or OMAD and IMO, you will never need to waste time and money at a gym again.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I use a pull-up bar, a few kettlebells, weighted jump rope and a sandbag for lifts or loading up my backpack for hikes.

I don’t miss workouts, I love being able to just don’t thing, no driving to the gym, waiting for machines etc. you couldn’t pay me to deal with gym douchbags again.

 

[kda082]

I switched to full body 3x per week and love it. Still hit each part 4-6 sets, usually takes about 1.5 hrs to complete, Tues-Thurs-Sat. I miss a day it's really no big deal. I have an olympic bar and bench at home. I can do darn near everything with that in a pinch, but would still like a rack.

 

[dylanvb]

Personally I cannot do the gym thing and have not for years. I just don't like the environment and money spent/time spent going to and from. This may sound silly, but unless you are trying to be a power lifter or body builder, you basically can get yourself in just as good of shape with a few sets of good dumbbells and some good circuit training techniques on top of your preferred cardio. Add in the muscle retaining benefits of intermittent fasting or OMAD and IMO, you will never need to waste time and money at a gym again.

I am with you about the money and time situation. I am not trying to get into body building competitions but i do enjoy being able to lift heavy weight, idk I'm weird like that lol. I have considered just getting kettle bells and switching all of my work outs to kettle bell work outs but i know I will miss bench, squats and dead lifts. I know you can do variations of these with kettle bells but i feel like the push just wouldn't be the same.

 

[strand]

If you have the space, build your own gym. I did this 5-6 years ago so I'm finally hitting the break even point when you consider membership dues vs buying equipment. I have a decent setup - rack, bar, flat bench, weights, high/low cable pulley machine (came with plates I bought used) and then a nice treadmill. I could do without the cable machine but it doesn't take up much space and it's handy to have. The treadmill was the most expensive part since it was a gift for my wife a few years ago... I think she used it 10 times. It cost around $1200, but you can find them used a lot cheaper. I never would have bought one that nice for myself, but it was a 'push present' that she really wanted. I'm glad to have it now though. Minus the treadmill I have maybe $1500 into everything including the stall mats on the floor. Being in a place more populated than ND, I'm sure you can find plenty of used equipment and do it cheaper than I did.

Rack - bought new $500
Bar - bought new $300 - this was an upgrade a couple years after getting started with a cheap bar that came with some plates I bought
Cable machine, bar, and plates with stand - used $250
Rep Fitness flat bench - bought new $100 - I almost killed myself when a cheap used bench started to collapse during a lift, so I upgraded
Stall mats - 4 X $40 - $160
Kettlebells - bought a couple new - maybe $200 total?

I'd like to add a rowing machine for the winter months when I don't get outside as much and I get sick of logging miles on the treadmill. Currently keeping tabs on different classifieds for that... I expect to drop around $6-700 for a decent one.

 

[KHNC]

It is hard for alot of people to stay focused outside of a gym. If you can subscribe to 12-14 week programming, that really helps. Whether at home or at the gym, if you have the equipment. With nothing to focus on , it is easy to randomly workout ineffectively.

 

[Dustin the wind]

I am with you about the money and time situation. I am not trying to get into body building competitions but i do enjoy being able to lift heavy weight, idk I'm weird like that lol. I have considered just getting kettle bells and switching all of my work outs to kettle bell work outs but i know I will miss bench, squats and dead lifts. I know you can do variations of these with kettle bells but i feel like the push just wouldn't be the same.

I'm not the biggest proponent of high weight low reps or maxing with high weight (Coming from someone that herniated an L4-L5 disc while dead lifting many years ago). I just think the detriments to your body out weigh the benefits. It doesn't do a whole lot for activities like hunting really, or at least not for me. If you would like to go for max weight at home, as others have stated, it is definitely do able, it's just going to take time, money, and space to setup.

 

[Poser]

I like the mentality of having a place to go that dedicated to nothing but work. I’d like to build a home gym at some point, but either way, access to barbells to imperative to maintaining longevity.

 

[Gerard Marcaurele]

I’m the opposite of a lot of the folks here. It would cost me 3-4K to get the elliptical, treadmill, stair master, and weights that I’d need to have a decently full gym. That’s not counting the fact that my full-service gym has way more machines and weights than I’d ever be able to put together myself. Plus, it’s so humid where I live that my garage gym leads to rust on any and all metal parts.

I pay $35 just for myself each month, so it would take almost 10 years to break even on cost. And that’s just for the basic equipment. In that 10 years, I’d expect the things like elliptical, treadmill, or stair master to go bad. So, that cost is on me if I’m doing a home gym vs just continuing to pay $35 a month and having the gym buy a new machine.

Just another way of looking at it.

 

[dylanvb]

I switched to full body 3x per week and love it. Still hit each part 4-6 sets, usually takes about 1.5 hrs to complete, Tues-Thurs-Sat. I miss a day it's really no big deal. I have an olympic bar and bench at home. I can do darn near everything with that in a pinch, but would still like a rack.

I am very interested in this. What workouts do you do?

 

[Btaylor]

Might check to see if your town has a community center with a decent gym. Ours does and it $20 a month for me and my wife.

 

[kda082]

I usually start legs and work from biggest parts to smallest, so arms are last typically. I do 4-6 sets per part, usually do bigger movements like squats and bench over cables or flies, but can mix it up like 3 presses and 2 cable flies. It's a long workout but I rarely have sore muscles as I'm not destroying them like split workouts. After years of doing traditional splits like back/bi, chest/tri, legs, this really stimulated some gains. I can skip a workout and I'm still covering everything during the week so it's not a huge deal. Something different.

 

[backcountryshaffer]

I guess it depends on what kind of "fit" you are trying to be right? I hate the gym atmosphere, I like to be outside. I've been slowly amassing Brute Force gear, have a pullup bar and rings in the garage, and some PowerBlock dumbbells and kettlebells that don't get much use. The sled is my worst friend. We have a real love/hate relationship.

 

[*zap*]

My gym has 2 sleds, flipping tires, boxes, adjustable platforms, among all the other equipment needed....plus a salt water lap pool/jacuzzi and wet/dry saunas.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

when I was young i had as many as 3 different gym memberships at one time. One of the guys I figured knew more about fitness than anyone I had ever met told me he was moving to a pretty isolated area and when asked what he was going to do for a gym said "there's not much I can't do with a squat rack, bench and a few dumbbells".

I would add running shoes to that list but about 10yrs ago I bought a squat, bench that inclines/declines and some dumbbells. He was right. I won't ever make mr. olympia but I can work out at home as many days per week as I want and trail run out of my back door.

I have less than $100 into it, no lie and it's all commercial quality equipment. It's amazing how many people want to dump equipment just to get rid of it and keep the space.

that's all I need.

 

[GLB]

I have everything I need at home. I mostly do sandbag and kettle bell workouts. I have a pull-up/dip station a box step and stairs. . Plenty of Mountains outside my door. I also have a treadmill for rainy days. X country ski in the winter.

 

[Chico103]

Vote here for the gym. My space at home is for my toys, plus there are too many distractions at home I’d never work out. Agreed there are douche bags at the gym, but my work schedule lets me go when all the soccer moms are there


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