The Wellness Investment Story

A “wellness investment” can seem like an intangible cost. Something that can’t be measured, tracked or explained. In my experience it can be a clarifying exercise to ask yourself what you want your later years in life to look like? Do you want to be chasing great grandchildren, hiking trails, and enjoying a healthy body? Do you want to avoid the operating room as much as possible?Then the path is clear. To do this we must exercise regularly. 

Exercising consistently is a key element in a lifetime of wellness. Being able to access a gym easily erases a huge obstacle in the way of consistency. The commute times to a commercial gym, and busy gym crowds can reduce the ability to workout more frequently & in an efficient format.

Almost 5 years ago I started having issues with my gym setup. Going to the gym was simply not efficient enough. My best time to exercise was late at night when everyone had gone to bed. So that meant driving to a gym would waste too much time. The bands I had were snapping, the floor was a concrete slab, the weights were all free weights that required longer setup times, and there were only a few kettlebells. I had a pair of boxing gloves and no bag. So my workouts were catered to the equipment that I had. I was having phenomenal late night workouts. The issues I was running into:

• I missed the heartrate spikes I would get from the heavy bag

• Supersets were nearly impossible based on setup

• Limited exercises at high resistance

By purchasing the items below over time I fulfilled my exercise programming needs in the most efficient way for my training goals. I'm looking to have varied exercise programs, options for high levels of intensity & resistance, convenience, time saving, and cost reduction. So here is my home gym & my reasoning for having this setup.This was accumulated over the course of five years. 

• Speediance Gym Monster all in one machine

• Resistance bands 

• Kettlebells 

• Power Blocks 

• Grind squat rack 

• Dumbbells 

• Barbells 

• Century Cornerman stand 

• Everlast heavy bag 

• Venum boxing gloves 

• Chalk 

• Landmine squat rack attachment

• Lifting straps 

• Keiser gym bike 

• Gym flooring

Those are the physical home gym equipment costs that will set me up for hopefully the next 7+ years. Clients and I can use it with minimal chance of gym failures due to high quality materials which means less injuries. The quality of life that I gain from having a home gym is immense. 

There are ways to keep the physical costs down over time. In my experience keeping costs down involves:

• Buying an all-in-one machine when there are sales on lifetime monthly subscription at no cost (usually around major holidays)

• Buying quality rubber gym flooring

• Buying a quality squat rack at a good value

• Buying kettlebells, dumbbells, and free weights 2nd hand

  • Craigslist

  • Facebook marketplace

  • Nextdoor

The costs that don’t have a price tag for me are:

• Wellness for the longest period of time in my lifetime as possible

• Adherence through convenient access to training

• Familiarity of equipment and maximum usage of the equipment

• No commute

When doing an ROI analysis of your wellness investment we should consider the end result invaluable. Do the real world math and then think about how the meaning of your longterm wellness aligns with your budget. I’ve created a home gym vs. commercial gym return on investment calculator on the Home Gym page of www.truform.training.