Your Home Is Your Gym
Let’s face it, the big-box gym membership model isn’t working. So many of us get memberships every year, yet most go unused for one reason or another – let it be a busy schedule, intimidation from more experienced gym goers, or simply not knowing where to begin. In fact, approximately 67% of gym memberships go unused. Now that’s a lot of money.
An alternative to big-box gym memberships involves working out at home, but the common narrative here is that a home workout can’t really be that effective. Well that’s just not true anymore. Check out the 1000’s of Instagram trainers getting ripped and building mini-empires with their at-home workouts.
Technology is turning the home into a serious place to work out.
Picking the Right Technology Tools
Research has shown that the single most effective way to working out consistently is to work with an expert. A real, certified personal trainer to join you on your fitness journey and guide you through the ups and downs of getting, and staying, in shape. With technology, having access to that expert is no longer confined to the four walls of a corporate gym. Trainers are available anywhere through your mobile device, making your home – or wherever you are, for that matter – your gym.
Training virtually with an expert is called online personal training. Online personal training utilizes tech such as fitness apps like Trainiac, or messaging services like Skype to connect you to a real, certified personal trainers. The top platforms align people with trainers who will conduct assessments of their virtual clients’ fitness and wellness needs and then work together to develop a fitness training program that takes into account the individual’s specific goals and constraints. The trainer can review video to check for proper form of key movements, go back and forth about nutrition advice, and adjust the plan over time as needed.
The Benefits of Online Personal Training for Home Workers
Online personal training’s one-on-one customization is ideally suited for busy, home-working individuals to accommodate their demanding, unpredictable schedules and provide them with the key benefits we are all looking for in a workout: flexibility, affordability and accountability.
With online personal training, you can find a trainer to fit any need. For example, if you are looking to slim down after baby number three, you can find a trainer who specializes in pre and postnatal fitness. Or maybe you do business with Japan and need to find a trainer who can attend to you at 11 p.m. while the Japanese are on their lunch break – there’s an online trainer for that need as well.
Working from home allows you the flexibility to exercise anytime, without being bound to someone else’s schedule. Whether it’s in the morning to boost your energy, in the middle of your day to take a break between meetings, or in the evening to release after a long day’s work, your trainer will be there for you on the other end, ready to go! Online training also helps keep you on track if your home business has you travelling often. Remember, with online personal training, wherever you are is your gym. May that be a hotel room, an airport terminal or an empty conference room.
Cost-wise, the traditional, gym-bound personal training model can run you up $60-$80/hour. Say you go 2-3 times a week and you could be spending upwards of $1,000 on your trainer alone. Not to mention the cost of your monthly gym membership to even get in the door. With online training, there’s a wide range of price and functionality options, from $30/month to $200/month. With an app like Trainiac you can get unlimited access to your personal trainer for just $49.99/month.
Making Your Home Your Gym
So this all sounds great, but what if you don’t have a “home gym.” Fear not, for unlike your home office, a home gym does not need to loaded with fancy equipment and machines to be effective. In fact, it doesn’t need much anything at all. You can get a complete body workout with bodyweight exercises alone (think squats, pushups, lunges, etc.). However if you like some variety, basic yet effective equipment, such as dumbbells, resistance bands, and maybe even a foldable bench, are neither difficult nor expensive to come by.
And while not necessary to succeed with an online personal trainer, fitness trackers, heart rate monitors and other similar devices can also provide home-based fitness novices and enthusiasts with a great amount of data to help themselves and their trainers gauge their progress.
At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that fitness is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s better to ease yourself into a consistent routine with a trusted professional by your side, than to jump head first into an intense, on-again-off-again regimen that will end up costing you more than you actually benefit from. Online personal training bridges the gap between meeting with a personal trainer at the gym and using an app that only gives you direction from an automated or previously recorded trainer. It gives you a plan that will actually work for you and the support of someone who is always there for you. Life is complicated enough, your fitness routine shouldn’t be.
