I would have gone back to a gym if I hadn't started my home gym. Now I have I love it and only want to add to it really.
The point about selling your equipment on when you're done is a really good one too.
Outwith a pandemic. You are lucky to get 20% back of your initial outlay.
I sold like 2 grands worth of gear a year before the pandemic for like £350. This was a top power rack plus the attachments, commercial bench, etc.
During the pandemic of course I sold everything else I had for 3 times what I had paid for it. Selling £5k worth of stuff for £15k.
Also home gyms will never match a commercial gym for range of equipment. There's just so much choice available at a commercial gym at home after you have a power rack you won't have space for much more unless it's a double garage. Even then I know someone who built one in a double garage and he still went to the gym as well as having a set up at home and he spent a lot of money on his home gym. He had around £5k in dumbbells alone.
That's the other thing people who think a home gym takes 3 years to breakeven probably have the bare essentials and nothing more.
I can go to a commercial gym and I have at least 6 different types of cardio machines on offer. Weights it's probably into 30+ different machines and then you have free weights with a full rack of dumbbells to use.
You also then have access to swimming pool, steam and a sauna.
As for people comparing costs and then adding something small like commuting costs into the mix. I'd ask if your gym isn't local to you and within 5 minutes why? Have you considered the costs of running your home gym including insulation, heating, air con/fans, etc? It's not just free after the initial outlay. A treadmill can use a lot of power up especially if running for 10k every other day.
Building a home gym should never be about saving money.
Dare I say. The £5-£10k I spent. Had I just invested that instead. It would pay for my gym membership with its gains.
Obviously if you are going for a small set up with limited use then sure it's cheaper but it's going to also be boring and dull to use as well. I feel once you travel to a gym that's 99% of the battle over you are there now you have to workout. Having one on your doorstep you can always say I'll use it tomorrow and not bother. For example my mates home gym he is the only one who uses it and it's a large family home. Nobody else bothers with it and they go to classes and commercial gym instead.
