Gym Training vs Home Training

This Q&A session has been created to provide more information about 'Gym Training Vs Home Training' by the trainer Kris Hughes. He has been very descriptive in the answers providing the more content.

Q1. As a personal trainer who can offer training at someone's home in Dubai or in a gym what would you say are the main pros and cons of both locations?

The pros of home training:

• Easily accessible
• Free
• Comfortable surroundings

The Cons of home training:

• Less equipped therefore less options
• Smaller space
• Having inactive family members around during training
• Lack of socialness

The pros of gym training:

• Endless training options
• Large space
• Plenty of others around for support
• People around with shared goals
• Motivational to show up if committed to a membership

The cons of gym training:

• Costs
• Travelling to a facility
• Can get crowded at peak times

Q2. A gym can sometimes feel a bit intimidating for someone new to exercise and fitness – if you have to train a new client in a gym environment what advice would you give to someone who feels intimidated?

I always tell my new clients the same thing. Everyone starts from somewhere. People don’t magically turn into a great shape. Everyone one way or another has committed time or energy into their training and nutrition to get to how they are today. People wont or shouldn’t judge new people in a gym because at one point in their life they were clueless too, myself included. But through perseverance and a strong mentality and work rate then no fitness goal should be unachievable.

Q3. Training in the privacy of someone's home in Dubai has obvious benefits – no need to travel to the gym, scheduled around the clients other commitments etc. However, many people don’t have fitness equipment at home. What basic items of fitness kit would help a client for the times when a personal trainer is not with them?

This depends on their goals. Maybe investing in a piece of cardio equipment like a bike which doesn’t take up much space to help them burn calories and fat, some kettlebells which can be used for various strength and endurance exercises for all parts of the body, a soft yoga mat to make stretching/floor/bodyweight exercises more comfortable and a TRX for again the fact it doesn’t use much storage and has a variety of purposes. These are all great pieces to start with.

Q4. In your experience as a personal trainer working with home and gym clients do you see better results for one or the other?

I feel that both clients can see great results, although it can come around faster and develop more in a gym environment. Genuinely down the fact of having more equipment and training options to suit all situations.

Q5. Training requires commitment and focus. Do you think that training in a gym environment helps improve commitment? In other words it is sometimes easier to get distracted at home and 'do other things'.

I believe it does. Committing to a gym means you show commitment to go train as my Bachelors research proved. Home has several distractions and its easy to think “I’ll do it after….” And suddenly that turns to “I’ll make up for it tomorrow”. In a gym you are in a set environment to train so it puts all your focus on that. Similar to a workplace or a school. Your more likely to work or study in these environments than at home where you know all your distractions are.