I’ve seen plenty of jeans at my rural gym. Just don’t wear them on leg day.

I have spent years using public gyms and now have a home gym. Home gyms are better in every way if you have the motivation to push yourself. At a public gym its easier to find that motivation because everyone around you is focused on the same task.

You have all the things you need in one space and you can’t leave easily and go home.

According to Atomic Habit, we tend to form a habit when there is a reward.

First you you can’t wear jeans to work out. If people have to argue, then they have never worked out before.

Then, reward. When you workout by yourself, then is almost no reward, no motivation. In the gym, you can see how for some people are and that motivate you.

With no goal and no motivation, hiding in the basement/garage lifting some weights and wearing jeans, I doubt that person will work out much.

Weightlifting can require insanely heavy weights, they take up a lot of storage and cost a lot of money. Gyms also offer the benefits of having specialised machines that focus on specific muscles. I used to go to a commercial gym then built a home gym, I’ve spent over £2,000 and I’m still not close to finished.

Sure you can do bodyweight stuff, or limited exercises with adjustable dumbbells and resistance bands, but you won’t get nearly as strong as a good gym, training plan, and diet.

you pick up heavy things and then you put them down so you can pick up heavier things later.

A lot of exercises you can do in the gym you can also do at home with a pair of dumbbells or even just your body weight.

The benefits of the gym for me is having an air conditioned environment, with machines that can guide my exercises and help enforce proper form, a good space to meetup with personal trainers, opportunities for group classes, and somewhere where there’s people around in case anything goes wrong in one of my exercises.

Not all gyms are the same too. There are climbing gyms, kickboxing gyms, mma gyms, gyms with pools, gyms with basketball and volleyball courts, gyms with tennis, squash, and badminton courts, etc. A lot of those you can’t do from home.

Yo could do that at home. I do.

For many people a gym is a matter of discipline. To force them go and do it.

But for me it works the opposite way, the extra time going to another place dissuades me from going at all. So workout at home works better for me.

Theres actually a lot at the gym you can’t do at home. Any barbell movement (big stick with weights on the end) you can’t do unless you have one at home, all the cardio machines, workout classes, cable machines, etc. I enjoy my gym time because I’m able to get a better workout at the gym compared to anywhere else. You can basically where anything to a gym. If you’re doing upper body, just make sure you have a loose fitting shirt on, if youre doing lower body have loose fitting pants on. Gym time is what you make it. If you find one thing fun, you’re allowed to just do that.

What do you even do at a gym?

Use training equipment that you don’t have access to otherwise, to perform exercises aligned with your fitness goals. Some people do classes with trainers at gyms.

I feel like I could do all of that at home.

If you have the space and the money to invest in a home gym, that will be more than sufficient. Not everyone does, hence gym memberships. Classes with trainers are also not available at home, so that could be a reason to get a gym membership.

Gym memberships are insanely expensive.

It depends on the gym. I pay approximately $40 per year for access to my gym, and that covers everyone in my household.

The investment in fitness can also pay dividends that outweigh the costs - strength and cardiovascular fitness will let you live longer without being sick. If you have to pay for your healthcare, this may also manifest as a concrete money saving.

Are home workouts actually effective?

They can be. It’s not going to be as effective as working out with full equipment, but you also may not need the full effectiveness. And if the choice is between home workouts and no workouts, the home workouts are far better.

Does one even enjoy gym time?

I enjoy going to the gym. I like the progression in becoming stronger.

You can do this at home. Everything here is under 2000 dollars spent total because we bought from bankrupted gyms liquidating during covid and a couple home gym people after covid who preferred going to a gym and were offloading equipment for next to nothing.

Outdated pic but same rack today:

You need the space to begin with, but besides the rowers (can be stored vertically) and rack, the space waste isn’t that huge. George Hackenschmidt’s abridged/edited down by me workout routine is pinned to my back wall there. An old world strong man from an era before steroids existed. He didn’t do focused muscle training, instead all-round balanced and, this is key, a very minimal amount of equipment is needed. You can look up how he looked, I think it’s aesthetically pleasing.

But yeah that’s really it. Lift heavy things, row, and I run or bike. I do not enjoy it. I don’t pretend to. I’m not doing this for enjoyment, I’m a big nerd who never enjoyed physical activity ever. It’s simply to stay in good shape because that was noticeably slipping in my 30’s.

So I’m doing this entirely out of self preservation. Importantly, I also do Yoga. Flexibility is important too.

Gyms are indeed predatory with their obnoxious membership programs and cancelation antics. I’m lucky to have some space in my ugly basement.

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Captain obvious sneaking in, but There is tons of legit way to exercise, not just lifting weight in the gym, you can look for Volley-ball, Rock-dancing, or karate-class all of that is a legit way to exercise, which may even be cheaper and more fun than going to a gym.

Regarding your other points

• Get a T-shirt and either a short or a pair of legging, to start-with you don’t need any of these high-end expensive fabric (Which may help if you plan to climb an alpine summit or run a marathon, but not to lift some weight casually). Total cost should be in the 10-15 EUR range (It sucks to live in a world where clothing is built by slave-like-labour).

• Most gym would include a couple of coached session as part of their beginner package. But a typical program would be like warm-up on a threadmill/eliptical then a bunch of strength exercise either on machine or free weight, and 10 minutes of cool-down with stretching, you can modulate duration/intensity depending on your goals.

• You can do a lot at home with body weight. However, being in the Gym sometimes helps as you are in a dedicated place with a dedicated time-slot. ideally choose a place either near your home, or on your commute, if not you’ll never go there

You’ve got lots of stuff that would be hard to get at home like basketball, squash courts; swimming pools; saunas, cold plunge; lots of free classes (well, included in the cost). If you have a YMCA, they will even do a sliding scale based on your income.

It’s like going to the library. Yeah you could do much of that stuff at home, but it’s good to get out.

This is my gym. The bar was picked out of the trash and it was an old broomstick someone used as a fire poker.

With body weight exercises and a small weight set you can make from junk, you can get an amazing body.

You start very light, and you just take baby steps from there, I can help you build a routine.

Most of the YouTube people are way too hyper focused on ‘blasting’ this and that, really you just need to do some simple exercises.

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.