Why Most People Don’t Need A Gym Membership (And Still Get Great Results)

And how you can do it anywhere

Over the years, I’ve been lucky to be able to try a bunch of different workouts.

From being a National Volleyball player to serving in the Army for a couple of years while running a marathon at the same time, I’ve gotten some experience in terms of exercising and figuring out what works for me.

In the past, most of my goals were related to some form of vanity metric.

It’s the common goal of wanting to get bigger and stronger. But I soon realized that there’s pretty much no end to this. And when you fall sick (which happens occasionally), getting back to becoming as strong would take a huge amount of effort and it soon occurred to me that that’s not fulfilling.

For me, a better approach to fitness and healthy living is to strive towards longevity.

It’s the goal of becoming fit and healthy for a longer period of your life so that you don’t encounter many injuries along the way. The idea is you want to continue being fit when you’re in your 70s-80s rather than sitting all day and not being able to move a limb.

To do that, being fit and healthy comes down to building a consistent habit for a long time.

It’s not the sporadic choice you make each month to head to the gym that counts toward your progress but rather the consistent decision you make each day to hit the gym regardless of you you’re feeling on those days that makes the difference.

And the best way to do that is to make exercising accessible.

Why You Don’t Need A Gym

Being an athlete my whole life, I’ve always wanted to have my own gym.

I imagine it being filled up with all the gym equipment I ever need such as a pull-up bar, parallel bar, dumbbells, barbells, etc. It’s the typical scene you’ll see on YouTube whenever Men’s Health films celebrities' fitness routines.

Now, I’ve changed my mind a little and I’m shifting away from a complete gym with all the equipment I ever need to a few that I need. They don’t have to be too heavy and they simply comprise of:

• a pull-up bar
• some dumbbells or kettlebells range from 12kg — 22kg
• and possibly a treadmill or indoor bike for the rainy days

And that’s about it.

That’s all I need to do most of my workouts anyway to create a functional body which comprises calisthenic workouts, mobility training, and zone 2 cardio. Since the gym is in the comfort of your own home, there are a couple of benefits you can glean from this:

• You don’t have to fork out >$1k each year for a gym membership
• It’s super convenient since it’s right at home so you have no excuses
• You don’t have to worry about the crowd anymore

Of course, you won’t have the community aspect of things and you’ll likely have to clean up after yourself. So if those are qualities that outweigh the benefits of having a home gym and keep you motivated at the same time, stick to it.

But this isn’t the best part.

The Only Equipment I Always Use

I’m not sure what other gyms are like, but the ones I’ve been to in Singapore (where I’m from) don’t support the growth of calisthenic athletes.

The main bulk of people who exercise here are bodybuilders anyway.

Most of my workouts in the gym would usually be missing out on equipment that I always use in my workouts at home.

And that’s working out with a pair of gymnastic rings.

You don’t need to break the bank to get them and they target your entire upper body so what’s not to love? You’ll experience an intense mind-muscle connection with your entire upper body while doing those workouts with this equipment and there are always progressions along the way that can help you to progress towards your goals.

Not only are they functional since they allow your wrist to turn in any direction you want, they can also be progressed towards much harder variations of the exercise.

A push-up for example can be progressed from doing a ring push-up (which is already difficult in itself) to doing a ring dip or even a ring muscle-up.

The rings in itself provide that additional instability to the exercise which helps to build your core and stability muscles around your main muscle groups at the same time.

How Would A Typical Ring Workout Look Like?

Since the rings are incredibly versatile, you’ll be able to do a couple of supersets to support muscle growth by targeting 2 main muscle groups in 1 superset.

A typical workout could look something like this:

• Ring Dips
• Ring Pull Ups
• Bodyweight Rows
• Ring Flies
• Ring Bicep Curls
• Tricep Extension

The rep ranges and sets would look pretty similar to the bodybuilding style depending on whether you want to build strength or hypertrophy. And if you want to progress towards something more difficult but feel like you’re not quite there yet, there are always ways to manipulate your body such that you will be lifting a lower weight and making progress towards your goals too.

You Don’t Really Need A Gym

A gym isn’t really necessary to make progress in your health and fitness.

It all comes down to the basic idea of being consistent. The best way to do that is to figure out how to structure your life such that you can exercise consistently each week and stick to your plan. If you can do that for a really long time, you win.

That’s basically it.

My way is to bring the gym over to my house so that I have literally no excuse when it comes to working out and I’m still making progress along the way.

Even if you don’t have any workout equipment at home, bodyweight exercises can do wonders for your body if you know how to manipulate your body weight and carry out bodyweight exercises in the right way.

Let me know how it works out for you!

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