If you’ve been considering working out from home, because of too many missed classes to the gym, or simply because you’re just not able to make it there, there are a few things you need to know first. We’ve put together a short list of them, so that when you start working out at home, you won’t get too taken by surprise.
It’s better because there’s no one else to throw you of
The noise and distractions of the gym; the tv, the people, that one guy who grunts loud; all of those are gone when you’re working out from home. You don’t have to be self-conscious, or worry that if you sit at that bench in front of the mirror, the girl behind you taking selfies will be upset. You can just do your thing.
It’s harder because it’s there’s no-one to benchmark yourself against
The flip-side of that is,of course, that if you’re someone who is used to taking classes and benchmarking yourself against others, you won’t be able to do that anymore. And of course, the social element is gone. You can get around this using some fitness apps and fit tech, which allow you to see other people’s workout stats against your own, so that you can see how you stack up.
It’s better because you can do things on your time
When you’re working out in a class or gym setting, there can be a lot of pressure to finish quickly, or beat the oldest person in the room. You don’t have to think about that with home workouts. Home workouts help you to reclaim your exercises for yourself. Can’t go as fast as the instructor? No problem. Want to walk it out instead of doing jumping jacks? Go right ahead.
It’s harder because there’s nothing holding you to doing a workout
Something you will quickly notice about working out on your own, is that the level of accountability is much lower. If the instructor tells you to hold for 8 seconds, and you only hold for 4, nobody is going to yell at you for stopping, or push you to push yourself. And if the rep count is 12, but you do 9, only you will know about it. That’s why you have to be stricter with yourself when you’re working out alone, only you can push yourself to get the results you want.
It’s better because you can have a lot more variety
A lot of gyms have limited schedules, with certain classes at certain times, which means that combined with your personal schedule, you might find yourself doing the same few workouts over and over. The benefit of the home workout is that, as long as you have the right equipment, you can pretty much do what you want. Pilates today and HIIT tomorrow? Why not?!
It harder to know that you’re working all the right parts of the body
Because you do get to pick what your workout is each time, and this isn’t decided for you by someone else, it can be very easy to miss working certain parts of the body, and only work the ones you feel the most comfortable with. This is why when you’re working out at home it’s very important to try and follow programs which do the hard work of planning which muscles you train. Finding a good regimen which will work all of your body is the key to keeping workouts both varied and effective.
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