Why you should train at home alone, for muscle


I like training alone, and nowadays I don't even belong to any gyms. I have a simple adjustable weight bench, some dumbbells, resistance bands, and a variety of odds and ends that I've accumulated over the years which I like. Doing something like this may, or may not be right for you, I'll just tell you how I feel.

First of all, I like to train. I like the feeling of my body in motion, and the way that it relaxes my worried mind (although I really don't have anything to worry about!). I've been this way all of my life, from being a monkey boy in the backyard in Minneapolis, riding my bike, doing gymnastics in my teens, and then doing direct muscular training in my twenties. There was a time, back in my thirties, when I had two (2) gym memberships, I liked training that much. Then in my forties a friend of mine gave me a weight bench, which I still have, and use just about every day.

To me, training is a solitary thing. I've never had any interest in making it a group project. I want to train when I want to train, and not train when I don't want to train - I don't follow a schedule, nor do I want a training partner. When I trained at a gym I would smile and greet people before and after my workout, but I had no interest in socializing while training. If someone insisted on coming over and talking to me, I would ask them to count, or ask them if they wanted to work in with me (which rarely happened, most of these people were just bored, and wanted to chat).

Don't get me wrong, I would talk to people at the gym, especially if they were doing something that I wanted to learn, and were open to showing me. But once I learned something I didn't need someone to stand there and watch me (which is what I used to see a lot of personal trainers doing). If you need that, chances are you really aren't enjoying what you're doing.

Nowadays I follow a lot of people that I call "Fitness Gurus" on YouTube, and I continue to learn. But this ain't rocket science - once you have the basics you know about 99% of what you'll ever need to know. The tiny details just make it a bit more fun, and keep it a little bit more fresh.

So go ahead and get that weight bench, and some dumbbells, and maybe some resistance bands, too. If you like doing it, you'll make good use of those things, and if you don't, at least you can say that you gave it a shot.

Good luck to you on your strength and fitness training!

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