Tag Archives: Home Gym

Home Gym vs. Gym Membership – Update

Wanted to circle back to give an update on the Home Gym vs. Gym Membership I originally blogged about in August 2021.

My Situation Now

Now (as of March 2022) I have the best of both worlds. All the home equipment I talked about last time: Bowflex adjustable dumbbells, pro flat bench, chin-up bar, dip bar, various exercise bands and mats.

Blogger in 2021, Hikes are a big part of my fitness regimen.

I’d add to the home equipment the ubiquitous and usually FREE videos you can find on YouTube for exercise instruction, including Yoga classes. I’d also add my bicycle, which has always been here, which gives some cardio variety and also provides transportation, depending on the day.

In addition to all that, I now have a membership at 24 Hour Fitness (part of my Medicare plan through Silver & Fit).

So now that they’ve (at least temporarily) lifted the mask mandate indoors here in California I did go back, and it was fine, but there were also these challenges:

I had to drive there
I had to park there
Every exercise station I wanted to use (except for the treadmill) was already in use, so there were waiting periods (it’s a popular gym)
One fool did not wipe his sweat off the apparatus, so I had to do it before I could use it, which, quite frankly, disgusts me (which would be awful at any time, but doubly horrific during a pandemic)
All of the above challenges resulted in a time challenge, in that getting the workout done took a lot longer than a home workout.

Pros to the Home Workout

Basically, it’s the opposite of everything above:

It’s right here, no need to drive anywhere. Save on gas, save the environment.
Ditto, no need to park anywhere
I’m the only one using the equipment I have, so it’s always available.
I wipe up my own bodily fluids, if there are any
A workout takes less time — except, I notice I take longer between sets because I’m at home and can do other things, like read something on the Internet, prep food, mix in chores, etc.

Detail of home gym dumbbells and bench setup – small but effective

A couple of other beneficial things about working out at home:

There’s no need for gym wear that’s fashionable, clean, or even gym wear. Often I do short workouts in whatever I’m wearing because it’s usually fine for range of motion
Honestly, I’m more consistent at home. Even if I only work one body part, say chest, it’s just so simple to do it when it’s right here.
Creature comforts: My own bathroom is steps away and I know it’s clean. Chilled water is as close as the refrigerator.

Pros to the Gym Workout

There are advantages to the actual Gym which I can’t get at home:

The social aspect. I mean, I think we’ve all learned over the past two years that being a hermit is probably not good, and prolonged isolation is really awful. Plus, I do like to interact with other humans (most of the time).
Way more diversity in terms of equipment to use. There’s so much to use at the 24 Hour Fitness I’d be hard pressed to ever get bored with it. BUT – like I said above, it will probably be in use and you will have to wait for whatever it is.
Instruction and help is available – trainers and staff galore if you have a question about equipment or exercise, there’s always someone to ask. At home there’s Trainer Google.

Conclusion

So where do I stand on the home gym vs. gym membership question?

For right now, I’ll continue to do both. I mean why not? Probably with a slight edge to home workouts, unless I find a less busy time at the gym. I really like that I’m exercising more, and I credit that to the availability of doing it at home where I’m most comfortable.

Things That Really Changed in the Pandemic

I suppose everyone is different in how they experienced the last year and a half-plus. Still, there are things that really changed in the pandemic, although our lists will differ.

I got my Moderna booster yesterday, and I’m beyond grateful that I could get one. Also, I was pretty darn impressed by Kaiser Permanente and how quickly they seem to have ramped up and repurposed areas for vaccine administration and testing.

Blogger Getting Covid-19 Vaccine dose, February 2021

That got me thinking about how much has changed in the last 19 months or so and about how our lives are different. My life in particular, of course.

Here are the top five things that really changed during the pandemic – for me, anyway.

Exercise/Working Out

During lockdowns I was relegated to taking walks in the neighborhood, then incorporated some resistance band workouts to my routine once I was able to buy them. Slowly, I added various pieces of home equipment including a dip bar, a chin-up bar, and finally, a set of adjustable dumbbells and a legit flat bench.

Dip bar and resistance bands in apartment hallway

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Like everyone else, I was thrilled when the gyms reopened, first as an outdoor venue in a parking garage, then back to the old building with a mask mandate. Problem was, they didn’t enforce the mask mandate and I was uncomfortable, even being vaxxed myself, around maskless heavy-breathing gym bros and gals. So –

I’ve gone back to working out at home and hiking. For now.

Sex

As a single gay man of a certain age, the ready availability of partners had been dwindling already pre-pandemic but came to screeching halt once lockdowns kicked in.

I didn’t go into the pandemic with a partner or any FWB’s like I may have had earlier in life. The helpful venues we had in the community (the baths, the sex clubs) also closed down. Hookup apps don’t really work for me (I just really don’t want to meet status-unknown strangers for right-this-moment-sex at this stage of my life).

Honestly, it reminded me a lot of the fear of the early AIDS days. So basically I went back to what I did then – porn and chat lines became my closest friends. As some sex positive play venues reopen now with mask and vax mandates, I’ll be testing the waters – slowly.

Cooking for One

Can you believe I never ordered food delivery at all pre-pandemic? Yet ordering takeout to be delivered right to my door became my Saturday night treat for months during the pandemic.

It was one thing I could look forward to all week. Even though I mainly ricocheted between a gourmet burger joint and a Lebanese restaurant over and over. It was worth it.

Also, I continued to bake bread for myself, something I’d begun pre-pandemic. I also made a few different kinds of stews (all vegan) which I portioned out and froze. It got to be a steady habit so I’d have to say I ate more consistently and much more healthy during the pandemic. (Basically the cratering of dining out just by itself made me healthier, I could feel it both in my waistline and my wallet.)

Structure

I began to structure my solo days, and soon realized that my life had come to resemble a never-ending kind of high school schedule: The morning walk was first period PE. My creative writing/book work became second period Creative Writing/English. Firing up Mango Languages/Novela watching became third period Spanish. My piano practice became fourth period Piano/Music Theory.

Finally, the Sciatica stretching/Kegel routine became fifth period PE-lite. Then came lunch. And then I made everyday a short-schedule day so I’d have the afternoon off.

I kept this structure six days a week. On Sundays, I replaced most of it with grocery and other shopping and then cleaned the house. I ended up getting a lot done and having much cleaner floors!

Is Going Out Worth It? The New Calculation

Finally, I’ve had to make a new calculation about leaving my house for really anything at all. As in, is it really worth it? As strange as this sounds, living in Los Angeles definitely has its drawbacks, the chief one being, for me, traffic.

Closely followed by general congestion in that there’s just too many people out there. Most of the time.

Actually leaving the house: The Blogger at an Orange Line stop, waiting patiently.

Things that I do: movies – even if theaters are open, do I wanna sit in a closed theater with strangers for two hours? Maybe I’d rather watch the movie at home where I can pause it to go take a piss?

Back to the gym – do I wanna fight traffic, find parking, and spend an hour in a gym with inconsiderate unmasked bros (and gals too)? Maybe it’s more pleasant and safer working out with my own tunes in my little hybrid home setup.

The 12 Step Meetings I’ve been going to for over 30 years: Same as gym with traffic and parking. It’s so much easier to log into a Zoom call. And I don’t have to be wearing pants to do so! So there’s that.

Restaurants – the main attraction had been the company. Not the food, really. I am not a great cook, but I almost never sicken myself in my own home. I often feel sick the next day after eating out.

So yeah, I think I make a different kind of calculation for going almost anywhere – is it really worth it or can I get what I’m looking for right in my own backyard, so to speak?

I guess time will indicate whether or not these changes are permanent. At the same time I don’t intend to be a hermit.

A sense of isolation pervades all this and I didn’t/don’t like that. But I do want to make better choices for myself and the planet.

Overall, I know these pandemic changes will appear shallow to anyone who was really impacted by the pandemic by getting sick or having loved ones die, and I’m aware of that disconnect. I’m grateful every day that I have been privileged to have access not only to vaccines, but also to government actions that did their best to mitigate the pandemic’s damage in our city – and I’m talking about masks and lockdowns.

Gym Membership vs. Home Gym

While it may not be exactly earth shattering, one of the lingering questions of the pandemic (for me, anyway) has been whether or not to continue a gym membership or to lean into the home gym idea.

With my memberships (I have two which overlap: 24-Hour Fitness and Gold’s Gym) both expiring within a couple of months from now, I had to make some kind of decision soon.

I’m happy to report I’ve made a decision, and that in itself feels good: For now, I’ll be all in on the Home Gym.

Why Home Gym?

What factors influenced my decision?

Convenience. That’s a big one. During the pandemic, I discovered that I was apt to be more consistent with my workouts at home than I ever was with jaunts to the physical gym in the Before Times.

Having my equipment, such as it was – a chin-up bar, a dip bar, mats, and a slew of exercise bands at my side or in the next room was a tremendously easier slog than the alternative.

Not pretty but it is practical – dip bar, in the hallway. Also my exercise bands.

Also, in the categories of what you might call “accessories” are items like exercise attire and tunes for atmosphere. At home, I didn’t have to dress in anything special (or anything at all!) and I got to listen to my own iTunes playlists. Again, with the “equipment” – there was never a wait. It was all, always available.

The Alternative – going to the gym – involved this, at least for me: costuming for the gym; corralling hydration; driving (and fighting traffic) to gym (or biking, each is about a mile from my home, in different directions); parking. Once you entered and locked up your car keys and what have you, you’d find your first exercise and inevitably the apparatus would be in use by another. So you wait or do something else on your list and come back to that exercise later. Which I didn’t like, and found stressful, both the anticipation of the crowd and then trying to remember what I had done and still needed to do for my routine, which always followed a specific order. Which I didn’t/don’t like to deviate from.

Again, it’s functional, and it’s always there. I suppose I could make myself do a pull up every time I went down this hallway!

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So, correctly, you could also add Control to my influence factors alongside Convenience and Consistency. What about other c-words, like Cost, and of course, Cruising?

Let’s talk Cost – some of it seems to be merely absorbed into the overall Jim budget – when pandemic arrived, I already had the chin bar and various mats, as well as all the electronics for music and (exercise) videos. I bought the dip bar thing and the slew of primo exercise bands from Amazon (yes, I am guilty – like all of you) which maybe cost a total of around $150? Whatever it was, it wasn’t much. I’ll talk about the new investment vs. the cost of gym membership in the next section.

As far as Cruising — well to be honest, at 66 years, this is not the priority it once was, where the gym was actually one of the best places in town to meet guys. I’m sure it sill is, for some – but also back then (I’m talking about the 80s, 90s mostly) there weren’t smart phones. Today, practically everyone, it seems, connects with their smart phone between sets, either texting or finding music or Instagramming – or something else which I haven’t yet imagined. What used to happen between sets, kids, is that people used to majorly check each other out and IDK, perhaps even say “hi” to each other. I don’t see that happening much from my own observation but I have noticed the love affair with smart phones only increasing over the years.

What I Bought for the Home Gym

Which brings me to the investment I have made into more equipment.

First, I live in a one bedroom apartment and am going to put the Gym in a corner of my bedroom, so there isn’t much space. Second, I do many things for fitness, many of which are outside aerobic activities, including walking, hiking and biking – so resistance training is only a part of my exercise routine, not the major part. I’m not looking to increase muscle size as much as I am to tone and remain strong enough to avoid the injuries one can face from normal aging.

Bowflex adjustable dumbbells I’m trying.

So, I’m starting out conservatively with the new stuff. I’ve purchased a solid weight bench (needed for many dumbbell exercises) and a pair of adjustable dumbbells (which apparently go from 5 lbs. to about 50 lbs. apiece). The cost for both came to about $700, including shipping and tax. I normally spend about $400 a year on a gym membership here in the L.A. area, so to “break even” I’ll have to commit to the home gym idea for nearly two years.

Sturdy Rogue Fitness bench – it looks very solid, no?

It doesn’t seem like that would be an issue – I’ve already done 14 months out of necessity. But we’ll see – I could miss the traffic, the parking, the crowds, the unusable equipment, the shitty music on the PA system, the inconsiderate mask-averse patrons and be dying to go back to the gym. Who knows? I’ll report back and let you know how it’s going.