Are you one of the many people who have made the switch from the commercial gym to a home training environment over the past few months? Whether you’ve been forced to do so by covid-enforced gym closures or have been attracted by the many benefits of working out at home, you now have the foundation for a great year of fitness ahead. Here are five tips to help you get the most out of your home gym training in 2021.
Schedule Your Workouts
The convenience of having your training on tap is a double edged sword. While you are able to get active at the drop of a hat, you are also more likely to be distracted and to give in to the many temptations that surround you. The act of getting up and traveling to the gym makes it more likely that a person will be consistent.
To avoid being another one of those people who spends money on gym equipment simply to let it gather dust, you need to schedule your workouts. Every month, create a calendar and mark every workout for that month. Now put it on your fridge door. Every time you complete a workout, put a large ‘X’ through that day.
Train Early
You can avoid many of the temptations that surround you when working out at home by training early. If your home gym is set up so that it will not wake up other family members, try to get your workout done while everyone else is still in bed. That way you’ll be done before all of the pressure and emergencies of your day thrust themselves upon you.
Focus on Nutrition
It doesn’t matter how much or how hard you train, if you do not sort out your eating, you will never reach your goals. That is just the same when it comes to putting on muscle as it does for losing weight. For both of them, you need to focus on lean protein, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. For muscle gain, eat around 500 more calories than you burn up each day. For fat loss, do the opposite, reducing your caloric intake by 500 calories below your maintenance level.
An effective and proven way to reduce your caloric intake when trying to lose weight is to use a meal replacement to replace one meal per day. RSP truefit lean meal replacement is a popular product that we have reviewed and recommend.
Keep it Clean
In our current pandemic environment, there is a heightened focus on cleanliness in general. You’ve probably heard that commercial gyms are breeding grounds for bacteria. Home gyms are not as bad but they still require diligent and regular cleaning in order to keep its users safe. This is especially the case if other people share your gym space with you.
We recommend that you clean your home gym environment after every single workout session. This can be a quick wipe down on all upholstery, barbell and dumbbell handles with a paper towel and a biodegradable agent. This biodegradable cleanser is one of the most effective that we have come across for home gym applications.
At least twice a week, you should give your home gym a more thorough clean. This should involve vacuuming, airing out of mats and the ventilation of the entire area.
Make it Progressive
A lot of people who get started on a home exercise program tend to neglect one of the key principles of workout success; progressive overload.
When you work out, you place stress upon your body. It responds by adapting in the form of greater aerobic capacity and stronger and slightly larger muscles. That way, when the stress of that exercise comes again, the body will be ready to meet the challenge. If you do not keep making the exercises harder, then the body will have no reason to keep responding. It will get to a level to meet the exercise stress and then stop.
The result of this lack of exercise progression is that you reach a plateau where your body no longer responds. The solution to this is to constantly make your workout harder. There are three ways that you can do this:
- Add resistance in the form of more weight
- Decrease your rest time
- Increase the number of reps, sets and exercise you do
Everytime you approach a workout, you should know what you did last time and have a plan as to how you will push a little harder this time. That means that you should keep a training journal to keep a tab on your sets, reps and weights.
Wrap Up
Having a home gym sets you up for a great year of fitness in 2021. Make use of our five hacks to maximize its use so that you can make this the year that you finally reach your physical goals.