Take it away, Mr Reply Guy:
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“I dunno man. I can only speak for myself, but I was in the best shape of my life when I had a gym in my garage – trained 5-6 times a week, and loved it.
Maybe I’m just antisocial – I much prefer to train alone. I still go to the gym multiple times a week. But the enjoyment is much less, and it takes longer due to sharing equipment.
Also, how weak would you have to be for “putting yourself through the discomfort of commuting to and from the gym” to be a significant factor in your life? Maybe it’s a thing if going to the gym is the ONLY way someone pushes themselves – but it’s pretty sad if that’s the case.
On that note, I find this to be a recurring theme in fitness content – the idea that getting fit, strong, and healthy is the hardest thing most people will do, and they should reserve all their grit and determination for it. Maybe it’s true, but if it is, it’s depressing.
Anyway. Enjoying your emails for the most part, just couldn’t relate to this one”
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As is always the way, Our Hero missed the point entirely.
I never said it was always a bad idea to train at home or even that there aren’t times when it is the best option.
Only that I generally recommend against it.
Moreover, I never so much as implied that the discomfort of commuting to and from the gym would be a significant factor in someone’s life. However, it absolutely is a factor for people who work long and/or irregular hours, potentially far away from home.
As I did when I was working as an ambulance paramedic doing 12 hour shifts (that often ran over by anywhere from thirty minutes to three hours) with a minimum 30 minute commute each way (I never wanted to be based in the town where I lived, not that it made a difference as I’d invariably end up responding to calls on my doorstep).
Let me tell you, the very last thing I wanted to do before or after those shifts was add extra travel to and from the gym on the days I was due to train.
But I did.
And I credit that small discomfort with aiding the development of the discipline and mental fortitude needed to maintain a sensible, sustainable training regime both in those times and now when I am juggling running a business, assisting my wife with her business, and stewarding my family which in a couple of months will feature three children under the age of five.
Then there are the practical advantages you get from training in a gym, which include but are not limited to:
* Having access to a broad range of exercise machines to assist in the rehabilitation of or train around injuries that would otherwise leave you sidelined (provided you have been cleared to do so by a qualified and registered medical professional),
* Exposure to high quality and/or specialist exercise machines specifically which are objectively better for certain hypertrophy training protocols yet are unaffordable for probably 99.9% of people (like those by Nautilus whose sublime pullover machine costs circa £4500),
* Other people training in your general vicinity for when you need a spot or form video taking, or, in certain cases, who you can learn much from (about training and life in general).
Although if you believe the advantages of training at home outweigh the advantages of training in a gym, that’s fine.
It makes no difference to me whatsoever if you are not my client.
If you decide to become my client, I won’t make you join a gym if you don’t want to go, but the chances are I will recommend you do for various reasons, only some of which I have touched upon in this email.
Speaking of becoming my client, the most commonly taken route is my three month programme which I have detailed on the below-linked page:
https://philtyreman.co.uk/programme/
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman