I have tried quite many different sports during my life. My father used to be a serious kayaking athlete, which is why every PE teacher that I had was pushing me to all sorts of sports trying to make a champion out of me. I tried many different sports to find some hidden sports gene passed to me from my father, but I was not the star in any of them. I used to be a champion of aerobics during the last years of school, but I was always more fragile type than sporty. However, I really feel my body’s need to exercise and I understand all the advantages of working out, that is why I try to do some sports as often as possible.

As I mentioned previously, I tried many sports and I tried many gyms and private coaches. But over the years I have found that working out at home by myself is more effective for me.

Here are my reasons why I work out at home instead of going to the gym:

Flexibility

We are so busy nowadays and so many people have a wonderful excuse not to work out – there is no time. It is so true, but on the other hand you can always find some time for the things you really want. Working out at home has a huge advantage versus working out at the gym – flexibility.

It is up to you when to exercise: morning, noon, evening or even at night. You can split your exercising time into shorter intervals and squeeze them in between of cooking, feeding, sleeping or playing with kids, or doing some other home chores. You can break your workout into 3 or 4 segments and perform them in 10-15 minutes intervals during different times of the day. And this is much better than nothing. You can do it in your yard, in your balcony, in your kitchen, in your bedroom, in your bathroom… So many options to choose. There are no working hours, there is no preset schedule, your “gym” is open constantly, any time of the day and any day of the year. There are no exercises that you feel bad about because you choose which ones to do; no music that you hate… flexibility is in every step.

Time

I am not going to the office every day and I know that you might think I have lots of free time, but this is not true. I have lots of responsibilities at home and in order to do everything that is needed, I plan my time very carefully. I find driving to the gym and back, packing everything and preparing sometimes might take longer than the actual workout. You can use the same half an hour or sometimes even an hour spent on the road much more effectively instead. You can also plan your sports time, so you could save one additional shower. For example, you can exercise before the morning shower, or before the evening shower. You would not go to the gym without a morning shower, but you can work out before your morning shower at home and you would not annoy your room walls with your out of the bed smell. This way you can save some more time.

Privacy

People seek communication, but working out is not for communicating. Gyms can be too distracting because they are full of people. Chatting with a workout friend or even with a personal trainer might distract you from your workout and this socialization might lead to the insufficient exercising time or even make you forget about your workout plans at all. Of course, exercising at home can be distracting as well, but at least at home you have more control and you can choose a private moment of the day and a room without distractions.

You can do whatever you want exercising at home and forget that the same thing would embarrass you at the gym. You can scream, shout or crawl after an exhausting exercise and no one will laugh or give you a strange look.

You can listen to any music you want and as loud as you wish forgetting earbuds that keep falling out while you try to listen to the music you like while working out in the gym. It can be Justin Bieber or Metallica. You can sing along not noticing even that you are missing all the notes. Isn’t it fun?

Let’s admit that many of us feel embarrassed of our body shapes. Too fat, too slim, too much cellulite… There are so many perfect bodies in the gym, that it might be frustrating and discouraging to put on your gym suit and try to hide among these perfectly trained bodies. You have no one around to compare yourself with and you can concentrate on the moves and not on how to keep your stomach glued to your spine.

You can wear any clothes that you feel comfortable in while exercising at home. Meanwhile every time I went to the gym I was just stressing to fit in and buy new trendy sports outfits. But this has nothing to do with working out, it is just another distraction. You can work out even in your underwear or pajamas at home and there would not be any shame in that, and nobody would complain.

Hygiene

I am an obsessed pedant. I see every speck of dust and that makes me crazy. I tried some very fancy and glamorous gyms in my life. And yes, they were clean enough for my pedantic nature, but I have seen so many untidy ones as well, and unfortunately these are the majority. But even in the posh ones, I was frequently distracted by someone’s hair on the floor. I know, for many people this is normal, but I am very sensitive to this kind of things and a black spot of mold inside the shower or sweaty equipment is a horror for me. There are more chances to get some nasty bacteria in the gym as well. If you find some hair on the floor at your home, at least you know it is yours.

Money

Gym membership is usually quite an expensive pleasure, not to talk about the private coaches at the gym. Sometimes you buy a membership and you think you are exercising, but you go there twice a month. So at the end it might be very expensive and even waste of money. No gym membership or trainer would help you, if you have no motivation to do some sport.

Gym clothes and bags are quite expensive as well. You can save on these doing sports at home.

You would say: aha, but the cost of the equipment? You do not need all that fancy equipment at all. There are so many bodyweight workouts that are challenging enough. YouTube is exploding with different exercising videos. You can choose what you like and what you think works for you the best. Yes, it would take some time to find the system that fits you, but this time is an investment to educate yourself about fitness and wellness of your body that is a very important skill to have.