Weight training at home is likely going to become much more popular due to the countless temporary gym closings in spring 2020 due to Covid-19. In our current social distancing times, we are being forced to weight train on our own in our homes and apartments. I can see the trend continuing even after gyms throughout the country start opening. Of course, there are plenty of pros and cons to weight training at home.
Pro – Safety from other gym goers germs
Let’s face it, if you’re going to the gym frequently, you’re also in close contact with people who are sweating, breathing heavy, possibly sneezing and coughing, and touching the equipment you will be using. There should be sanitizer bottles all over the place in any worthy gym, and people working there constantly wiping down equipment, but not everybody wipes down what they use, and it takes time for workers to sanitize everything. Also, do barbells and dumbbell handles really get sanitized that often. Gym locker rooms are their own story when it comes to the possibility of germ spreading.
If you lift or do another type of exercise at home, those unwanted germs can be easily avoided if you are the only person who uses the equipment. Your own shower is always better than a lock room too.
Con – Safety while weight training at home
Unless you weight train at home with a partner, you won’t have anybody there to help you if you fail on an exercise. On some exercises, this won’t be a very big deal. However, you really don’t want to fail on a free weight bench press with nobody around. You at least want to not have the collars on a bench while going heavy if you need to dump it to the side. Having some type of safety measure on pressing exercises like doing them in a rack with adjustable stoppers is a good idea if you are going for heavy weight training at home. Whatever the case, don’t go so heavy that you may put yourself in danger while lifting alone at home.
Pro – You can do what you want with no waiting
If you’ve ever been to a gym, even if it wasn’t that busy, you’ve certainly run into an issue with someone on the machine you want to use or all the bench or squat racks being used. It’s inevitable that this will happen to you in the gym at some point, forcing you to wait around for the equipment you want to use to open up or switch the exercises you planned on doing.
Most gym goers will let you work in, but who really wants to do that. Even if you’re comfortable with working in or letting somebody work in with you, it goes back to germ spreading by sharing equipment. After this Covid-19 ordeal is over with, you probably won’t see as many gym rats working in with others and vice versa.
If you have a home gym with the equipment you want, you’ll never have this issue. You can even go from exercise to exercise on different equipment without having to worry about it getting used by someone else between sets.
Con – You have to purchase expensive equipment and find space for it
If you want to lift the types of weight you were at the gym, some pieces of equipment will be necessary. Push-ups are a great exercise you can always do, but eventually you may want that bench and weights heavy enough to make you work through some max out style sets. This holds true with exercises for any muscle group, so a variety of equipment, or some type of machine with separate stations to train all of the major muscle groups, is best for a home gym.
Of course, space for weight training equipment at home will also be needed. If you go with the basics, you shouldn’t need very much room. Basements and garages are always great spots to set up home gyms. If you live somewhere that just doesn’t have the room, you will have to use whatever resources you have available to get a good workout in.
Pro – You can still get a great workout in without much equipment
Though you may prefer lifting heavy, weight training workouts without weight and/or minimal equipment is an excellent temporary option. If you have to go with push-ups and bodyweight squats, you can go for very high rep sets and use some high intensity techniques to get a great pump. Having an overhead bar somewhere in your house for pull-ups will add a lot of options as well. If you want to be able to hit each muscle group more though, you can find an inexpensive sets of bands or cables with handles. These work great for hitting your back, shoulders, biceps and triceps.
The pros and cons of weight training at home listed above should aid you in your decision to continue working out more at home even when gyms start opening again. If there was ever a time to consider making a permanent change from a commercial to a home gym, this is definitely it.