10 Reasons why you don’t need the gym

I’ve been a fitness trainer for a long time now. I started out just like any other trainer does, by working at a gym. I worked for the largest gym franchise in Canada for a long time. As much as I enjoyed the experience, and cannot help but look back and realize that I wasted A LOT of time and energy into both working at a gym, and working out at a gym.

From a business standpoint, ever since I made the decision to start my own personal training company, my clients were able to get results 3 times faster than the clients I had at a gym. This is with minimal equipment as well. In fact, my Bye Bye Babyfat Boot Camps can attest to quick results with very few equipment. All we use are a few kettlebells, dumbbells, med balls, stability balls and resistance bands. It’s all about how you train, not where you train.

I’m not saying that gyms are bad. I actually still have a gym membership. But that’s only because I don’t have space at my home to build a gym, and I don’t have my own studio space, NOT YET!! Believe me, the first chance I get, I will build my own gym and get rid of my membership.

I'm not even trying to advertise to any of you to train with me or join my boot camps (even though they're amazing!). All I’m saying is that you don’t NEED the gym. You can get amazing results with just some equipment, healthy eating habits, and the proper training systems. Here are my top 10 reasons why you don’t need a gym:

1) Waste of travel time

I’m lucky. I don’t work the typical 9-5. That allows me to get to the gym fast. I also get a great workout because there isn’t much people at the gym in the middle of the day. Most of us live at least 5-10 minutes away from the closest gym (some people live 20-30 plus minutes away). This means that a daily gym workout will cost at least 10-20 precious minutes in wasted travel time. Add that time up over the course of a week and you are looking at losing at least 1-2 hours going to and from the gym. And that’s not including any additional time changing clothes in the locker room or getting caught in conversation with people you know.

2) The Sheep Mentality

This always bothered me at the gym, as a member and as an employee. I truly believe the example that most people set will make you worse. Everybody is doing the same thing. Most men and women are just sheep- slaves to all of the misinformation provided in the form of sensational fitness magazines and infomercials. People just go to the gym and do whatever everybody else is doing.

Most women are cardio queens spending hours at a time on ellipticals, bikes, and treadmills- sadly getting nowhere fast. Ladies you need to start doing some resistance training and cut those cardio sessions down to 20 minutes of intense interval training to burn that stubborn hip, thigh, and belly fat that is holding your sexy back.

And then there are also those meathead guys who only work their mirror muscles (abs, chest, biceps) while taking extraordinary long rest periods between sets of upper body isolation exercises. These oversized morons often bench in excess of 300 lbs but probably couldn’t perform 10 perfect, full range of motion push-ups with their body weight if their life depended on it.

When in doubt, DON’T do what everybody else in the gym is doing because it’s not working! It’s funny because when I work out at the gym, I’m rarely on any machines, and taking advantage of an empty studio doing various body weight exercises and interval training workouts.

3) Needless Waiting Time for Equipment or Space

This one was huge for me. As a trainer, I could not believe how much time I wasted waiting for a machine, or just going from one useless piece of equipment to the other. My clients got great results, but, I probably could have got them faster results by maximizing every minute of our workouts.

I remember sometimes having to wait about an average of at least 15-20 minutes per workout waiting on a piece of equipment or a certain space of the gym to complete my daily routine. Not only does this waste a bunch of valuable time and create a detrimental roller coaster of warming-up and cooling-down, but this long stop and go format is completely counter productive to the appropriate alternating set format and work to rest ratio to burn fat and lose weight fast - the main goal of over 90% of fitness enthusiasts.

I have found the most effective strength training protocol for fat loss to be a 20-10 (20 seconds of work, 10 seconds of rest and transition) repeated 12 times per paired muscle groups. Frankly, there is no way you can workout in this format at the typical overcrowded commercial gym when people are constantly getting in your way and hording your training space and equipment.

Build your own gym at home so you and you only control your workout environment.

4) Sickness and Disease

Let’s just be honest about this, gyms are cesspools for sickness and disease. Most overworked, burnt out trainers working at the typical failing health club are forced to double dip and clean up the gym at the end of 8+ hour workdays. How much energy do you really think they have left to thoroughly clean and disinfect equipment that hundreds of people have sweat and dripped on all day long?

Beyond catching the common cold, there are some other real serious things that have been spreading at gyms like wildfire like merca staph infections!

5) People (Sometimes annoying people)

This is probably my biggest pet peeve at the gym. I love my job, and I absolutely love talking to people. But my workouts are MY time, no one elses. I’m doing it for myself. I don’t want to talk to anyone and I don’t like being interrupted when I’m trying to get a great workout in.

For most people going to the gym isn’t about getting results, it’s about socializing. Plus, I have always felt like a caged animal at a zoo during my workouts with people rudely gawking at me while I’m getting after it. Sure, my workouts utilize a host of unique and advanced exercises and they are often disturbingly intense, but it’s just a pain in the arse to have people looking at you like you are crazy. To me it’s crazy that I get better results in brief 20-minute sessions than the typical gym rat who wastes 2 hours a day getting nothing accomplished.

But that’s not the worst part - the worst part is when people interrupt you mid-workout to ask you questions about your training routine. Sorry, go pay for a trainer to give you advice. I’m there on a mission, not to reeducate. That’s reserved exclusively for my boot campers and my private clients.

6) Expensive Memberships

Man, are gym memberships getting more and more ridiculous or what?! There are processing fees, card fees, towel fees, and the list goes on! Isn’t your current rent or mortgage enough of a monthly overhead! Plus, these scammers lock you in for long-term agreements that mean that you’ll probably still be training at the gym when your hair goes gray. Total BS. If you’re going to pay for something, pay for someone that can get you results. Don’t pay for access to a place for you to ‘try’ and get results, pay for results….bottomline! This means hiring a qualified fitness expert to ensure your results. It’s a better investment in the long run.

7) Useless Equipment

Most, machines suck. They don’t allow your body to train that way it was designed to move and function and they cause many overuse injuries.

If you want to be lean, tight, and muscular, all you need is your body weight, some bands, and a few free weight options like dumbbells or kettlebells to get the job done at home or on the road.

8) Lack of Open Training Space

This one’s pretty simple. Idiot club owners focus on all the frills with substance by filling the training floor up with overpriced, oversized machines that take up all of the prime real estate. Ever try doing a walking lunge in the typical health club? The last time I did I winded up tripping on a loose muscle clamp and landing on my bum L

All you need is space - space to move freely and explore your own body’s capabilities.

9) Crippling Dependence

I mentioned this earlier - gyms force you to create a dependence on them. If you are used to using machines, you feel lost when you travel and can’t access the same equipment. In most cases, people figure “what the hell, I’ll just take some time off until I get back home since I don’t have any gym access out here.” I'm fortunate to have enough education behind me to get a great workout without depending on machines. I know what to do, most people don't.

I can personally guarantee you that I can break you with your body weight far before I can break you with any machine - and your body weight can go through customs too! So, show yourself that you can get results without the gym. I promise you that the best workouts of your life are waiting for you at home or in new places like a park, beach, hotel room, etc. Step outside the box!

10) Bad Trainers

This is probably the biggest reason why I quit working at a gym. Sorry, but, most trainers SUCK - they get certified by these money-hungry certification agencies that no provide no support with program design that’s more ancient than Larry King. If the public only knew how easy it is to get certified as a personal trainer. The course and exam is a joke. I didn’t even study for it and I passed with a 95%. I am a big believer of education. I personally went to University for 4 years and graduated with a degree in Kinesiology and Health Sciences. I continually take course to keep my knowledge base up-to-date. My education provides me with the tools to get my boot campers and clients results. Nowadays, trainers at gyms get paid squat with no true incentive to get clients results. They are more quota-driven, as opposed to client-drive.

When you go to the typical gym for personal training, you enter a factory. They are trying to get you in and out. They don’t care if your reach your goals nor do they have the desire to build lasting relationships with you. They just need to hit their quota - you are just another number for them. I know, because they forced that mentality on me while I worked at a gym. I hated it. But I tolerated it because I thought I was still helping people. I was, but I was limited by a corporate mentality. I’m older now, and I definitely know better.

To be honest, a big part of me having a gym membership is to see what they’re doing right and what they are doing wrong. A believe me, there are more wrongs than rights, in terms of what they actually do for their members and clients. I can’t tell you how many times I have been sick to my stomach seeing some jackass personal trainer getting paid $60-80/hour to talk to some overweight client while he or she walks gingerly on his or her cardio machine of choice. I’ve even witnessed trainers that eat while training their clients. Imagine you trying to workout and lose fat with your own trainer, eating a sandwich in your face! URGH!

I’m a huge advocate of boot camps now. Which is why I started my own. Join a fitness boot camp in your area that creates a fit community - a culture of success. You can get better results for less than a third the cost of typical personal training rates. I guarantee it.

Man, when you really think about it, why would anybody want to go the gym if they could easily set-up their own dream gym at home (think basement, den, garage or living room)? I’m planning to do it in the very near future.

I mean if you are the type of person who is motivated, empowered, and dedicated enough to consistently workout on your own, it appears that going to the gym may very well be the dumbest thing you can do. Well, only if you’re not maximizing your time at the gym. If you are, then power to you. Again, my point is that you don’t NEED a gym to get a great workout.