Last week I sent out a question to you the reader for your thoughts and feelings on the effectiveness of Hybrid Workouts. I received quite a few comments and replies through email and direct messages that I have shared periodically in my IG stories over the past few days. For the most part, I agreed with many of your views and opinions on how effective home workouts truly are. However fortunately there were a few opinions that I respectfully disagree with and thought I would address them directly on this week’s blog.

So let’s get started!

“Any Workout is Better Than No Workout At All”

FALSE!!!! In my 20+ years of working in gyms, I’ve witnessed some fairly shitty half-ass workouts take place. And ever since the prevalence of social media, some people spend more time focused on their phones in the gym, than they do with their workouts! Going to the gym, sitting on a bench or occupying a piece of exercise equipment for 30+ minutes, cruising the gram, scrolling through Tik Tok videos, and filtering your selfies, while squeezing in the odd set of dumbbell curls or bench press, every 5-10 minutes IS NOT WORKING OUT!

If this sounds like you then my suggestion is to either leave your phone at home when you go to the gym or don’t even bother going to the gym at all. You’re just going to be in the way of people who are there to exercise and work out.

“Our Bodies Crave Movement!”

You’re damn right our bodies crave movement. The problem these days though is that too many people have lost the entire concept of what type of “movement” our bodies crave.

Walking IS NOT exercise. It’s a means of transportation.

Stretching IS NOT exercise. Its purpose is designed to help you improve mobility and increase flexibility in your joints, ligaments and tendons.

Casual Sports Games such as Golf and Softball that you participate in your beer league IS NOT exercise. It’s a way to be social and have fun.

To make your body stronger YOU NEED to lift weights.

To make your heart stronger YOU NEED to elevate your heart rate for a period of time.

To become more healthy and fit YOU NEED to challenge yourself.

Walking, Stretching and Playing Casual Sports IS NOT enough movements.

Period.

“A Home Workout Is Just as Good as a Workout in a Gym”

Except for the fact that it’s not. Now as I’ve mentioned before there are of course exceptions to this rule. I have plenty of clients that have fully equipped gyms in either their houses or home buildings if they live in condos. In my opinion, if a gym has a selection of dumbbells that go up to at least 60lbs, a few barbells and some benches, then it’s a fairly decent home gym. If this gym also has a multi-cable station that allows you to perform a wide variety of movements such as seated rows, lat-pulldowns, cable cross-overs, triceps cable extensions and bicep cable curls, etc, then it’s fairly good home gym. And if this gym has everything I just mentioned, plus a couple of squat racks and some weighted plates, then it’s an excellent home gym.

With that being said, the reality is that most home gyms don’t have any of the above and honestly just SUCK. Trust me, I’ve trained in enough apartment complex gyms (including my own) to know how cheap and terrible they are. If you’re like me and have a home gym in your apartment building that includes a couple of treadmills, a random stationary bicycle, a life fitness machine (only the worst machine EVER made for gyms) a few odd dumbbells, and a bench that looks like it needs to be put out to pasture, then my suggestion is that you bite the bullet and join a real gym.

So are Hybrid Workouts the Way of the Future?

Honestly, I don’t know. I do think there will be future pandemics and there might even come a time when we all have to exercise from our homes once again due to government lockdowns. However as you can tell, my personal feelings on the topic is that no workout  will ever compare to a workout that you will achieve at a fully equipped and functional gym. That is of course if your phone remains off the floor or in your pocket at all times during that workout.

“People who are in the habit of enjoying the comfort of inaction often pay a high price in the end”
Dr. T.P Chia.ani

Yours in Good Health,

Nick Cosgrove
Forever Fit Performance