|
Home Workouts: Are They Really Worth It
The DVD is
loaded in the player, you have the TV turned to just the right angle for
viewing, you have a cold-water bottle strapped to the side of your
exercise bicycle, and you’re ready to begin your home workout. But can
you really gain as much benefit from workouts at home as opposed to
working out at a gym or with a personal trainer?
Opinions
differ widely on whether there are any real benefits to home workouts or
if there might be some benefits, but not what you would find by working
out at a gym or with a personal trainer. Those who stand to profit from
the sales of home workout items such as: books, exercise videos and
exercise equipment are understandably quick to offer up reasons to
support the assertion that there are benefits to home workouts. While
others, dispute most of the claims made about the benefits possible with
home workouts.
The truth
lies somewhere in the middle of these two schools-of-thought on whether
home workouts are just as beneficial to physical health as gym workouts
or those done under the guidance of a personal trainer. There are
advantages and disadvantages to home workouts.
You can
work out at home when it is convenient for you to do so, day or night.
Gym workouts and working out with a personal trainer are subject to the
gym’s hours of operation and your personal trainer’s work schedule.
Inclement
whether doesn’t normally interfere with a home workout. It can however,
prevent you from being able to get out and travel to a gym or to meet at
a designated place with a personal trainer.
The camera
angle on an exercise done in a video or the illustration of how to do an
exercise from a book may not be as clear as it needs to be for you to
perform the exercise correctly. This places you at risk for sustaining
an injury. With gym workouts, you have fitness experts who can guide you
on how to properly do an exercise to avoid injury. The same is true with
working out with a personal trainer.
Books on
home workouts may contain outdated or even incorrect information about
what types of exercises you should be doing to benefit your health the
most. The experts at a gym and the expertise of a personal trainer can
guide you to the exercise workouts that have the most health benefits.
With home
workouts it may be hard for you to find the motivation to continue with
home workouts on a long-term basis. Working out in a gym or with a
personal trainer provides you with the encouragement you may need to
stick to an exercise routine long term.
With a home
workout you can exercise in your underwear or in the “buff” if you like.
Most gyms do require you to wear shirt, shorts, or pants, and shoes. A
personal trainer is not likely to want to see you in your birthday suit
either!
A home
workout is much better for your health than no workout at all. If you
“balk” at joining a gym or hiring a
personal
trainer and use that as reason not to workout at all-by all means
workout at home!
Well-rounded health workouts include: gym workouts, instruction from a
personal trainer, and workouts that you can do at home. Home workouts:
are they really worth it? The answer is yes and no. It depends on how
often you do home workouts, whether you’re performing exercise
correctly, and whether you supplement your home workouts with other
workouts.
|
