Is gym fitness effective?

As long as the training logic is correct and the diet and rest are kept up, the efficiency of muscle gain and fat loss in gym fitness is much higher than that of most people's self-training at home. Of course, it is not uncommon to fail to achieve results or even get injured if you step into the wrong pit. The essence of the effect depends on how you use the venue and resources, and it really has nothing to do with the venue itself.

Two years ago, I worked with a newbie who was originally 182cm tall and only weighed 118kg. After half a year of watching videos from fitness bloggers at home, doing push-ups and lifting 2kg dumbbells every day, the chest circumference only increased by less than 1cm, and she was still a piece of paper that couldn't even wear a T-shirt. Later, he practiced in the gym. He first used fixed equipment to feel the strength, and then slowly transitioned to free weight training. He was forced to eat 1.6g of protein per kilogram of body weight every day, and practiced 4 times a week without paddling. In just 3 months, his chest circumference increased by 7cm. The bench press swayed so much from the empty bar to being able to press 65kg in a set. Even his mother asked him if he was secretly taking any supplements. After all, the equipment in the gym has a full gradient of weights. If you want to add weight, you can just add weights. Fixed equipment can also help novices avoid many motion compensation problems. Unlike training at home, either the weight is not enough and the bottleneck is stuck, or the movements are wrong and you don't know if you hurt your waist.

But it is not objective to say that the gym is 100% useful. I have been in the gym for almost 4 years. I have seen many people who have applied for annual memberships and only come to shower. I have also seen people who have accumulated fluid in their knees after practicing for more than half a year. Many people complain that the gym is an IQ tax, and they have not touched the core logic of fitness. Just like a girl I often met before, she came on time every day to watch TV dramas on the elliptical machine for half an hour, then touched each machine twice to take a few selfies before leaving. After training, she invited her best friend to have hot pot milk tea. After practicing for half a year, her body fat rate did not drop at all, but increased by three kilograms. Do you think this can be blamed on the gym being useless?

Nowadays, many people say that working out at home can produce results, and there is no need to waste money on getting a card. This actually holds water. A self-weight training blogger I followed before relied on horizontal bars and yoga mats at home to develop clear abdominal muscles and arm lines. However, he has 7 years of training experience, and he has a good understanding of force perception and arrangements for progressive overload. If no one is there to guide ordinary novices, most of them will not notice the wrong movements after practicing for two months, let alone adjust the plan to break through the bottleneck.

To put it bluntly, the gym is a place that provides you with professional training conditions. Just like if you buy a good oven, you won’t be able to bake delicious bread if you don’t study the recipe or control the temperature. If you really want results, it is better to stop worrying about whether the gym is useful. First, consider whether your training plan is reasonable enough and whether your diet and rest are consistent.