Run on a treadmill and lift some weights?

Yes, that is exactly what you do at a gym.

I feel like I could do all of that at home. Gym memberships are insanely expensive.

Absolutely correct.

Are home workouts actually effective?

Yes.

Does one even enjoy gym time?

Yes.

You can jog on the treadmill for 30 minutes and that way you don’t have to be out in the blistering sun.

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.

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.

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

I mean, I guess it depends. I row often, and I don’t wanna do it in a gym, so I purchased a rower. But if I didn’t want to spend the ~$800 on a nice Concept 2 rower, a gym membership for $20/mo would give me about about 3.25 years of rowing before I hit the cost of the rower. Then I also get access to every other machine they offer, free weights, other amenities such as pool and basketball court, classes they offer, trainer access (probably not great but better than winging it). That may be valuable to you or it may not, but it’s an option. You could run on a treadmill or lift weights at home, if you purchased the items. Sure, running outside is free and you can pick up/put down stuff whenever, but weather gets in the way, and unbalanced or unwieldy weight isn’t always safe.

Home workouts can be effective and many make it work, but some people like/need the separation. Sometimes when I get home, if I sit down, I’m just not gonna get up and workout at that point. Stopping at a gym in the way home gives a clear delineation between still working physically and being done with your days work when you get home. Or if they go in the morning, I can’t row at odd hours I may want to because of neighbors (it’s not quiet). I can go to some gyms at 5am or 2am if I really wanted to, where I couldn’t currently at home.

First I unpack my tripod, mobile phone and water bottle and set them into position in the most annoying direction possible. Then i hit record. Pump some irons getting upset at each and every passer by as it’s obviously about me not them. All the while intermittently berating those stupid Nord, Beton and Thalmor wannabes as inferior chuds to my faithful Khajiit follower’s. Then I strike some epic posses, admiring my strikingly beautiful ears, furs and tail. Of course I check the phone to make sure my benevolent masses of one follower shower me with praises. Thanks mom!

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.

Thank-you all, this was actually super helpful and motivating. I’ve been doing what I can at home and maybe looking into a gym membership but I still feel that may not be for me as I don’t really want to be around others while working out. Im going to keep biking and keep looking for some gear for the basement

I realize that if I don’t go, I feel weak, to the point where I struggle to carry a 3kg bag of potatoes.

Its mostly for the social aspect, people will say its not, but with how expensive they are, especially in Aus where i live, itd be cheaper to buy your own equipment than pay for a couple years membership.

You have some very good answers here. I’m just going to add to this and say what you pay for a gym membership compared to what you wouldpay for decent quality equipment at home. It’s cheaper to have the gym membership because you have the maintenance and the upkeep on the equipment andthe replacement cost on the equipment if you own it. Where as at the gym you go there The stuff is working.

Given a lot of it, you can replace in a fairly low cost way. But you still have the upkeep and maintenance. And you also have the space needed.

Something tells me you don’t own a treadmill at home, so Im not following how you’d do that at home.

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.