Man in the Arena with Craig Spear

Find the Right Gym Fit for You

• Craig Spear

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Gyms are funny, right?  They are polarizing places to say the least.The whole concept is ridiculous when you think about it.  And this is coming from a guy who use to own four gyms!

There’s the huge equipment, the alpha males beating their chests, the fads, the aggressive sales tactics. 

But there’s also a lot of great qualities too - strong communities, knowledgeable people, convenience. 

Where are you on the ‘gym debate’?’  Are you a ‘Home gym guy’’ - Commercial gym guy’  - ‘Not a gym guy’?

If you're not quite sure, I want to I help you Find The Right Gym Fit for You - which is what I cover on this week's episode of Man in the Arena.

More specifically, I get into…

  1. Why your body is the best gym you’ll ever own.
  2. The pro’s and con’s of every type of gym.
  3. From a zero budget to a $10K setup, how to build the perfect home gym tailored to your space and budget.
  4. How to make commercial gyms work for you


Did you find this episode helpful insightful or motivating? If so, let's connect! You can find me on....

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The Spear Method Website

Speaker 1:

Welcome to man in the Arena. This podcast is for men over 40 who want to master their health and weight loss goals once and for all. With innovative strategies, practical tools and insightful interviews. My goal is to help you overcome your limiting beliefs and achieve your optimal health. It's time to look good, feel good and do better. What's going on, fellas? Welcome to man in the Arena, where this week, we're going to be talking about everything related to gyms, including finding the right fit for you and how you can change your relationship with the gym.

Speaker 1:

Now, I know some of you have home gyms or you have gyms in your building. Some of you guys go to commercial gyms, or maybe you have a gym at work, or some of you just don't like going to the gym because you feel intimidated, you don't have the time and, as a result, you just don't get to the gym. Now, whatever category you find yourself in, this episode is for you, because I'm going to address all of the following three points in this episode Number one how can you change your relationship with the gym. Number two, how you can build the best home gym setup that works for you. And number three how to find the best commercial gym setup that works for you. My goal today in this episode is to not only offer you solid advice about finding the right gym setup that works for you, but I also want you to have more confidence when you go to the gym, and I also want you to overcome the barriers that might be holding you back. Before I dive into all of that, I want to give you a little bit more background on my own gym history.

Speaker 1:

I have an older brother. He's four years older than I am and when he was going into high school he was looking to get stronger and he bought this book called Getting Stronger by Bill Pearl. I was just 10 years old at the time when I first saw that book and I remember being really curious about it. My parents bought my brother some really simple weights I think it was like a curling bar and some dumbbells but I also remember messing around with them from time to time, and then I also read through more and more of that book and learning more about how to get stronger, and it was mainly a bodybuilding book. But I remember that and I remember the impact that it had on me, because I was a baseball player at the time and I really wanted to get stronger for baseball.

Speaker 1:

Fast forward four years and I went into high school myself and in our high school we had a gym in the basement. Now, it was really dungy, it was dark, it was dirty, had old equipment, but it had everything that you needed, and instead of eating lunch in the cafeteria, I'd go down to the weight room during our lunch hour and I'd lift weights and the first thing I did was I followed that program Getting Stronger. So, lo and behold, I started to see my body changing and adapting to the workouts and I remember feeling really empowered and it gave me a ton of confidence. And then this this, of course, translated to me being a better athlete too. Now, during summer breaks, I joined the local YMCA and I remember being way more intimidated because there was adults there, there was grown men, they're big guys, and so there were definitely times when I would avoid doing a certain exercise if someone was using a piece of equipment that I wanted to use. But I was always curious to try different things. Now, my training back then was really predicated on body building philosophies right, single, joint movements, working a muscle group, simply because athlete development and strength and conditioning programs just they just didn't exist the way that they do now when I was growing up as a teenager in the mid 90s. So it wasn't until I went to university when I really started to train like an athlete, doing Olympic movements, doing Olympic lifting, doing plyometrics and then training sort of on this periodized training schedule.

Speaker 1:

But what stuck with me all the way through was how intimidating the gym experience was. Even as a trained athlete and a young guy who was in gyms since I was really young, I was aware of how gyms were ultimately not designed to help people succeed in the long term. I think about it. You have all this big heavy equipment and it's not natural to use and that means a high risk of injury. And then you have all these people who seem to know what they're doing and they seem really super fit. And then there's just a lot of people that look downright angry and mean and, depending on the gym culture, sometimes there's this alpha male territorial element that I've seen as well. So it's a really strange dynamic and it doesn't promote health and wellness the way that I think it should. So if you're intimidated by gyms for any one of these reasons, just know that you're not alone. There's a lot of people that feel this way.

Speaker 1:

I saw the typical gym experience being such a barrier that I wanted to change that, and so, when I graduated and I retired from playing football, I started my first fitness business when I was 24 years old. The first thing I did was I rented a 1500 square foot loft in this industrial building and I bought minimal equipment. I bought what I could afford and my whole intention was creating a really friendly gym culture where everyone felt welcome and the focus was on teaching people the fundamentals of exercise. And then I went on to expand this concept and I created a gym where people had an access card and they could swipe in and they can come in on their own time and work out 24-7. So I did this for 15 years and I learned a ton about gyms. I learned a ton about equipment and, most importantly, I learned about all the barriers that people face when it comes to working out. So now that I run an online virtual health and wellness company, I've built my own home gym, and so now I have a ton of experience with the pros and cons of that, which leads me to one of my main points. There is no perfect setup. There's pros and cons to a commercial gym. There's pros and cons to a home gym setup.

Speaker 1:

What's so important is that you find what works best for you, and my hope is that by listening to this episode today, you're going to learn a little bit more about yourself and find the best setup that works for you. I want you to find a setup that ultimately has the least number of barriers for you to stay consistent with your workouts, because if you're not consistent, it doesn't matter how nice the gym is, how close it is to your house, how you feel about going. You're just not going to benefit without consistency. So ask yourself, what is my current relationship with the gym and working out? If you're consistent, you're going to the gym whether that's your own home gym or you're going to a commercial gym or a gym at your work and you're seeing results. That's awesome. I want you to keep doing what you're doing. It's working.

Speaker 1:

At the same time, just know that you don't have to have a home gym or access to a commercial gym to live a long, healthy life. You heard that right you don't have to go to the gym to live a long, healthy life. Now, even though research does show us that strength and cardiovascular training means a decreased premorbidity, especially in men. I still believe that if you're active, if you walk a lot, if you're hiking, you're biking, you're playing sports and games, you're moving your body on a daily, regular basis, then you don't need a really great gym setup. Just keep doing that, keep moving, okay. So, absolutely, strength training is really really helpful to living a long life, but it's got to work for you. So if you're not a gym person but you are active, keep going, okay.

Speaker 1:

But if you're not in any of these categories, that means that something's holding you back. There are barriers in your way, and here's what they usually are. I'm going to list them off, but I want you to make note of the barriers that ring true for you. All right, so these are the barriers that hold people back from going to a gym or working out in their home gym or just working out in general Lack of time, lack of money, lack of motivation, lack of energy, lack of knowledge, lack of support, lack of equipment, an existing injury or physical limitation, fear of injury, feeling intimidated or uncomfortable, and then certain environmental conditions. So I want you to take a moment and just reflect on this list and ask yourself what barriers are true for you. But with that, outside of a pre-existing injury or a physical limitation, all of these barriers are perceived barriers, which means your mind and the way that you think is really what's holding you back. So I don't say this to be mean or dismiss your challenges. I say this to offer you more hope. It's an invitation to think differently about what is holding you back. So let's take time, for example.

Speaker 1:

A lack of time. This is a perceived barrier and the reason why it's perceived is we know that as little as 10 minutes a day of movement has a tremendous impact on your fitness, especially if you add in other ways of moving throughout the day, like you put in a stand-up desk at work, you use the stairs and outside of that, if you're currently not doing anything, which means you're sedentary you have the most to gain because the benefit curve is steepest at the start. Let's look at a lack of equipment and money or other resources. So I'm going to speak to this in a minute. But your body is the best gym you're ever going to have Push-ups, squats, lunges, planks. These are so powerful and they don't require any equipment at all. When you do these consistently, you're going to notice a huge change in your fitness.

Speaker 1:

One more barrier here lack of motivation. Now I get this one. Sometimes we just don't have the energy or the desire to work out. What's even worse is like one minute we're on fire and we have all this motivation, and then the next minute it seemingly disappears. And then, when you consider this, it's in our DNA to conserve energy, avoid pain and seek pleasure. So by nature, the couch is far more appealing than the treadmill. But you have to be aware of this and you have to choose your heart. Laying on the couch is hard. It means being inactive, it means having lower energy, it means having higher rate of depression, poor sleep, obesity, type 2 diabetes and that's hard, guys. Working out is also hard. Getting through these barriers is hard. So ultimately you have to choose your heart. Which one is going to benefit you the most?

Speaker 1:

The last thing I want to offer you as a way to change your relationship with working out or the gym is this Run it through the model. So if you've been listening to my podcast for a while or you're a client of mine, you know one of my favorite tools is called the model, the thought model. So the model is an awareness tool and I use this in my coaching to help my guys identify three things their thoughts, their feelings and their actions. And I want them to identify these because the way that you think, feel and act is what leads you to the results that you get in your life. So the model always starts with a neutral, fact-based circumstance and this is called the sea line. It's the circumstance line, we'd all agree upon this. You know, if we put this through, you know, in the court of law, we would all agree on the circumstance. So in this particular instance, we can put in the sea line going to the gym or working out, that's a neutral circumstance, we'd all agree upon that.

Speaker 1:

But then what happens is we start to have thoughts about that. We start to have unintentional thoughts, unconscious thoughts. So if one of the barriers that we perceive is time, your thought might be I don't have enough time, okay, which you know. The underlying thought to that is that you believe that working out takes a lot of time and, of course, when you have this thought, it leads to this feeling of scarcity or not having it not. And when you feel that way, the action that you take is you often sacrifice your workout, you're going to end up wasting time because you're not efficient with it, you're not managing your time, and then, of course, you're not going to work out, and the result is you have this decreased fitness level.

Speaker 1:

So this is an example of an unintentional model. What's powerful about this is, once we have awareness of our unintentional thoughts and feelings that are holding us back, we can create a new, intentional model, but only this time we start with the R line, the results line, and the results we want to create instead. Okay, so we flip the model over. So the result is I want to improve my fitness. I see that as being so valuable to my health, my life and my longevity, and so I want to improve that. So that's my result. Then I go to the A line, the action line, and what I can do to achieve and improve my fitness is I can manage my time better, I can find quicker workouts, I can wake up earlier, I can go to bed earlier Right, I can follow a program, I can hire a trainer. There's lots of things that I can do to improve my fitness, and what I need to feel in order to take this action is even a feeling of sufficiency.

Speaker 1:

So oftentimes we look at scarcity and we think the opposite of scarcity is abundance. Actually, the opposite of scarcity is sufficiency. I have enough, I have enough time, so I want to feel that way, okay. And then the thought that leads to that emotion is I can find things to do that don't take a lot of time and still produce the fitness results that I desire. That's a powerful thought, okay. And see the difference there. The unintentional thought was I don't have enough time and now I can think I can find things to do that don't take a lot of time and still produce results. That's how powerful our thoughts are. And then again, the circumstance still neutral, still the same go into the gym and working out.

Speaker 1:

This is all about ownership. This is all about responsibility. When you look at your perceived barriers, just know that you're in control of overcoming them, and I want you to do that by start changing your thoughts and then watch what happens. So the thought model is an amazing tool that you can use whenever you feel like there's a barrier in your way, but you got to use it. You got to pull it out. You got to use that tool. So do you need to work out to live a long, healthy life? Absolutely not, but you need to move your body, and if you're not moving each day, I want you to assess the barriers that are holding you back. Take responsibility for your thoughts, your feelings, your actions, gain more awareness and then choose to have more helpful thoughts that are going to help you overcome the barriers that are holding you back. Trust me, when you do this regularly, you're going to have a completely different relationship with the gym, with working out and with yourself. Okay, so that's kind of the first part of this episode. The second part is how do you set up your home gym in a way that works for you? Okay, so let's pivot to setting up a home gym.

Speaker 1:

I personally love my home gym because it's so convenient, even though I have access to a commercial gym and that's only five minutes away. I like getting up early and I like getting right to it, so the 15 minutes I would use to travel to and from the gym to get ready that all adds up. The other thing I like about having a home gym is I don't get caught up in conversations with other members and other people. So overall, my home gym is way more convenient and I'm way more focused. Now, with that being said, commercial gyms offer more of a community. They offer more support and, for example, if you ever need a spot, you can ask another member to help you out. Right, with a home gym, I can't do that. I have to create safety measures to make sure I'm never going to get pinned by a heavy bar or something like that. At the same time, when you go to a commercial gym, you have access to way more equipment, and if something breaks down, that's not your responsibility. Now, as I mentioned earlier, there's no perfect scenario. There's pros and cons to all setups, but for me, my home gym works best for me.

Speaker 1:

Now, with that in mind, if you're in the same position and you either have a home gym or you want to set up your own home gym, here's some considerations. First things first, consider the amount of space that you have. I've seen home gyms that are literally just set up in a corner of a small room in someone's house, but I've also seen now with this like garage gym movement, that there's some really elaborate setups. For me, I have low ceilings in my basement, so that's something you're also going to have to consider, because when you start to buy bigger equipment, like a squat rack or a rig or something like that. You need the height to be able to fit the equipment. So my basement ceiling is about seven feet tall, and that's something I always look at first before I buy equipment. With that being said, I was going to build my home gym.

Speaker 1:

Again, this is how and where I would spend my money If I had no money. What I would do is I'd find a body weight program online and follow that. Your gym is your body, so there's a ton of body weight movements and calisthenics that you can do. Plus, you could always do cardio outside, whether it's hiking or walking or running or anything like that. Buy at $100. Here's how I'd spend that money. I'd go out and I'd buy a used kettlebell. I'd usually look online, but I'd find a used 35-pound kettlebell and then I'd buy a quality full mat and a stability ball. So kettlebells offer the most flexibility when it comes to cost and functionality.

Speaker 1:

If I had $200, I'd buy a TRX Suspension Training System. This would allow me to do pull-ups and hamstring work that you just can't really do with your body weight alone. So the TRX is a really great way to add even more exercises even more body weight exercises. If I had $500, the first thing I'd buy is a set of adjustable dumbbells that go from zero to 50 pounds, and then, if I really was smart about it, I'd save up a little bit more money and I'd get the 80-pound adjustable dumbbells. If I had $1,000, I'd buy the half squat rack and an Olympic barbell and Olympic plates, because then I could start to do a whole host of different squats and presses and pulls with the free weight.

Speaker 1:

If I had $2,000, I'd buy probably a roller or an assault bike or a ski erg something that allowed me to get more cardio in at home. Usually these machines they don't have fancy displays and motors and anything like that. They're all powered by the user, so that makes it a little bit more cheap. If I had $5,000, I'd probably go out and get a commercial gray treadmill or I'd get a functional trainer which is like a cable machine with two sides so you can do lots of different cable movements and whatnot. So, all told, my home gym is about $10,000.

Speaker 1:

Most of that is in the cardio equipment. We have a treadmill and we have a bike, so that's probably anywhere close to $6,000 or $7,000 right there just in equipment. Now some of the equipment I'd buy is used from Facebook Marketplace. I love going there. If I'm going to buy something or I'm looking for something, I'll always go there first, but I also buy online and I also buy from retail stores. Something I never do is buy used cardio equipment unless I'm certain it's in really good condition or it still has a warranty in place. There's just too much that can go wrong with a used treadmill or a used bike that has more components. As I mentioned earlier with COVID and the garage gym movement, there's just so many great manufacturers out there that you can buy equipment from. Just make sure it's quality rather than you're just trying to save a lot of money. The general rule is buy nice or buy twice. Okay, that's home gyms.

Speaker 1:

Let's talk about commercial gyms for a minute Now. I used to run gyms. I love gyms. I think they're a great resource for people who maybe don't have the space for a home gym or they want a different experience.

Speaker 1:

Home gyms offer a lot of pros. They have the amenities they have showers, they have towels, they have sodas, they have more equipment, they have classes, they have trainers. But they also have monthly recurring costs. They have busy times. They have times when you have to wait for equipment, and then also some gyms that are 24-7,. You have to consider their hours of operation.

Speaker 1:

The most important variable, though, that you have to ask yourself when it comes to a commercial gym is is your gym close to your home or your work? If your gym is outside of a 10-minute drive, the odds of you going drop significantly. Other factors that you got to consider is and this might be important to you, maybe it's not, but what's the cleanliness of the gym? What type of equipment do they have? What's the culture of the gym?

Speaker 1:

The other thing I want you to consider is you have to know your rights when it comes to signing a contract. So in Ontario, we have a 10-day cooling off period, so if you sign a contract and, for whatever reason, you need to cancel, you have within 10 days to do that without having a reason. Members have a really high operating cost. They have the space that they're leasing, they have the equipment, they have the staff, so they often are going to oversell. So something that you might want to consider is find a place that might be a little bit more expensive, but they put a limit on their memberships. Other things you want to consider is if they have a contract or not. So I always had a rule in place where people could cancel anytime. There was no contracts. And if there is contracts, just make sure you're very clear on what you're signing up for.

Speaker 1:

Something I tell people is make sure that you can go online and cancel anytime without having to go to the gym. Now, some gyms might not have that, but if they do, that's a bonus. Then you don't have to physically go into the gym and cancel. Most important, find a place that feels right, that feels good for you. Even though there's barriers and these barriers are often perceived.

Speaker 1:

As I mentioned earlier, I want you to be strategic and make sure you can eliminate these as much as possible. So here's what it looks like Is it close to your home or work? Do they have a good community and good people? Place where you feel comfortable, a place that has really good education and an onboarding system, so, in other words, someone that's going to show you how to use the equipment. Do you have a plan or a program? So, in other words, don't wing it Okay. It's never going to work. Even if you're just doing body weight stuff at the start, I want you to make sure you have a progressive program.

Speaker 1:

The other thing is you have to have a really strong why and reason for going. If you need accountability, hire a coach, a trainer or find out a workout partner. Another thing I tell people to consider is if you have a health spending account at work, make sure you take advantage of that. So ask your employer if they will buy you a piece of equipment for your home or if they will reimburse your gym membership, okay. Lastly, here's something really important to consider when people buy equipment for their home or they sign up for a gym, that's a really positive step forward, but don't let it stop there.

Speaker 1:

People often think that they've made progress and that just by signing up or buying some equipment, their pain point goes away. They feel like they've done just enough, okay. They start to feel like this is good enough, and what happens is they don't take the next step to actually going to the gym or using the equipment. So don't fall into this trap. You need to identify what the next step is, how you're going to get to the gym, how you're going to overcome the barriers that might get in your way.

Speaker 1:

All right, guys, that's all I have for you today. I hope you found this episode really insightful and I hope you have way more clarity on creating the type of gym setup that's going to work best for you, and I hope that you know the barriers that get in your way and that you have a strategy to overcome them. Remember that most of these barriers are perceived and by finding the right gym fit and by managing your mind, you're going to be able to overcome them. Thank you so much for stopping by, and if you ever want to explore a better gym fit, come and join us in the arena. That's where we talk about all of this stuff in much more detail, and we're doing this work. Okay, until next week, keep showing up, keep doing the work so you can look good, feel good and do better. Now is the time to take action and change your life. Head on over to the spear methodcom and discover how I can help you get started on your path. Better health and weight loss.