Being a devoted gym rat, I value training as a sacred ritual. Often doing it twice a day, I always look forward to hitting the weights and getting a pump. While none of this changed for the past 5 years, the Covid crisis happened, preventing many from visiting our “second home.” Forcing restrictions, that caused me to adopt a never considered option — home and outdoor training. I mean, was there anything I could do as a pump and endo-rush addict?

Not having a choice, I purchased some “basic equipment” and started visiting the local street workout parks. Time passed, and it turned out I’m doing this for more than 12 months. Yes, over a year of life without the Gym. For this, I decided to share my experience and the things I learned.

I’ll do the same by focusing on what I consider home and outdoor training’s most significant downsides and benefits. After examining both, I’ll wrap up with a conclusion and my results and future plans regarding working out. So, having this said, let’s jump into the first.

Although some have workarounds, home-and-outdoor training has a few significant downsides. As first undoubtedly comes the limited equipment. The most fundamental the Gym offers is a superior equipment exercise variety. Designed for bodybuilding and improving aesthetics, my workouts are based tons on pre-exhaustion and isolation. Actually, and depending on the muscle, the latter makes up about 70/90%.

This means utilizing plenty of cables and machines to maximally fill with blood each muscle segment — “especially” the least developed. Only after that’s achieved, I move to the free weights and compound exercises. The last being to finish the entire group by working it as a whole while having its aspects preliminary pumped.

It also means utilizing the “less is more principle,” working with minimal amounts of resistance/weight. Basically, it’s doing things in a somewhat opposite or reversed fashion. And for this, I like calling it: Reversed Volume Training as found in my book.

Unlike the conventional methods, this approach gives maximum control to improve proportions and not worsen the triggered-by-genetics “oversized” and underdeveloped body parts. Hence to work towards obtaining a well-rounded and balanced physique and not merely growing in size.

Besides much safer, cables and machines prove to be indispensable for this. Тhoroughly, isolating the muscle, they enable putting most efforts precisely where most needed — the lagging areas. They also allow for keeping my joints healthy, avoid injury, prevent overtaxing my nervous system, and maintaing the intensity and frequency high.

With all this comes access to more or less resistance and different angles when performing a particular movement. Playing a crucial role in all the gains I ever made, this enables using the very best ways for controlling the weight with nothing but the target area.

When training at home or outdoors, this whole gamut of tools is diminished, and you’re stuck with what you have. For me, this currently includes several things. (1) Various pull-ups, push-up, and parallel bars. (2) A pair of detachable dumbbells. (3) Different resistance bands. And (4) my own body weight.

Meaning that achieving similar results requires being extra creative and strict when tweaking things. It also implies being extra careful of not snapping something, getting bored more quickly, and doing movements which, let’s just say, aren’t my favorite of mine. So… The bottom line is this: Home and outdoor training make achieving the desired pumps somewhat challenging. And though it’s still perfectly doable, that’s not something I particularly like.

As second here comes not interacting with gym buddies and other gym rats. No, I’ve never been one of the people visiting the Gym to socialize. It’s just that hanging with certain persons while training can be relaxing and make the whole thing more pleasant.

Also noteworthy is that I really don’t give a fuck about seeing someone on Instagram. In fact, save for YouTube, I quit social media about two years ago. Recognizing a remarkable physique in person, however, is a different thing. When mine is also recognized by that person, it almost feels like a very subtle communication and even an energy exchange to happen without words — one to be very difficult to explain those not living the iron lifestyle.

When it happens, that reignites my passion for giving my best in the current and the next few workouts. And If the particular one is female, then the whole thing works on a completely different level, inspiring me to do some extra volume, pushing myself really hard.

Even that encountering such physiques at the park is also cool, it just doesn’t have the same impact on my mind. A big part of that is because of the different atmosphere and… lighting.

Despite not competing or performing a routine, flexing is something I religiously do or at least did with my workouts. Considering it a fundamental part of my training, I mostly practice poses engaging the trained muscles. Allowing for infinitely better Mind Muscle Connection and keeping the intensity high by continuing to drag blood and nutrients into the target area even while resting, posing has numerous purposes — as written in my book.

However, fully taking advantage of it requires two things: great lighting and as many mirrors as there can be. Letting you observe your physique from various angles, the last couple enable seeing the actual progress you’ve been making and whether you move in the right direction.

As also pointed in my book, and unlike the scale or numbers of calories, the mirror never lies. It’s both your best friend and your worst critique. What you see is precisely what you get. Or more likely what you have.

Two of the things that made me fall in love with the later-mentioned Gym are its vast mirrors and incredible lighting. Actually, the second is so bright to allow getting great footage with “very basic” lenses. Besides that, such lighting and mirrors provide a clear perspective of whether a particular exercise or piece of equipment actually produces results, or it instead wastes time. Due to this, I see those as an indispensable tool for bodybuilding.

When training at home, this none of them available. Or at least they aren’t unless having some properly equipped studio or garage. While I do have a decent size mirror, the same is basically a joke compared to the mentioned. Plus, the lighting is also nowhere near where it should be. So, it really isn’t the same, and this definitely lowers my workouts’ quality.

Needless to say, when training outdoors, there aren’t mirrors nor lighting. Hence, save for the feeling, there isn’t a way of finding out what kind of pumps you get. Apart from this, and depending on where you live, outdoor training implies еxercising in cold weather. And this is a downside to which there isn’t a workaround.

There are several enormous benefits of home and outdoor training, I personally recognize. (1) Having more time and energy. (2) not spending on membership. And (3) controlling your training environment. So, let me address each.

Undoubtedly coming first, this combines several things. The first and most apparent is the lack of need to travel. Despite how close you live, to get to the Gym, you inevitably have to travel. Depending on your situation, this may require going through some pretty unnecessary hassle. Starting with reaching the location, the last proceeds with carrying gym clothes and sneakers, changing in the locker room, possibly finding a parking place, getting your membership checked, and repeating the same after the workout

Although some of those weren’t my problems due to living close, eating OMAD, having a pair of sneakers left in the Gym, and using my bike to get to the place, the others remained. Adding to 15/20 minutes per session, this can take a total of 40 minutes per day if doing double splits. It also takes energy and resources that can be invested either in actual training or in something else.

Eliminating all that, home training allows fitting some other activities into your workouts, making the most out of your time. What I mean by that is doing other stuff between the sets. My favorite examples being reading a book or writing. And though I have to visit the local school-yard when hitting dips and pull-ups, the procedure doesn’t take more than 2/3 minutes.

Based on the Gym and your membership, training could be costly. Providing unlimited access, i.e., the ability to do as many daily workouts as wanted, my annual membership cost around 700 Euros. That being for the chosen Gym, I actually enjoyed visiting due to several reasons. (1) Its location, excellent personnel, owners, and equipment selection. (2) The more private atmosphere to exclude meatheads — who unknowingly why think I need their opinion on how to train. And (3) the fact that (due to being the first client), I was allowed to film whenever and as much as I wanted.

Writing this, I actually don’t think the price is that much. Yet, to put it in perspective, I’ll say that’s an equivalent of a base model Mac Mini with an M1 chip and a high-end sound card.

Sure, you need some equipment when home-training. Its price, however, is incomparable to the mentioned number. Besides, you also start owning that. And you really don’t need as much as you think as long as knowing how to isolate each of your muscles.

Using nothing but the earlier listed tools, I can get pretty insane pumps in 90% of my muscles. With the others is more challenging. It’s not exactly the same as those I can get when using cables and hammer strength pieces, but it’s quite comparable. So, for me, it’s a well-made investment and a worthy trade-off.

Now, this can be regarded as both а downside and a benefit. Since first we already covered, here we’ll proceed with the second. The first part of the second is that home training automatically spares being exposed to extreme amounts of junk light. It also does that with the garbage TV content displaying from all directions in the GYMs.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want TV, to be a part of my day in any shape or form. Or at least, I don’t save for Netflix and Crunchyroll Anime. I also refuse to be informed about the Instagram influencers from the Fashion TV channel. Instead of creating a proper atmosphere, this only kills my mood, disrupting my training.The same applies to the usually-played-in-the-gyms music.

By training at home or outdoors, I avoid all of that. Surprisingly, this makes me a better-feeling and happier person. Now, my workouts are more relaxing, energizing, and rejuvenating.

Unlike doing it at home, exercising outdoors doesn’t let engaging in other activities like reading or writing. Nevertheless, it allows focusing better on both: the training itself and the books and podcasts I’m listening to. It also offers the opportunity to disconnect, letting my mind wander, becoming more thoughtful of the surrounding-me nature. It’s well-established that being surrounded by nature promotes creativity, whereas starring at beige cubical walls has the opposite effect.

Another annoying to add here is that the gyms’ atmosphere drastically changed a few years. Previously, I noticed at least a few real enthusiasts per session. Now, I primarily encounter folks who are there not really to train but mainly socialize, order a bunch of shitty supplements, and most importantly, show they are there on their social media.

Initially, this really didn’t bother me. Ultimately, however, those guys became the vast majority. So, the whole thing isn’t as fun as it was. And I’m far better off not sharing my day and training time with them.

Something this pandemic reminded many is one we always knew but had temporarily forgotten. The most inspiring physiques of all time were built with nothing but “basic” equipment. Since the last worked for the Golden Era’s legends, it would be more than enough for people like me.

I totally miss the cable and hammer strength pieces. Yet, by utilizing resistance bands, I can efficiently pre-exhaust an area, emulating some of my favorite cable movements. An example being the handles-free, rear cable deltoid raises.

I think to purchase a pair of push-up handles and a TRX trainer. No, not for functional training, but for extending my push-ups’ range of motion and pre-exhausting my chest and back before dips and pull-ups. When I’ll do that, I don’t know. Even without those, I get pretty remarkable results in maintaining my physique.

So… Do I plan on getting back in the Gym after the pandemic? Well, actually, not really. Or at least not entirely. Perhaps I’ll visit it 2/3 times per month, mostly to hang out with gym buddies and flex under proper lighting. Other than that, I don’t consider buying a membership. Despite it definitely has disadvantages to me, home and outdoor training seems the totally better deal. I mean… I can’t really argue with the saved amounts of money, time, and energy.

In fact, I likely wasn’t going to publish my first book a month ago if it wasn’t for the second. Plus, I don’t depend on going somewhere to train.

This, however, isn’t to say that there isn’t a benefit to visiting the Gym. It was mainly due to machines and cables that I learned how to individually contract my muscles. If it wasn’t for them, that likely was going to take forever.

Sure, I’m starting to need fighting my overlapping pecs and drumstick-looking arms a bit harder. Sure, I also can’t perform “incredible” exercises like the Smith Sissy Hack. Nonetheless, I can cope with it, for what I get in return as a total experience and results/bang for my buck. As said, I consider the transition a good investment and a worthy trade-off.

Now…. before saying “Thank You For Your Time,” I’d like to let you know that I published my first book. Available on both Kindle and Paperback, the book is entirely created and formatted by me. The name OMAD GAINS Practical Self-Help and Natural Bodybuilding.

Although appetite suppression, adopting the OMAD eating pattern, customizing your workouts and diets are its primary focus, the book is for total self-development. Divided into three parts, it packs some of the very best optimization tools and tactics I learned and implemented for the past decade. Obviously, that deserves a separate post. So, here I’ll only say this…

If you ever found any of my content even slightly informative and helpful, this book will likely change your life. No, exaggerating! It did that with mine twice. Once when I applied all of its information and another when I created it. And now…

Thank You For Your Time!