Introduction
There are many reasons to start a home gym. Those of us who have a home gym understand the benefit we receive from having started one. Whether the decision was based on the necessity of gym closures of 2020 or you just got tired of all of the drawbacks of the commercial gyms. If you have a home gym, you have your reasons, which other home gym owners likely share.
If you haven’t started a home gym yet, but you’ve been thinking about it, here are the top 7 reasons we hear from the community about why you should create a home gym in 2023.
#1: Save Time
Having a home gym saves you time. Being able to walk out to the garage or go into the basement and be at the gym is the number 1 reason to have a home gym.
Time is one of the number one excuses for why people say they can’t go to the gym. Having a home gym takes away driving time and time waiting for equipment. You are also able to use your home gym throughout the day. Instead of dedicating 2-3 hours to the gym (driving there, warming up, working out, driving home), you can now fit pieces of your workout throughout the day.
Home gym Tip #1: Do you struggle to find time to work out? Try this tip: split your workout into mini-sessions you can do throughout the day.
For example, you can wake up and stretch or warm up with your morning coffee or breakfast, hit your significant compound movements when you have 30 minutes in your schedule, then save any accessories or conditioning when you have 30 minutes at the end of the day. You would have accomplished a warm-up and an hour of working out with no travel time and without stepping away from your daily responsibilities for more than 30 minutes.
*In a 2022 survey, 35% say they saved more than 45 minutes a day by owning a home gym. That ultimately adds to a ton of time each week, month, and year saved by simply working out at home.
#2: Easier on the Family
Living the busy life of a parent and having the convenience of a home gym is the #2 reason to have a home gym in 2023.
The majority of our audience has a family, and when people start a family, they realize that making time for the gym becomes extremely difficult.
If you talk to many parents who do not exercise, most of them will talk about the time before they had kids when they could spend their free time at the gym. If you speak to parents who also own a home gym, they will tell you one of the main reasons they have a home gym is to continue lifting and exercising while having children.
Some home gym owners sneak away when their kid’s nap or are involved in activities, but others love having their kids in their gyms while working out. Parents sharing their passion for exercise with their kids are setting their kids up to live healthy lifestyles and incorporate exercise into their daily lives.
Home gym Tip #2: If you have a backyard, try adding some simple equipment you can use outdoors with your kids. This could be a DIY pull-up bar, a sled or sandbag, or something as lovely as a SwingSesh Outdoor Home Gym.
Being able to exercise and spend family time makes your fitness time seem less selfish and can be a game-changer.
#3: Lift How You Want (training styles)
When building out your home gym, you can build it to lift however you want to support your specific training style.
Some commercial gyms don’t support certain training styles because they don’t have the right type of equipment, the amount of space, or their rules don’t allow you to train there.
While commercial gyms typically cater to the masses with tons of cardio and machines, you can build out the perfect powerlifting, CrossFit, or weightlifting gym. Deadlift with a deadlift or power bar, Olympic lift with a bearing bar, or have all the bands and chains you need for a conjugate-style training program.
Home gym Tip #3: While you may want to fill your space with as much equipment as you can fit in your space, don’t underestimate open floor space. Take advantage of wall storage for bars and plates, and keep open spaces for working.
#4: No Rules
Lifting how you want and creating an atmosphere makes no rules the #4 reason to have a home gym.
Blast your music, train barefoot, use chalk, and slam bars; it’s your gym, and you make the rules.
Whether it’s Planet Fitness’ that doesn’t allow you to squat or deadlift with a barbell or make too much noise or the clean fitness clubs that don’t allow chalk, even gyms won’t allow members to lift too heavy or super-set. In your home gym, those rules don’t apply to you. You make the rules of your gym and change them whenever you want.
Home gym Tip #4: Adding a TV can make your home gym one of your favorite rooms in the house, but be careful. You want to limit distractions. Your home can be a distracting place surrounded by all of your responsibilities. If something slows your workouts, you may want to keep it out of the gym.
#5: Always Open
A home gym doesn’t have any hours, making it the #5 reason to have a home gym.
You can lift early in the morning or late at night. You can lift on holidays, weekends, or even when a worldwide pandemic closes every other gym.
Gym hours restrict when or when you can’t do fitness, and nothing should get in your way of doing some training. A home gym that is always accessible is a huge perk if you haven’t had that before.
#6: Don’t Have to Deal with People…
Having your own gym means not dealing with other people, which is the #6 reason to own a home gym.
Belonging to a large globo-gym means sharing that space and equipment with every other member, and while some gyms have amazing members and a real community they have worked to build, that is not the case for all gyms.
Having your own space to train means you don’t have to deal with the 5 o’clock rush, the New Year’s resolution crowds, or even the spring break members. You never have to deal with the teenage kids curling on the bench station or the powerlifter taking 10-minute rests while you wait for the squat rack.
In your own gym, YOU can be the powerlifter taking 10-minute rests without people asking if you’re done. YOU can curl at the bench station or squat rack. YOU can set up your camera and make TikToks (if that’s what you’re into).
The social aspect of a commercial gym can be a great thing, but if you belong to a commercial gym, you also understand that you have to put up with many strange and annoying things other people do. If you have ever had the gym to yourself and thought, ‘I wish it were always like this,’ then a home gym may be for you.
Home gym tip #5: While you won’t be dealing with the annoying antics of people at a commercial gym, you may miss out on the social aspect of going to the gym. The home gym community is filled with supportive, amazing people. Following Garage Gym Experiment, make friends with home gym owners, compete in the Garage Gym Competition, and join r/Home Gym on Reddit and the Home Gym Discord. This is a fantastic community of passionate home gym owners.
#7: Save Money
While this is not the case for most home gym owners, you CAN save money or even make money with your home gym, making it the #7 reason to have a home gym.
If you are accustomed to a specialty gym like a weightlifting or CrossFit gym, you are probably used to paying more than $100/month for gym access. In three years, you will have paid nearly $4,000. A budget home gym can be built for less than this. You are also not spending money on gas.
A complete home gym doesn’t require much more than a rack, bar, plates, and a bench, but this is still a tough argument because most of us are beyond the point of ever saving money.
There are also a handful of ways to make money with your home gym, with companies like GORX Fitness helping home gym owners navigate that journey.
Conclusion
There are definitely things to be missed from commercial gyms, but those who dive into the home gym typically don’t go back. Being able to walk straight into the gym from your house, lift when and how you want with no crowds, and do it with your own equipment makes building out and having a home gym an addictive hobby. This list of the top 7 reasons to start a home gym is echoed throughout the community, and while some may be debated or contended, they are all valid for home gym owners.
Learn More
If you’re looking to start or build out your home gym, check out this guide which outlines each step of the process for you. It outlines specific steps to take, includes mistakes to avoid, and high value equipment recommendations.
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