When you first bought some excercise equipment...

Since moving house and having my own reasonably sized garage I have a load of gym equipment now. Been managing to keep at it and the extra time in lockdown has made me work atit even harder. I love having my own private space to work out in. Not sure I would enjoy going to a gym as much.

I'm at the stage now where I actually enjoy it and feel a bit empty at the end of the day if I haven't had a session.

At first, it was ***** hard work to make myself do it regularly but that perseverance is the hardest part.

I have a newfound appreciation for those that are really in shape/muscular. It is hard work and takes a lot of mental strength to keep at it. Visual gains are slow, so it's easy to give up if you don't look like Chris Hemsworth after a few months, but realistically , unless you have a hollywood personal trainer and nothing else to do, you have to think in years for a healthy natural gain.

To OP, I would say this (and it's something similar to what Arnold schwarzeneger has said in the past):

Make yourself do it, and even if you can't do a whole session one day, do SOMETHING, even like 20 pushups. Keep that momentum up , however small. I think its good advice, because as soon as you let it slide one day to the next, it's game over.
 
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When I was 17 I was a fat **** and my parents and I went halves on an exercise bike.

I rode it most days whilst playing Xbox 360 and in no time at all I lost a load of weight.

I've had loads of home exercise equipment over the years that have had good use. The only big regret was an ecliptic (sp?) that was reasonable expensive that didn't get much use as I didn't like it.
 
So did everyone also diet and eat better when they exercised?

As that is the most important part.

After I stopped exercising my diet slowly went back to being a bit crap.

But that has all changed for me already.
 
I got an exercise bike a few years ago to go on whilst watching TV or playing on my 360 and now PS4. I go on it one to four times a week depending on how "stogey" I feel having sat a desk all day. Probably not the best tool as my upper body doesn't do anything all day even with the bike and my feet / ankles don't do anything all day and aren't really involved in the pedalling I think.

The main problem with it is where it lives. It's in the way all the time and if a faff to get out and put away if I try to hide it a bit more which makes me not want to go on it!
 
robin66 said:
So did everyone also diet and eat better when they exercised?

As that is the most important part.

After I stopped exercising my diet slowly went back to being a bit crap.

But that has all changed for me already.
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The diet part is the easy bit. Just dont eat loads of snacks/cakes/deserts. Stick to big nutritious meals (and supplementary protein if you want to get bigger/are lifting).
 
I remember going to Argos to get some weights and my dad took me. I was young and weak and couldn't even lift the box of weights, lol. Dad, can you help......
 
robin66 said:
I have one of these coming in about a week's time.

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I've trained in the past, but then due to ill health, I stopped.

As I'm older and my health isn't the best I'm going to be taking my time with training.

And I'm not going to make it a big part of my life as I want time to do other things. I'm thinking if I spend too much time on training alone. I'll just get feed up with it and then just stop. So spending say 2 or 3 times a week on it only, will be for the best.

And I'm not evening thinking about gaining mass. Just trimming up and losing some of the fat, I've gained over the years.

It will be in our 12 by 12 foot shed. And I'll be adding a treadmill or bike at some point.
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This is mine, I haven't been in it for 5 years -

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Does a MTB count?
Think it was about 1997 I asked for a "Proper" mountain bike to allow me to get out and about and away from the computer.
My mother folded and took me to a decent bike shop, think it was called Revolutions. Well she got me one for my Birthday (I think), a Giant Boulder Duo shock. I got properly into it I was hooked. Bike lasted maybe 2 1/2 years before it just gave up, I was asking way too much of it as my riding improved and outgrew what a budget URT suspension design was capable of. However, that bike sparked a fire that still burns to this day, 20 odd years later. What started as a bit of phys turned into so much more, its a lifestyle now. I've spent more on bikes than I care to think about, bikes have taken me on more adventures and given me more joy than anything else in life, I've had so many highs and some soul destroying lows on bikes, but riding is the gift that just keeps giving and I just love sharing that with my mates. I've made so many good friends over the years through MTB and met so many wonderful people. As long as my body will allow it I will continue doing it.
 
I bought a power rack and bench etc. when I was 18.5st, lost 4st and got pretty fit and big. Then I got married, moved house and had kids so it's been in my friends warehouse for the past 5 years getting used by his little brother haha. Need to build a log cabin and put it in there.
 
Moved into my new house late last year and GF decided she wanted a Gym type room, we had the space so spent about 30 grand (£3kish) kitting it out with a decent cross fit machine, bike, flooring and a set of weights.

I've personally used it for 30 mins, i think she did a few hours in there over a week or 2 in winter.

Fat people dreams...
 
Had a gym membership for years but had some weights and a bench still in the box, all got hauled out and set up in the garage when the gym was no longer an option, was difficult to motivate myself to go out there when it was minus something in the garage.
 
robin66 said:
Looks really good. Much cheaper in the long run than going to a gym.
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Everyone is different but from my experience, joining a gym is a far better option than investing in a home gym like this, not saying there is anything wrong with it but I find there are too many distractions preventing a proper routine when at home and the temptation to bin it off/have a half arsed session is too strong normally resulting in the equipment not getting used and money wasted as per a lot of the replies in this thread.
I find that once I get to the gym I'm there now and a decent workout is much more likely to happen and there is far more proper equipment that will enable you to get the results you are after.
A gym membership can be as little as £10 a month/£120 a year while a decent home gym will set you back thousands, if I was to invest then a good set of weights and a bench would be a better option than these so called all in one multigyms.

Regarding cardio - again from experience I am much more likely to maintain any routine by actually going out to run/cycle or go to the pool for a swim as static machines are far more tedious and take extreme amounts of willpower to maintain a regular routine, far better to invest in a pushbike as per the MTB reply above or play a sport that is fun like football etc.
 
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Maximum Triceratops said:
Everyone is different but from my experience, joining a gym is a far better option than investing in a home gym like this, not saying there is anything wrong with it but I find there are too many distractions preventing a proper routine when at home and the temptation to bin it off/have a half arsed session is too strong normally resulting in the equipment not getting used and money wasted as per a lot of the replies in this thread.
I find that once I get to the gym I'm there now and a decent workout is much more likely to happen and there is far more proper equipment that will enable you to get the results you are after.
A gym membership can be as little as £10 a month/£120 a year while a decent home gym will set you back thousands, if I was to invest then a good set of weights and a bench would be a better option than these so called all in one multigyms.

Regarding cardio - again from experience I am much more likely to maintain any routine by actually going out to run/cycle or go to the pool for a swim as static machines are far more tedious and take extreme amounts of willpower to maintain a regular routine, far better to invest in a pushbike as per the MTB reply above or play a sport that is fun like football etc.
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You are right everyone is different. And you do bring up some good points for going to the gym also. You also forget to mention the social aspect of going to a gym. And meeting like-minded people. Which is another good reason for going to one.

But with ill health and Covid still doing the rounds. I think this is the better choice for me. It really does suit me better to do it this way. :)

Once again, thank you for the points made for going to a good gym.
 
I do my kettle bell thing for a while but then get lazy but like yesterday a couple of females (edit one) said as I passed "he's alright, I like them rough around the edges" I will take that at my age ;) so makes me go back to it again for a while, I can see as you get results it might spiral into a lifestyle, minor addiction thing
 
moon man said:
I do my kettle bell thing for a while but then get lazy but like yesterday a couple of females said as I passed "he's alright, I like them rough around the edges" I will take that at my age ;) so makes me go back to it again for a while, I can see as you get results it might spiral into a lifestyle, minor addiction thing
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Clearly didn't have the crocs on then did you! :p
 
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