Commercial Gyms vs Home Gyms...is there really a debate here?

Ok ya'll...today's workout was a bit different today from the norm that I've been doing in recent weeks - I went back to the gym today for a pretty nice chest workout. Yup, my good friend and workout buddy called me last night and asked if I wanted to workout with him so I obliged. Talk about getting your chest getting fried...whew! Finished it off with the normal EPOC approach to cardio. Felt really good.

Hitting the gym again really was refreshing. To see alot of old faces early this morning was nice to see...but with the old faces I still saw the same old routines...I still cant understand the reason behind it all to this day. But again, I'm not really sure what the goals are for most of them but I can't see any logical reasoning behind it sometimes - because they've been doing it for so long.

So it was in and out in less than 40 minutes for us and we headed back home.

Which leads me to this question:

Commercial gyms vs Home gyms...which is better? I have the luxury of both worlds, however at home, I really have to improvise alot of things on the fly - and not everything is state of the art. At the gym - they are at your disposal. However, the reason I like the home gym is because I like to workout in "closed quarters"...I can focus more on the task at hand without the distractions a commercial gym would have (guys and gals - admit it! There are plenty of distractions to keep you from staying focused. I'll be the first to admit that. :) ) But even at the gym, I really never ever seem to look over my shoulders to see what guy A is doing or gal B is wearing or even really care about what goes on quite honestly; that's not why I go in the first place. But that's primarily why I go in the early times of the morning...because that's where I feel alot of freedom to move if you will. I remember one time, I went to the gym at exactly 4 AM and all that was there was me and the janitor! I felt like a kid at Toys R Us who just won a free shopping spree. I was like: look at all these wonderful toys!!!!! But as soon as 5 am came around, here came the flood of people. Fortunately, I was already on my way out thankfully.

Don't get me wrong about commercial gyms, it's a great place for variety and the best option for me when home workouts become a little monotonous (just not the intensity of course)...

At home, it's a whole different beast. It's almost like a sanctuary for me if you will. I get more satisfaction working out at the confines of home than anywhere else. There's less time required to get your butt up, get into your workout gear (as well as your work clothes), start your car and head out - that takes alot of time. Also, having to cram your workouts in right before work at a gym setting really makes you feel youre pressed for time. If I had the financial means, I would make my garage complete of all sorts of workout equipment! Good thing is, not much is required for me to do my workouts at home either.

A fact of life is this: life absolutely does get in the way of many things (especially as working parents) - it's always recreational for me but always viewed my best workouts were at home and if anything - with a good kick in the butt you can still manage to crank out a good workout in 20-30 minutes tops with merely body weight training and a few dumbells at home - and that's the truth! Not giving up the commercial gym however. Simply knowing it's there is re-assuring that things don't get too stale.

Just click on this link for more information on some hardcore workouts!