Should You Exercise at Home, Outside, or at the Gym?
Once you have found enough motivation to start doing something with yourself, it is time to ask yourself where and how to start exercising. In today’s article, I would like to focus on the where. There are plenty of variations, where to get started. For the sake of simplicity, I will divide them into three options – at home, outdoors, or at the gym. What are the advantages and disadvantages of these variants? Should you prefer one over the other? Let’s take a closer look.
Exercise At Home
Beginnings are always hard. No matter what you start with. Why not simplify it, and start from the comfort of your home? Well-known environment, without unknown people who can observe, evaluate, and comment on you. The only person you have to prove something to is yourself. You can experiment and feel safe here. This is ideal for beginners who shed all the pressure from the environment and adjust the exercise to their level. How about saving time from commuting to the gym, or going out ,and staying at home? This is important in those times full of deadlines and stress where every minute matters.
No, exercising at home is not a walk in the park. The biggest challenge you face, whether as a beginner or at the advanced level, is motivation. There’s no friend or a coach who can motivate you. It is up to the strength of your will and determination to do something about yourself. There is nothing else missing for a beginner. For an intermediate athlete a certain need to expand your exercise arsenal can arise. You no longer want to be confined by the lack of equipment. And so, many of you end up with an early purchase of basic exercise equipment such as dumbbells and pull-up bars.
Exercise in the Gym
When you find the money for a monthly membership, commute time, and the courage to go among the big guys; you are free to go to the gym. Now, where? Personally, one of the biggest benefits of gyms is the relaxation zone. Use can use it to relax overloaded muscles. However, this facility is not available in all gyms and often forces you to dig deeper into your pockets. But this is little compared to how much it would cost you a membership at a pool or sauna.
You can find a complete equipment in almost every gym today, from the cheapest to the luxurious ones. By complete equipment I mean various machines, dumbbells, and a hall for group exercise. The decisive factor for you may be the price, distance, quality of service, and overall how you feel while there.
For me, the biggest drawback of most gyms is stale air. Unfortunately, even middle-class gyms usually do not address air ventilation properly. By staying in such an environment for several hours a week you can besides muscle growth also get a headache.
What I appreciate about the gym is the comfort. Everything is at hand. The world of unlimited exercises and their variations opens there. It is up to you how much weight to add on a machine or what dumbbell you use. You can adjust every load to your current strength. But be aware, there is also a hidden danger in comfort. You can lose your motivation anytime, especially in the mid and high class fitness. Sometimes those gyms look so beautiful, and sleek, that most of you instead of lifting heavy weights have a greater temptation to lift your mobile and exercise your agile fingers.
Exercise Outdoors
Those who know me, know how much I have fallen in love with the street workout. Why is outdoor exercise so special to me? Firstly, I’m outside everyday breathing fresh air. Nowadays we must value the fresh air and being outside nearby nature more and more. Mainly those in the big cities full of stress.
Secondly, I am very grateful for the great community I have met here. It’s not only about what a person looks like. Outside we meet people of all ages. We can meet here children full of energy, joy, and playfulness. Teenagers full of motivation to gain muscles and learn new tricks. My age group, but also older athletes, moms, dads, grandmothers, and grandfathers. This colorful palette of people gives it a completely different feel and atmosphere. The younger ones learn from the older ones. The older ones like to advise the younger and less experienced in need.
Last but not least, freedom awaits you here. There are still rules to follow, for example, not to drink and disturb the silence. But otherwise, limitless opportunities open here for you. You can practice gymnastics, aerobics, parkour, dance or everything at once.
What can discourage you from exercising outside is the weather. It is not always around pleasant twenty-five degrees with shining sunshine. Occasionally, it’s freezing, raining, or you experience unbearable heat. This heat has been recently appearing all around Europe. Another thing is that not every place offers quality equipment on which you can perform a wide range of exercises. Then, you have no choice but to adapt your training to the conditions and simplify it. The task is fine for intermediate athletes, but not for beginners. Beginners often do not cope well with improvisation.
An Ideal Combination of Home, Outdoor and Gym Workouts
When we went through exercise at home, outdoors, and in the gym, which of these options you like the most? And which place is best for exercise? Every place has its pros and cons, but what is great is that you do not have to limit yourself to one variation. How about combining them all by adding the pros and removing the cons?
Over Summer Outside, over Winter in the Gym
In the Czech Republic, we have ideal conditions for the following division. Throughout the summer, part of autumn and spring, let’s exercise outside. Let’s take advantage of the beautiful weather. Catch the sun’s first spring rays and enjoy the daily fresh air and well-being. If the weather is not good, let’s not despair and stay at home.
When the winter comes, let’s move to the gym and do some exercises that you skipped outside. While outdoors you can focus on explosiveness and endurance, in the gym you can work on maximum strength. Start using the weights you have there. Weights are most important for squats, but you can use them for pull-ups and push-ups (bench press) as well. You can also isolate individual muscles here. If you know that your body has some imbalances. Use the opportunity at the gym to counter them.
Use the advantage of having a sauna in your gym. I do not know a better feeling then going to sauna after a hard winter workout session. Your body will thank you twice.
So here you go. Why limit ourselves to one option if you can combine all three for even greater benefit? So now, you know where is the best place to exercise, so the next we look at how to begin.