Here’s what many people think when setting up a home gym; “because I have a gym right here, I’ll work out more”.

And it works, for some time. As with everything else, your mind quickly gets bored with monotony. Even if all you have to do is walk across the hall to start your workout, the convenience and proximity alone are not enough to keep you motivated.

And so you start missing a few sessions to sleep in, watch TV or browse online. Soon, the only thing touching your dumbbells and treadmill is a thick coat of dust and a tapestry of cobwebs.

Here are a few tips to help you stay motivated to workout in your home gym.

1. Have a variety of equipment

One of the biggest motivation killers is doing the same workout every day. Soon you’ll be thinking, “if I see that treadmill again, I’m going to throw up.”

Try to mix things up by having a variety of workout equipment. Get help choosing the best treadmill for your needs. You can have the treadmill for running, a punching bag to tone your arms while still burning fat, an elliptical for some power walking, dumbbells for strength training, a mat for yoga, a medicine ball for core workouts and so on.

Exercising is often punishing to your body, especially when you are starting out. Your muscles will ache, your lungs will burn and your whole body will resist the stress. The last thing you want to do is interact with the same punishing machine day after day. You’ll begin to avoid it.

Having different equipment keeps things fresh and exciting. You can try out different challenges every day without burning out.

2. Get equipment that you will enjoy using

Most of us buy workout equipment simply for their functional benefits. But just like some people hate running but love swimming, you will not enjoy all machines equally.

Maybe you hate a treadmill but could pump for hours on a stationary bike. Perhaps you enjoy building your pecs on a rowing machine or pull up bar rather than free weights.

While you can incorporate one or two things that you don’t really enjoy but are important, make sure that the bulk of equipment is stuff you enjoy using. Your sessions will not feel so punishing anymore.

3. Track your progress

There is nothing that triggers so much self-pride as seeing your own progress. Knowing you set a goal and worked hard to achieve it is a huge motivator.

Tracking your fitness progress will not only help you plan your future fitness goals, it will also motivate you to keep going.
There are many ways to keep track of various fitness metrics such as runtime, endurance and weight.

One that immediately comes to mind is fitness trackers. You can buy a dedicated fitness tracker such as the Misfit Ray or a full-fledged Smartwatch such as the Apple Watch or Samsung Gear Fit.

You can also use an app, though you may not get the same accuracy as with a physical tracker. You will also miss out on features like heart rate monitors.

You can also go super basic and track your goals diary-style on paper. Track changes in weight, number of reps, distance covered, time taken and other metrics.

4. Follow a training program

Sometimes, having someone tell you what to do helps you stay the course. A training program gives you a blueprint, a strategy that you can follow to achieve your goals. It can also help you get fit faster and without hurting yourself or burning out.

There are plenty of fitness straining programs, both free and paid, you can follow. The best one for you will depend on your needs. Maybe you are a beginner who just wants to lose weight and grow muscle, maybe you have been in the game for much longer and are looking for advanced techniques and strategies or maybe you want to achieve athletic level fitness.

Some of the most popular training program and systems include p90X, Insanity and Beach Body.

5. Get a partner

Hearing the sounds of your own sweaty grunts everyday can get pretty lonely. A workout partner can help you look forward more to your daily sessions. In addition to the motivating camaraderie, you’ll also hold each other to account, ensuring no one slacks off. Your partner can be your spouse, your older kid or neighbor.

6. Join a fitness community

If it’s impossible to find a workout partner, find a good fitness community online. Fitness communities provide a platform where members encourage each other and provide helpful tips.
Some communities also allow members to share their metrics so that the entire community can track your progress.

Members in a forum may not be next to you shouting you to your rep goal or pat you on the back when you achieve it, but it is amazing how encouraging and motivating a virtual workout squad can be.

7. Reward yourself

Yes, getting healthy and fit are great rewards for your hard work. But your mind doesn’t see it that way. Research has revealed that the brain responds well to immediate rewards. It releases a rush of endorphins that make you feel real good and motivates you to repeat that action again.

After a hard workout, reward yourself with a tasty (but healthy) snack, an episode of Game of Thrones or half an hour of a video game. You can also give yourself rewards for longer term goals such as a beach vacation or a shopping spree if you drop your weight by the target amount.

8. Have a schedule

Part of maintaining workout motivation is discipline. Planning to do something at a certain time can be a big help in actually doing it.
Include your workouts in your daily schedule or to-do list. It’s harder to sleep in when your phone alerts you that it’s time to hit the gym.

9. Go slow

Finally, don’t push yourself too hard. Often, fitness is portrayed like military school. You are told that pushing yourself to the limits and then some is the only way to get fit. Unfortunately, that’s the quickest way to experience a burnout.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s important to push yourself, but be gradual about it. Set smaller goals that you can achieve without breaking every bone in your body. As you clear them, you will be motivated to keep going and achieve even bigger goals.

Take a guess. What does Usain Bolt’s training routine look like? What does he do to run at such blistering speeds on the track? One obvious guess is running and lots of it; running on a treadmill, running on a track, running in the mountains and so on.

But I was surprised to discover that his routine actually involves plenty of strength equipment training. There are barbell lunges, sled pushes, Romanian deadlifts and a variety of other insane looking weight workouts.

All too often, people are focused on cardio as the only way to become fit. That’s a big misconception and you may never achieve your fitness goals if your daily routines involve fat-shredding cardio only.

Weight training has an indispensable place in fitness. For Bolt, it helps him push his body to astounding speeds while still maintaining stability. For you, it will build up your strength, help you burn fat, boost metabolism and a host of other benefits.

Assess Your Home Gym

Look around at what you have in your home gym. You most likely have a treadmill, an elliptical or an exercise bike for cardio. You may even have a couple of dumbbells.
Like most people however, you have likely not stocked up on some serious strength equipment. A single dumbbell or barbell will not cover all your strength training needs. Even worse is if you have no weight equipment at all. You are seriously undercutting your fitness efforts.

Benefits of Strength Training

Strength training does not just enhance your pecs, it has many other benefits too even for your health. Here are the biggest ones.

1. It strengthens your core

Almost every physical activity involves your core muscles. Walking, running, bending, jumping and even sex depends on having adequate core strength.
Strengthening your core muscles is one of the most crucial steps towards fitness. Otherwise, your entire body will feel weak, you will perform poorly at sports and you will be more vulnerable to serious injury.

The core consists of several major muscle groups including back, abdominal and pelvic muscles. A combination of barbells, dumbbells and other strength training equipment can target each of these muscles.

Usain Bolt and other pro athletes focus a lot on core muscles when training. They know that a strong core boosts speed, increases endurance and develops overall body strength.

2. It strengthens various muscles and improves athleticism

Away from the core, there are many other muscles that play an important role in your fitness. For instance, arm and leg muscles are essential in many fitness activities such as running and swimming.

Strong quadriceps (thigh muscles) will give your legs an extra boost of speed and power while pectoral muscles (pecs) make your upper body stronger.
There are also smaller muscles that many people ignore but which you cannot function without. For instance, the Rotator cuff stabilizes your shoulders and gives them their flexible range of movement. Your Erector spinae is found in the back and plays a major role in maintaining your body in an upright position.

A weight training routine that combines a variety of equipment with various calisthenics can help build all these muscles. Note that having a single barbell won’t cut it when it comes to building muscle strength. To target all muscles, you’ll need a variety of equipment including free weights, exercise benches, bars and so on.

3. It boosts metabolism and burns calories

There has been a lot of debate in recent years over whether weight training has any effect on resting metabolic rate, what many people simply refer to as metabolism.
This is what most researchers say on the subject: while the increase in metabolism is not as high as some fitness enthusiasts have claimed, it is enough to make a difference in the number of calories burned.

Many people have claimed that building your muscle mass can help you burn up to 100 extra calories per day. Research has shown that the actual number is around 50 calories. But this is enough to create a net negative in terms of the amount of calories you take in and calories you expend.
A net negative, where more calories are used up than taken in, is the main principle behind maintaining a healthy weight. When combined with a robust cardio routine, weight exercises become even more effective in increasing metabolic rate.

4. It maintains muscle mass and metabolism as you age

This metabolism-boosting effect is especially beneficial as the years go by. Aging brings with it a dip in metabolism. This increases the risk of weight gain and other lifestyle health problems.
One reason metabolism decreases is because your muscles mass decreases too. Without as much muscle tissue to maintain the resting metabolic rate, you stop burning as many calories as before. It also becomes harder to remain active and engage in other exercises.

Your metabolism starts falling as early as 25 years of age, dipping around 2-4% per year. The rate of decrease accelerates as you hit your 30s, 40s and 50s. So don’t wait until grey hair starts popping out to take muscle training seriously. Start now.

While a decrease in metabolism and amount of muscle tissue is inevitable, weight training can help slow it down. Integrating weights in your exercise routine maintains your muscles, which then keeps your metabolism from falling too far too fast. You’ll also find that you have the energy and strength to keep up with an active lifestyle.

Getting Started

The first step is to draw up a new exercise menu consisting of both cardio and strength training. Makes sure you follow best practices such as leaving enough downtime after a weight training session to let your muscles heal and grow.

There are many ways to integrate both cardio and weight conditioning in a weekly workout routine. Most people prefer alternating with one day focused on intensive cardio and the other on resistance muscle training.

Most importantly, start small. Do not rush to bench press the heaviest weights or do acrobatic moves that could leave you injured.
Remember you are conditioning your body. You will not get results overnight. Start small, take it slow and build it up with consistency.

Working out isn’t always easy to get motivated to do. Whether you plan on running on a treadmill, hitting the elliptical or banging out some reps on your olympic bench getting up the gumption to drag yourself into your home gym is frequently the biggest obstacle to seeing the gains you long for.

One way to drain all enthusiasm from working out at home is to make starting your workout a workout in itself.

If your home gym is in your basement you don’t want to have to move piles of laundry to start ripping those abs on your power tower. You don’t want to spend twenty minutes moving boxes out of the way so you can drag your folding treadmill out from under the steps. You can’t do much working out when your equipment is sitting piled up and jumbled together in a corner.

Remember you have gone to a lot of trouble, researching and money in choosing the best cardio equipment and  best gym equipment for your home gym, just to have it hidden away or inaccessible when you want to workout.

If you got your gym in your garage, you have to ask yourself whether you are really going to back out your car, pull out the weights from under your worktable and start building muscle mass. If your bench is under your kids’ bikes and your elliptical is behind your ladders, shovels, and lawn mower you’re not going to want to spend your time moving all that to the driveway before you get started on your grind.

How can you avoid this dilemma?

The best solution is to set aside a dedicated space for your gym. Is your basement where you plan on working out? See if you have the space to keep your equipment clean and easily accessible. Make everything else be stored around your gym lay out, not the other way around.

Opting for the classic garage gym?

Consider keeping your car out in the driveway. Pick up, or build, a storage shed for your tools and mower. Keep your kids’ bikes hanging on a wall or from the ceiling. Those boxes you store all your Christmas decorations in? That’s what they make attics for.

Once you have a clean, open space for your gym equipment, you’ll see your motivation to use that space skyrocket. No one wants a whole area of their house to go unused. Plus, you’ll be seeing that stepper sitting there, staring you down, calling you on. How much more enticing will that workout be compared to seeing your equipment languish under so much junk you barely can see it?

How will you want to arrange your space once it is free of clutter?

Putting your treadmill in front of a TV is a great choice. Now you can watch that TV show you love while burning calories instead of while eating Doritos. You’ll want your weights to be in the open, where you have plenty of room to perform the correct motions. A mirrored wall is a great place to lift weights. Where should that spin bike go? Try putting it in front of a window to get a great breeze while you’re sweating.

No matter what configuration you decide on, dedicating an area just for working out will motivate you to get fit.

Q: I’ve heard cardio workouts are the best for losing weight and and the best for your heart and lungs. I’m not interested in lifting, but I’d love to drop some pounds. Can you briefly lay out the differences between the different types of cardio I can use in my home gym? All I want to do is lose weight, but I can’t decide which piece to purchase. All these different types of cardio equipment make purchasing the right piece too confusing!

A: I understand your frustration. There certainly are many different cardio pieces to choose between all of which will help you attain your goal of losing some (or a lot) of weight. Let’s briefly review each piece.

Treadmill 

This is the most basic piece of cardio and the most popular. Use it to run, jog, or walk – all activities that will burn some major calories.

Pros: easy to use, various exercises possible.

Cons: takes up more space than other options, can be hard on knees of older people.

Average Price for a Residential Unit: $1,400.00 to $2,300.00

Elliptical Crosstrainer 

If you like the idea of a treadmill, but want less stress on your joints, the elliptical is the perfect piece for you.

Pros: full body workout, easy on joints

Cons: takes up a lot of space

Average Price for a Residential Unit: $700.00 – $2,500.00

Stationary (Upright) Bike 

Love biking? You’ll love the stationary bike!

Pros: less hard on the joints than the treadmill, more affordable than the elliptical or treadmill

Cons: the same as traditional biking. If you hate to ride a bike, you’ll want to stear clear of the stationary bike.

Average Price for a Residential Unit: $500.00 to $1,300.00

Recumbent Bike 

Basically the stationary bike but you recline while working out, more expensive than upright versions of the stationary bike.

Pros: even less stress on the knees

Cons: not as good of a workout as some other options.

Average Price for a Residential Unit: $1,200.00 to $1,800.00

Step Mill 

You’ve heard the advice to take the stairs instead of the elevator or esclator any chance you get. This machine takes that sound advice to the next level!

Pros: simulates a “non-exercise” activity for a great workout, great lower body workout

Cons: it’s walking up an endless flight of stairs, if you hate taking the steps, this isn’t the machine for you, the most expensive option on this list.

Average Price for a Residential Unit: $2,500.00 – $3,000.00

Rower

This machine simulates the action of rowing a boat across a lake or down a stream.

Pros: get the rowing experience without having to drive to the lake and without having to get wet. Great full body exercise.

Cons: can be tiring on the arms to the point where the exercise ends not when you are too tired but when your arm strength is depleted.

Average Price for a Residential Unit: $500.00 to $1,000.00

There are, of course, other cardio machines but these are the primary ones you’ll be deciding between. All these machines provide a great cardiovascular workout. In the final analysis, your decision ought to be made on personal preference and budget.

Now get out there, get active, and get thin!