Teresa Parry is one of the co-owners of CrossFit Logan, based in Chicago’s Logan Square. She coaches alongside her husband Tom Parry and is an ambassador for the CrossFit community in the Chicago area. You can connect with her through the CrossFit Logan website or on social media.

Most of us know how important it is to exercise in order to stay fit and healthy. Especially nowadays, exercise can be a way of not only maintaining a sense of normalcy, a sense of self, but it can also provide an escape from our lives and can bring clarity and peace.  Getting regular exercise is vital in terms of staying in shape, keeping the heart-healthy, and staying focused. It can also help you to avoid problems such as obesity along with the range of additional health problems that come with it.

However, there are many people who, despite knowing the importance of regular exercise, still fail to get enough regular physical activity. This often comes down to issues such as having no time due to family and work commitments or being unable to afford the cost of a gym membership, and welll…procrastination. There are steps you can take to ensure you get adequate exercise, one of which is to set up your own gym at home. It’s never been easier and there are no more excuses! 

How You Can Benefit

More and more people these days decide to set up their own home gym, and this is because it offers a host of benefits. You can get involved in all sorts of workouts these days, from cardio workouts to specialist CrossFit training. Of course, there are professional trainers that can help you to achieve your fitness goals but setting up a home gym can also prove invaluable. Some of the main benefits you can look forward to include:

A Choice of Equipment

These days, you can choose from a huge range of gym equipment to suit your specific needs, and this makes it much easier for you to set up your own gym. If you like going to spin classes at your local gym, or soul cycle, you can get the same feeling of being in a spin studio with a Peloton bike. They’re pretty pricey, and if you don’t want to splurge on-at-home bike, you can get a much cheaper one from amazon like the one below and subscribe to Peloton’s app for as little as $12.99 a month. If you like lifting weights, you can get a dumbbell stand and set up the station in your bedroom, that way it’s the first thing you see when you wake up and you have fewer chances of avoiding a quick lifting session. You can purchase the equipment from a variety of sources too, which makes it easier for you to save money on the cost of setting up your home gym. 

When it comes to choosing and purchasing your equipment, you can go through sports equipment retailers online, where you should take some time to check out the clearance products. You can also contact local gyms to see if they are selling any of their older equipment at a reduced price. 

Saving Money

Unfortunately these days, many of us are watching how we spend money and don’t have too much budget set aside for workout equipment.  As a result, a lot of people do not want to be lumbered with a costly gym membership or online membership that they are tied to. At the same time, they still want to stay fit and get into shape, which can create a difficult situation.

Well, the good news is that by setting up a home gym, you can start saving money. While you have to buy the equipment to set up the gym, once this is done there are no monthly membership fees to worry about. In addition, you should take into consideration the number of people in your household that want to work out, as they can all use the home gym which means you will save on multiple gym memberships. And remember, a home gym can be as simple as a yoga mat, some resistance bands,  or even just created a designated area where you will practice your exercises daily. 

There are plenty of free resources these days that we love as well, like Pamela Reif, Maddie Lynburner, and, Yoga with Adrienne’s YouTube Channels.

There are also many trainers streaming their workouts on their apps, as well as on Instagram Live like:

There are so many more! Use Youtube and Instagram to fuel your workout imaginations, the free resources available to us are endless.

Total Convenience

For some people, finding the time to go out to the gym or exercise outdoors can be difficult. This may be because they get home late after work, so they are left with little time. It could be due to family commitments – for instance, there may be young kids that need to be looked after which means leaving the house to exercise is not an option.

With a home gym, you can look forward to total convenience and ease, which means you can fit in your exercise around your existing schedule. This means that you are more likely to exercise on a regular basis because you do not have to put yourself or anyone else out in order to do this. This enables you to enjoy a far higher level of flexibility when it comes to fitting a fitness routine into your life. 

We love using YouTube videos, as well as the Nike App to design quick 10-20 minute circuits that we can squeeze in several times a day. Do what works for you.

No Queues to Use Equipment

One thing that many people find very frustrating is having to wait around to use exercise equipment at the gym, and this can be a particular issue at smaller gyms with limited equipment. When you go at peak times such as after work or before work, there are many others who are also going at those times. This means that if you are not the first one there, you could end up waiting around for machines to come available. 

With your own home gym, this is a problem that can be completely eliminated. You will save yourself huge amounts of time and frustration because you can simply use all the equipment without having to worry about other people. The only ones using your gym will be you and anyone who you invite to use it. So, you can time your workouts without having to worry about adding extra time spent waiting around for equipment to become available.

Tailored to Your Needs

When you pay for a gym membership, you often end up paying for a huge range of equipment you will never use. Some people only want to use specific equipment, but the membership fee will be the same no matter what you use. Nowadays you can subscribe to the workout’s that you specifically love and enjoy or get general workout apps like  Nike App, Peloton, Tone It Up, and Aaptiv.

If you set up a gym at home, you can invest purely in the equipment that you want to use in order to achieve your fitness goals and maintain your fitness levels. So, you will have a gym that is specifically tailored to your needs, and you won’t be spending your hard-earned cash on equipment that you will never use.

Get into Shape from the Comfort of Your Own Home

The great thing about having your own gym at home is that you can get into shape from the comfort and privacy of your own home. This makes it easier for you to achieve your fitness goals and to maintain your fitness levels, which in turn can help to aid good health. You can exercise at any time of the day or night when you have your own gym set up, which is another major benefit that you can look forward to. Personally we’re loving spreading our workouts throughout the day…we have the time now. 

Let us know what at-home workouts you prefer in the comments!

Teresa Parry is one of the co-owners of CrossFit Logan, based in Chicago’s Logan Square. She coaches alongside her husband Tom Parry and is an ambassador for the CrossFit community in the Chicago area. You can connect with her through the CrossFit Logan website or on social media.