Best Body Bootcamp (BBB) Workouts: Home vs Gym
Hooray for Sunday!
I get the day off from both workouts and work. I get to go to church and worship and be fed, relax and bake brownies and play silly time-wasting games on Facebook, and also reflect on this week’s BBB workouts via blog post!
We have now completed Phase 1 of BBB: The stability phase. This one has always been my favorite, because it not only sets a great foundation for the rest of the Bootcamp, but it is also an area where I get to shine, and experiment a little bit outside of my comfort zone. I have arguably good balance from my years of ballet and martial arts, so I like to try to test my balance limits by adding extra weight and/or reps when I can.
In addition to feeling a little bit awesome and strong (teehee), I also experimented during this phase with working out at home versus the gym. There are pros and cons to both of course, and so I decided to provide you with a list of my top criteria for a good workout, and then measure each location (home and gym) up to my criteria on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being terrible and 10 being awesome…
…And then I have a crappy picture of myself working out at each location as well, for your own amusement. You’re welcome. 
My Criteria:
1) Comfortable and functional outfit to complete my workout in
2) Enough time to be able to give my workout my all
3) Enough space to be able to give my workout my all
4) Good tunes to work out to
5) Good strength training equipment
6) Good cardio equipment
7) Minimal distractions
8) Lots of sweat and muscle fatigue
9) Hydration resources available
10) Minimal cleanup and recovery
At Home Workout: Workout A from Phase 1
Gym Workout: Workout C from Phase 1
1) Comfortable and functional outfit to complete my workout in
At-Home Rating: 8 out of 10
Gym Rating: 6 out of 10
Haha! Okay so as you can see at home I couldn’t care less how I look. I’ve paired animal print bike shorts with a tank top I got from a concert I went to at the House of Blues on Sunset. (You should absolutely attend a concert there by the way if you haven’t. It’s a smaller venue with lots of standing room and great drinks. Much more of an intimate setting, and yes, it’s on the Sunset Strip in LA.) I’m not wearing any shoes because I like to keep my carpets clean. For this particular workout I didn’t feel the need to wear shoes, but for some workouts this could prove problematic.
At the gym I tend to care slightly more what I look like because, you know, I’m in public and don’t want to scare people or get kicked out for looking homeless. I didn’t wear any makeup that day though, so the flash on my camera phone is accidentally on purpose.
2) Enough time to be able to give my workout my all
At-Home Rating: 8 out of 10.
Gym Rating: 6 out of 10
When I work out at home, it saves me drive time to and from the gym. On the flipside, I haven’t packed my workout outfit with me to bring to work, so when I get home, I tend to want to shuffle about and waste time sometimes. I have to be careful of this. But otherwise, if I’m not lazy, it saves me time. At the gym, I often find myself in a hurry to get home or to the store, or whatever else needs to be done, so most days I feel like I have less focused time on working out even though it tends to be more quality time than at home.
3) Enough space to be able to give my workout my all
At-Home Rating: 4 out of 10
Gym Rating: 6 out of 10
I live in a cardboard box seized apartment, so needless to say, space is a bit of an issue in general let alone finding enough for a workout. If I rearrange some things and move a couple thins I have a passable amount of room, but only enough for one person. I couldn’t really work out with any pals at my home.
At the gym there is more focused and dedicated space, but I often compete for space with other members, depending on what time of day I go.
4) Good tunes to work out to
At-Home Rating: 10 out of 10
Gym Rating: 7 out of 10
At home I have an entire world of music at my disposal to work out to. My hubby and I are both hoarders collectors of music. At the gym, I have whatever is on my ipod or phone. I do like listening to book downloads from Audible on the elliptical or treadmill though. It’s a welcome distraction.
5) Good strength training equipment
At-Home Rating: 6 out of 10
Gym Rating: 10 out of 10
I have a basic set of free weights, a kettlebell, a stability ball, a weighted ball, exercise tubing, and a mat. I wish I had a bosu ball, some more weights and kettlebells, a bench, and of course I’m missing all of the strength machines my gym offers.
6) Good cardio equipment
At-Home Rating: 5 out of 10
Gym Rating: 10 out of 10
For cardio really all you need is yourself and maybe some good music. At home I tend to dance around, and also do a series of plyo movements. But I really tend to get more lazy with cardio at home than at the gym. I like to use the elliptical, treadmill, rowing machine, stairmaster, and stationary bikes. Not to mention there’s Zumba and other cardio classes available.
7) Minimal distractions
Rating: 2 out of 10
Gym Rating: 9 out of 10
This one probably goes without saying, but at home there are a million distractions! At the gym there might be some noise or people watching, but for the most part my energy is pretty easily focused on my workout.
8) Lots of sweat and muscle fatigue
At-Home Rating: 8 out of 10
Gym Rating: 9 out of 10
Whether at home or the gym, it doesn’t matter as long as I am willing to push myself. Either way I know I’ll work up a sweat doing BBB workouts! J
9) Hydration resources available
At-Home Rating: 8 out of 10
Gym Rating: 6 out of 10
At home, I can pretty much always grab some more water or amino powder, etc. At the gym I’m stuck with whatever I brought unless I want to brave the water fountain. I do not brave the dreaded water fountain unless I’m dying of thirst.
10) Minimal cleanup and recovery
At-Home Rating: 6 out of 10
Gym Rating: 6 out of 10
At home I have the shower and my closet right there. On the other hand, there is always equipment to put away and furniture to move back in place when I’m done working out. At the gym of course the reverse scenario is true.
So there you have it!
It appears my gym has a slightly higher rating overall, but a lot of times it just depends on convenience and mood. I think variety is key to keeping myself going, so I am happy I have both options available.
I am looking forward to Phase 2 of BBB starting this next week! The first week will be a bit challenging since I have to spend a few days in Chicago for work…but I already planned in advance, and I know they have a gym at my hotel so I am good to go.
If you would like more info about Tina Reale’s Best body Bootcamp and how you can sign up, visit her at her website, http://www.tinareale.com/best-body-bootcamp/.
Cheers!
Christin Joyful
