Making the jump from working out in a gym to your own home gym brings a grocery list of benefits.

• You’ll save time with no commute

• You’ll save money with no membership (or you can allocate your gym fees to buying home gym equipment)

• You’ll be more efficient with less distractions

• You’ll have more opportunities for fitness with the gym hours being 24/7 (see what I did there?).

Pretty great list, right?

Well, like with any gym membership, it only works if YOU work and you’ll only get the list of benefits above if you actually use it.

That’s what I wanted to write about today. Though a home gym is more accessible, more cost effective, and more time-saving, it can be a tough transition working out in your home, basement, or garage.

For example, and this is a point I touched on in my motivation article last week, when we change the environment (in this case, the gym setting), we need to respect the habit cues that preface the action about to take place.

Let me explain…

When you wake up in the morning and you know that you are going to the gym after work, your brain processes a series of cues that spark that action.

You pack your gym back in addition to your work bag.

You add a few pre-workout snack options in your lunch.

You text your friend(s) to see if they’re going to the gym.

You look at your workout from your Personal Trainer to see what’s on the docket for today.

See what I mean? These cues help trigger readiness in your body. The entire series is a part of a larger ritual that gets your body, and brain, ready to perform the action of going to the gym.

When you make the switch to a home gym environment, a lot of those settings are mitigated because of the efficiency of training in your house. No need to pack gym clothes, you can change when you get home. No need to think about a pre-workout snack, you can grab one when you get home.

So, in a way, that list of benefits can work against you.

Purposeful Strength PRO TIP: Keep everything as similar as possible. Instead of packing your gym clothes in a bag, lay it out on your bed. Pack the pre-workout snack, and eat it on your drive home (which is now your drive to the gym). Still go through the same reach out process with your friend, send them training videos, ask what they’re doing, use it all for motivation. And definitely still review your training program from your Personal Trainer.

If you can keep it 80% the same, with a few obvious tweaks, you’ll be in a good headspace.

Another luxury of training in your home is that, unlike a traditional gym, you can leave the equipment out. By leaving the gym set up in advance, it shortens your time to ‘get ready’ (less time to talk yourself out of the workout) and gives you a low level reason to train (you already took the time to set it up).

Maybe the set up process becomes a part of your ritual and cueing process?

Traditional gyms will request that you re-rack your weights, wipe everything down, and make sure the world stays neat and tidy. If you’re OCD, or just like a cleaned up space, then bring that same mentality. My Purposeful Strength PRO TIP here is to plan your workout, set up your gym space in your home, basement, or garage, and visualize the training session as you set up. As you hook up the TRX, envision the rows about to be performed. When you roll out your yoga mat, think about the push up variations.

You see, a traditional gym has the machines aligned, the circuit set up for you, and all the cardio options you could ever want. Typically a home gym set up is more minimal, requiring additional visualization to help see the training session through.

My last tip for training at home is to identify new distractions. Just like any ‘new’ area or addition to your life, there is going to be its’ own list of distractions.

Did the washing machine just finish? I should swap the clothes in to the dryer.

Did my work email just light up?

I should go put something in the oven for dinner after my workout.

When you’re in a comfortable environment, like your home, it’s incredibly easy to let the list of distractions pile up. At times, I’ve had clients tell me that they feel guilty working out at home when they have other things to do. That’s where leaving the house to go to the physical gym was an advantage. However, with that same mindset, you’ll probably have a trash workout, end early, and head back home still feeling that same guilt.

Purposeful Strength PRO TIP: Make a list of potential distractions. Look them over. Decide how you can either negate them like turning off your computer, leave your phone across the room and play music from a speaker, so you do not see or hear work emails. Conceptualize the distraction, like knowing you’ll be able to start dinner or swap the laundry with the time you’re saving from not having a commute.

Really look it over. By identifying these obstacles early, you can face them head on to make sure your training time is indeed, YOUR training time.

How have you been enjoying the Home Gym Series?

As mentioned, these are coming up twice a month now. In case you missed any of the other editions, you can click here to read Strength Training for Peloton and click here to read about maximizing limited access to dumbbells and weights.

Have a suggestion or question as it relates to training at home? Drop it in the box below and I’ll tackle it in a future article!