When I first started exercising as a teenager, my routine was 100% made of home workouts. I did push-ups, air squats, planks, bicep curls using tiny dumbbells and even ran around my small room to get some cardio done. Now, many years later I still do home workouts when I have to. While it can be easy to get discouraged by the limitations of exercising at home, there are quite a few unique advantages to keep in mind.
1. You don’t need to get dressed or do your hair
You can literally train in your pajamas with bed hair, your underwear or even a swimsuit. Especially, when you train in the morning, you can get up, have your coffee or food and get straight to your workout.
2. You can train barefoot
Exercising barefoot is without a doubt great for your body – from strengthening stabilizing the muscles of the foot and ankle to improving overall foot health. The gym environment, however, might not be the safest environment to ditch your shoes, but you can definitely do it in your own home.
3. You don’t need to fight for equipment
Exercising at home means you won’t have to anxiously wait for the person in a squat rack to finish doing barbell bicep curls so you can do some squats. No matter how much or little equipment you have at home, it’s all yours to use.
4. You get to improvise in terms of equipment
Chairs, tables, sofas, water bottles, rice bags – training at home will get your creative juices flowing when it comes to equipment. If you have a backpack, you can load it up with books, put it on your back or front and perform squats or lunges. Use your imagination and have fun with it!
5. You’re in control of your own music/TV
Some gyms offer questionable music choices as well as the volume at which they play that music. You can wear earphones but it might not always help if your gym is blasting club music as if it’s a festival. When you exercise at home you can play any music you want or no music at all. Alternatively, you can put on one of your favorite shows to keep you going.
6. You can regulate the temperature
People have different needs when it comes to optimal temperature during exercise, however, in some of the gyms, you don’t have an option to get a bit of extra fresh air. When you train at home, you can create a temperature suitable for you, besides you won’t have another 30 people exuding heat around you.
7. You don’t need to deal with other people
Whether it’s strangers who want to have a chat as if you’re best friends, people leaving 220kg worth of plates on a leg press or fitness instructors trying to talk you into attending their ab blast class on a gym floor, you certainly won’t have to deal with any of that at home.
8. You don’t need to worry about opening hours
Unless your gym is open 24/7, opening hours might make going to the gym a bit awkward during weekends and nights. When you exercise at home you don’t need to set the time aside and try to juggle gym opening hours with your schedule – you can do your workout anytime you want.
9. You can struggle and mess up without worrying about other people
Yes, yes we shouldn’t care what others think but it does feel awkward even just for a moment when you keep falling out of your walking lunge or struggling to figure out a new exercise that you just looked up on your phone. At home, you can just do your thing and be yourself.
10. You get to be creative with your exercises
Even if you have very little to none equipment at home you can still have a tough workout your way. You can do a squat, followed by reverse lunge, followed by front lunge, and finally side lunge. Repeat that for 5 times on each side will make your legs wobble without any weights. Be creative to spice up your home workout, but stay safe!
11. You’ll save time traveling to the gym
Unless you live next to or very near the gym, you will spend some time getting there. It’s not a problem when you have time at your disposal but might be a bit difficult when your schedule is packed. However, it doesn’t mean you have to skip your session – a home workout is always there for you.
Whether going to a gym is not your cup of tea, or simply not an option you can achieve great results form the comfort of your home. Just focus on all the positives and get it done!