Gyms or Home?
 

Do you prefer to work out at home or the gym?

The gym. If I try to work out at home I'll have four cats and a beast of a dog crawling all over me.

I prefer the gym. I kind of feel like I have to force myself to work out at home. But, I do it when I have to :)

I perfer working out outside.

Annie

I would rather work out at a gym but it's so hard to make time to go. I get off work at 5 and have 2 young kids. So, I ususally stick to my elliptical at home.

Depends... I am weird... I go through phases. Right now, I am working out at home - I have a treadmill. But sometimes I go through phases where I can't motivate myself to workout if I am at home (I get distracted with the dishes, laundry, TV, etc.), so I sign up for the gym and go there. I have been a member at Planet Fitness, Work Out World, and Bally's in the last 7 years! Lol! I love the group classes...

@ home, with my turbo jam tapes...i want to join a gym where have TJ classes. free weights, cardio, resistance bands, the works.

Gym. If I work out at home I get distracted and end up doing something else... like coming on the internet or playing with my dog. If I go to the gym, I will easily work out for an hour at a time because I went through the work of getting my butt over there

The gym. I get bored if I do the same cardio all the time. I like the option of the treadmill one day, elliptical or rowing machine the next.

I also have three large labradors that follow me from room to room. I hate to see what they'd do if I started trying to workout to a DVD.

I like to work out at home myself. I have the balance ball, the bands and my tapes. I prefer Tae Bo becuase you get a really good sweat out of it everytime you do it! I never really liked packing all my things up and heading to the gym, just not enough time for that in my life I guess. I work out every morning for an hour before I head off to work, I love it!

Definately the gym. I feel much more motivated because I see everyone else working out so hard. Plus, like many others, I have my dogs at home that don't like me doing anything they aren't involved in :)

At home for me. Going to the gym takes too much time (especially if I have to brush off the car :)). It's so easy for me to just put on my workout clothes, hop on the elliptical, do my time, and hop in the shower.

Depends on my mood. I don't have a treadmill so I use the gym. The weights areas crowded right now so I sometimes do those at home, sometimes at the gym.

Definitely prefer home...always feel like people are looking at me at the gym. I have weights, bike, treadmill and hoping to add an elliptical in May to my little home gym...plus several dvds. about 10 I think.

The gym, group aerobics classes.
If I was doing an aerobics tape at home I'll usually give up half way through.
At the gym I do it for the whole hour.

Oh and yoga I prefer to do it at the gym. Definitely helps to have an instructor lead the class.

Home.

I hate the hassle of going to a gym, waiting for equipment, etc. I'm self-conscious about the way I look, and especially about how uncoordinated I am. At home I can flail around all I want knowing no one can see how goofy I look! :dizzy:

For now, I'm doing aerobics tapes and going for the occasional walk in the hilly neighborhoods nearby. In the future, though, I will start jogging again and leave the tapes for rainy days.

I like both, though I don't have a gym membership right now. I'd like one for the childcare so I could run without a stroller, but then again, I hate running on a treadmill. I do like the convenience of just popping in a DVD and getting in a workout at home.

I also prefer the gym since theres so much I can mix in my routine. Like 24 Hour Fitness offers more than just treadmills. They have a bunch of group classes like Yoga or Dance classes I cam mix in. Not to mention they have saunas and spas too. :)

LeedaRenee and Hardatwork- If you are trying to find a gym with childcare, 24 Hour Fitness has a program called Kids Club. You work out and they play in a supervised area. Is that something that would help?

Definitely the gym! My house is way too small for me to work out in. There is absolutely no room for any type of cardio equipment and if I did any sort of aerobics or anything, I'd most surely knock something over and break it. :sorry: There's barely enough room to stretch.

Also, I like having the choice of equipment, classes, and sauna afterwards. Sometimes I get ideas for exercises to try by watching other people at the gym. Finally, there are cute trainers to watch at the gym ;) --definitely a bonus.

For me it has to be a gym.

1 - I don't have room in my 2 bedroom townhouse for a lot of equipment. I do have an exercise ball and a mat and I often do situps and basic yoga at home, but for real cardio and for weight lifting, I have to have a gym with a variety of equipment.

2 - I don't have the willpower/motivation to make myself workout at home. If I'm home , I want to be in my jammies and hanging out. Or (since I'm self employed) I tend to get distracted by work and wind up sitting at the computer in my workout clothes and not actually exericising.

3 - I need the motivation of having paid $$. If I pay for the membership, then I'm damn well going to use it! At home, I don't have that motivation.

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depends i like 2 walk at home but go 2 the gym 2 swim

For me it's definitely at home.
Since I start my workout between 5 and 6 am it's just so much easier to go downstairs.
We have a treadmill and my husband bought quite a few WL machines about 10 years ago that are still fine.
The only one I use now since I am doing pretty much all free weights is the lat pulldown station.
I also got bowflex weights ( where you can dial the weight you want and it goes up by 2 and 1/2 lbs which is great) a swiss ball for crunches, and we have a bench.
I do my yoga downstairs too at the end of each workout.
Since we have cable and a tv downstairs I can listen to the great music stations when I work out.
Someday fairly soon I would like to buy a squat rack but I'm not there yet.

Home for sure.

Gym is just too much hassle unless I got one very close to home. But normal 3-7 miles when I factor in time in the car (gas prices also) parking getting in, changing, getting settled, finding equipment, basically everything but actually being on equipment then going home it works out to more time than getting a good workout at home in total.

Just bought a schwinn 418 elliptical. Incredibly sturdy, very challenging, good clean smooth stride, good choice of computer programs. For me and my wife going monthly to a gym it will pay for itself in less than 10 months.

And for my lifestyle will use it way more than going to a gym. Just too much time overall going to a gym. Plus watch recorded tv from the previous days when working out so get that done at the same time.

I can't afford the gym, so I do most of my workouts at home. I do work at a school that has a pool though, which because I am an employee I can use anytime after hours for free. I've started swimming 3-4 times a week on the off days that I don't work out at home.

I exercise at home because there are no gyms near by worth going to. I pop in a video and workout. I also have a 16 month old son so my schedule is unperdictable at times and my only time to workout is his naps.

I prefer the gym, but since we moved a lot farther from the gym (well, any gym) and gas prices have gone up even more, I don't have the extra money for a gym membership currently. Plus, I have an 8 month old baby and work from home full-time, so if I packed up and drove to the gym, worked out, showered and drove back home, it would take a good 2 1/2 hours, and I barely have time to get my work finished by my deadline each day as it is! I love the WATP DVDs and we bought a treadmill a couple of months ago, and I LOVE IT! Someday I'd love to get a gym membership again, but we'll see. I'm also looking forward to warm weather so I can get some use out of my jogging stroller!

I always find it interesting how everyone is SO different.

I enjoy working out OUTDOORS the most. I love the sunshine, and take advantage of it with long walks, playing catch or frisbee, hiking, etc...

THAT BEING SAID....

I don't like doing any of that alone. :( And my fiance doesn't get home until 7:30 at night... so we only have 2 days a week that we can do anything.

So, by myself... it's the gym. Hands down. At home I still do stuff, for example I have a little bike pedal thingy (no room for and couldn't afford a bike), I just put it in front of my couch and pedal away while I'm watching TV or playing video games! Easy stuff. :)

BUT I LOVE being able to get away from all distractions and focus on ME. Just zone out, forget about the dishes and the laundry and the shopping and this and that.... If the mess won't go away, I'll run away from the mess! So I'm re-joining the the gym this week!

This thread has inspired me. :)

I'm MUCH more motivated at the gym. I seem to be able to stick with it a lot more when there is a group of people all doing it at once. I never want to be the only person in the class who gives up. I also am not the kind of person who parts with a dollar lightly (I'm cheap) so that $72 a month we pay to the Y needs to be worth it.

I don't have the motivation to work out at home. Have been trying it for a few months and have gotten nowhere. I signed up for a Curves membership tonight after my coworker did because she said she now works out and is finally losing weight because she doesn't want the membership money to go to waste and there are no distractions like tv at home. I find when I go home I want to curl up in jammies or chat on yahoo to my boyfriend or watch tv.

I guess I am the odd man out here. I prefer to work out at home but I have the room to do so. The reason I ultimately went this direction is that for the price of a gym membership, I could outfit my basement with the equipment I liked and wanted to use. Also, I never have to worry about waiting for others to get off of the equipment I want to use. I can go down stairs hit hard for 30 minutes and be done. No drive there and back.

Home. Motivation to do something at home is no problem for me - motivating myself to go *out* and do something is a problem (I do love walking when there's not fifty feet of snow on the ground though). We really don't have the room at home (small apartment), but we squished in an elliptical, and I have my weights and mat stashed under the sofa. Every time I have signed up for a gym or pool membership, I'd get to a day where the weather was crappy, or I needed a nap, or something else, and I'd just put off my workout until 'tomorrow'. Well, 'tomorrow' often turned into 'next week', and I would lose the momentum and stop going. Now, I can do something every day, and if I need a nap, I take it and do my exercises later. If the weather is crappy, I don't care. I can listen to the music I want to, not whatever the gym pipes in, and If I want to sing along, no one gets irritated by my horrible off key accompaniment :lol:

BP

I agree. 24 Hr has a bunch of equipment I wouldn't be able to fit in my 1BD ...haha. The spa or sauna is a nice touch for relaxation as well.

O man. haha. You are too much. When you break it down like that, you make it seem like an eternity to go to a gym! I have my gym within 10-15 minutes from me. I don't see it as a hassle. But I am in California...and we have over 200 24 Hour Fitness gyms.

Swimming is fun. They have a big pool at 24 Hr Fitness that is real nice. Your budget can't fit in a gym membership? They have a lot of different plans at 24 that fit different budgets. They have been the most affordable in my eyes so far. $29 a month is what my budget could allow. You should check their site for offers.

Definitely home. I've amassed a collection of about 50 DVDs so I have tons of variety to choose from. I've got strength training with weights, Hi/Lo, step aerobics, circuit training, Runervals, Spinervals, kickboxing, yoga, dance, etc. etc. You name it, I've got it! I also have a treadmill, exercise bike, and assorted dumbbells, bands, balls and mats.

For me, getting to and from the gym is a barrier to exercise. I wind up blowing it off. The gym's schedule for classes is also a barrier. It just never seems to jive with my own schedule. Exercising at home means there's always a class available that I want to take at a time I want to take it.

I prefer a bit of both, i prefer the gym because i have to work out there wheras at home if the fone rings mid routine i will talk for an hour or so n then forget about it, but also i dont like to work too hard because i hate getting all red and puffy and sweaty in public wheras at home i can luk like the sweatiest beast alive! haha oh well im still not sure =] xxx

Both! I exercise at home 6 mornings a week, and I go to a cardio class at the gym on Mondays and Wednesdays. I enjoy both, though it's harder to force myself when I'm at home. I paid for the gym, so I want to get my money's worth.:p

Definitely the gym. I go there specifically to do my workouts, and there is nothing that distracts me like at home. Plus they have some kick butt equipment that I dont have.

ITA...there is a lot of sweet equipment at the gym that I can't afford to buy (at the moment..:p) or even store! Classes are sure fun to take, especially since 24 Hour Fitness offers about 30 different classes I can choose. They run the whole week too...Mon-Sun.

What kinds of group classes have you tried?