To Gym or not to Gym page

[a-carnal-existence]

I joined a planet fitness gym a little over a month ago, and between work and home life, I've been finding it difficult to get there more than 2 times a week sometimes 3. Should I ditch the gym and just do home workouts?

[Dirlot]

It depends on what you enjoy tbh 2-3 gym sessions a week is not bad. If you enjoy the gym stick with it and add some home workouts. The important thing is not to resent your gym time.

[arthurb999]

No.

When you go to the gym, do heavy barbell training. (there is really no substitute for heavy barbell squats and deadlifts).
2x a week is plenty.

Augment your barbell training with some bodyweight stuff for conditioning and hill sprints.

[tfarny]

Twice a week is fine actually, but Planet Fitness is known as the worst of all possible gyms. They discourage hard working out and have a 'no grunting' policy.

[Gadsie]

lol a no grunting policy?

[Gadsie]

Must be for women using plastic 2lbs yoga handweights then

[a-carnal-existence]

It's true, they have what they call a "no lunk policy". And honestly yes it sucks. I only signed up there because it was the closest gym i could find, and for right now I'm mainly just doing cardio and abs to try and lose weight. I figured once I drop some weight and can focus back on really lifting I'd switch to another gym or just workout at home. But the more I think about it, I can just as easily do cardio (without the machines) and abs at home anyway, so why pay monthly? I have an old barbell set in my basement buried under a bunch of boxes, so I gotta get that out and clean it up.

Im male, 5'10", 245lbs, and most of my fat resides directly in my gut. My fiancee is the pregnant one, and I'm the one who looks it. I miss how I use to lift back in high school, when I use to be able to bench 250 and didnt pretty much weigh it. Back then I also always had someone to kick my ass and make me keep pushing myself, something I dont have now.

[arthurb999]

Ditch the idea of doing abs and "cardio" to loose weight.

For workouts, start a real strength training program (linear gains), do hill sprints, and walk.
Eat a strict primal diet.

The end.

[jakey]

other people have said it already, but... ab work - crunches and sit ups and twisties - are basically useless. cardio is okay but not even close to what it's cracked up to be. the gym should be about building muscle, and there are myriad ways to go about it, and twice a week is quite sufficient. you need to let your diet take care of the rest. diet makes you look good in clothes, gym makes you look good naked.

[Jena]

Twice a week is fine actually, but Planet Fitness is known as the worst of all possible gyms. They discourage hard working out and have a 'no grunting' policy.

Lol... is this a common policy because my old gym had the same rule. I just started cracking up when I read it on the disclosure page. The guy said something like it made other gym members uncomfortable. I told him that I doubt I would care either way.