[quote]VTPower wrote:
Honest question: Why don’t more of you guys train at home? The initial investment can last a lifetime. Plus the privacy, time saved from not commuting, freedom of music/expletives/raunchy outfits etc.
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Im lucky. Over the past 5-6 years i have built up a home gym and probably spent $5k+ doing so. My current employer also pays my full gym membership fees at the local gym where i started this journey many years ago. So now i have the choice of training at home or at a local gym. I would say 95% of the time i choose to train at home, and to be honest the only reason i go to the commercial gym is to use the leg press.
[quote]lemony2j wrote:
Damn you Americans! The crappy council gyms around my way are £43/month!!! I work for the council so I get it for £35/year but the cost for what they provide is sickening.
A half decent gym opened up near me for £30/month but that was with a 2 yr contract!
For a more upmarket gym you’re looking at £70-£80/month
And golds is $50/~£30… GTFO man[/quote]
I made the jump to a garage gym just to avoid over paying for smith machines and junkies shitting in saunas.
I pay £60 at Virgin on the south coast in England. Worth every penny to be able to walk into a well equipped weights area that never has more than 5 other people in it, compared to cheaper gyms in the area that were always rammed and the squat rack being used for anything but squatting + I work literally across the road.
I’d have a home gym if I had my own home, and I’m sure more NYC people would have their own home gyms if they had the space for one. I know one guy who has his own down in the Bronx, but he is the building manager and he owns the basement!
[quote]VTPower wrote:
Honest question: Why don’t more of you guys train at home? The initial investment can last a lifetime. Plus the privacy, time saved from not commuting, freedom of music/expletives/raunchy outfits etc.
Are the fees worth having every dumbbell from 5 to 150+lbs? Stretchy stuff in the color of the rainbow and HS machines, pulleys and cables for everything? There is a gym here that is 20 bucks a month, but they only have smith machines, no cages or free racks. Deadlifts and oly lifts are not allowed. Constantly crammed and so forth. I wouldn’t go back if I were paid to. I suppose, for me, the tradeoffs are worth it. [/quote]
Space. Not everyone has the advantage of living in a spacious place like vermont
Living in London, where sq footage is stupidly expensive, very few people have the luxury of a living space they can dedicate to a hobby.
I can definitely understand issues of space, living in an apartment under a lease, etc. The question more applies to those who have homes or space for a cage or rack I guess.
I’m with JFG on that any hobby one is passionate about can suck up money. There’s no shortage of extraneous stuff for us to spend our cotton notes on, should we want to get more involved with our pastime for better or worse.
[quote]fisch wrote:
But yeah I hate how crowded gyms can be. Literally will piss me off sometimes walking in and seeing EVERY bench and machine being used. That’s why I now lift in the mornings, or very early afternoon if it works out.[/quote]
IDK man I like working out when its somewhat busy it sorta pumps you up, especially if there is a big guys working out it just makes you want it that much more.
Lifting might be more expensive than sitting at home, but as a hobby it’s definitely one of the cheaper ones. At various times I’ve skied, surfed, collected watches, collected pop surrealism, raced cars, ridden motorcycles, raised dogs, raised children, shot sporting clays and other shooting sports, owned a cottage, owned a boat (never again), and fished, and lifting is by far the cheapest in absolute terms as well as the best value in bang per buck spent.
Hell, my cable package costs more than my gym membership so it would be more expensive to sit on the couch and be a fat ass than work out 5 days a week.
As a whole I will say usually it is the ones who dont look like they even workout who spend them most or the ‘living the dream’ guys who really are feeding an addiction than a lifestyle. Most guys spend a resonable amount on supplements, food and gym which like Stu mentioned, can actually be viewed as investments into your health and productive lifestyle. I mean think of a pack a day smoker, they usually spend an average of 200$ a week just on that one vice.
for the record I pay 10 bucks a month at my Golds…
One side note, from a financial standpoint. If you are spending more money a month on supplements or PED’s than you are putting into your savings/investments you WILL regret that decision down the road. These things should be treated in your lifestyle just like most advocate in diet, a ‘supplement’. Nobody wants to wake up one day broke, in debt, no retirement savings but have giant biceps. And if you actually do… just reminds me of that guy living in his van from Bigger, Stronger, Faster.
