5 reasons I cancelled my gym membership & built a home gym instead
I want to preface this post by saying that I don’t think everyone should go cancel their gym membership, but this is what works best for our family based on our health, financial, & relationship priorities in this season of life. I have been a member of a gym for as long as I can remember, and some of my best memories are times there with my friends and family. A gym is actually where my husband & I first spotted each other in high school, and where I frequently saw him & got to know him in college for three years before we dated! Back when I had an unhealthy view of fitness, I spent 2 hours in the gym DAILY. My entire day (and even my food) revolved around when I would go to the gym. I remember nights in college when I would finish studying at 9pm, chug my pre-workout (an atomic bomb of chemicals that I wouldn’t touch with a 10 foot pole now), lift weights until almost midnight, then come home and wonder why I couldn’t fall asleep till 3am. Hmmm, maybe inhaling 300mg of caffeine, taxing my central nervous system with heavy lifting, & spending two hours under intense fluorescent lights isn’t the best idea after dark?
I have come a looooong way since then. Since my health journey began (right before I got pregnant with our son), I have learned so many ways that I truly was not taking care of the body that God gave me. I’m going to share with you some of the ways I take better care of my body through our home gym, as well as other reasons why we cancelled our gym membership. Here are 5 reasons we cancelled it:
Artificial Lighting vs natural lighting
More research emerges every year on the negative impacts of artificial lighting. I still remember the moment that intrigued me to learn more- I was listening to Chris Kresser on a mind-blowing Joe Rogan episode, and he mentioned a subsistence farmer, hunter, gatherer population in Bolivia called Tsimane. They live in sync with the natural light & dark cycles, and they don’t expose themselves to much (if any) artificial light at night. When some researchers recently asked them about insomnia, they didn’t understand what they were talking about. They didn’t even have a word in their language that described that kind of condition.
The most significant impact of artificial light is on our melatonin production, which not only disrupts our sleep, but overflows into several functions of the body. Suppressed melatonin has been shown to “increase the risk of cancer, impair immune system function, and possibly lead to cardiometabolic consequences such as type 2 diabetes, metabolic syndrome, obesity, and heart disease.” - Chris Kresser
Out of all artificial lights, “blue” light suppresses melatonin the most. You can (and should) help combat blue light from your laptop or phone by wearing blue light-blocking glasses, but it’s not that simple. Most of us are completely missing the necessity of natural light in our lives and replacing it with artificial light. So the question we should ask ourselves is not just “how can we minimize bad light,” but more importantly, “how can we maximize natural light?”
Neurosurgeon Dr. Jack Kruse has extensively researched the effects of artificial vs natural light on mitochondria & chronic disease. “Anytime you are in blue lights… you are creating adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism as we speak.” I highly recommend checking out his work, but here are a few of his best tips:
Get morning and evening sun on your skin & eyeballs
The days that you need to be inside the most, spend the most time in direct sunlight (even if it’s 5 minutes). On days that he has surgeries, he takes his “smoke breaks” outside in direct sunlight.
He spends 1-2 hours in the sun in a the winter, & 3-5 hours in the sun in the summer
If you go out at night, make sure you skin & eyes are protected
In terms of a commercial gym, I was working out at night under intense blue lights with no protection, AND I was missing one of the most crucial times of the day- sunset. Why not just eliminate all of these stressors on my body and workout outside?
indoor workouts vs outdoor workouts
Research shows that outdoor exercise, in particular, is incredibly beneficial to our physical and mental health. It is no secret that we are suffering from a lack of time in nature, but thankfully we are seeing a shift in our culture as many of us are returning to our roots. “Earthing” was a term that was previously mocked and ridiculed until a couple of years ago. Research now shows that earthing can “reduce inflammation, promote wound healing, strengthen the immune system, and prevent or even help to alleviate chronic diseases, including autoimmune diseases” - Biotics Research Corporation.
Today’s children spend less time outdoors than any past generation. They spend an average of 4-7 minutes per day in unstructured outdoor play, while they spend a whopping average of 7.5 hours in front of electronic media. The impact of this on their health is astounding. Google “Nature-Deficit Disorder” and prepare to have your mind blown. America… WHAT. ARE. WE. DOING.
It’s our responsibility to reverse the statistics in the way we raise future generations. They learn by our example, and we choose to set an example of abundant time outside & include our son in our workouts. Here are some other simple ways that we encourage our child’s outdoor time and limit indoor time:
No screen time (I’m not saying we will keep Koa away from TV and media forever, but there is enough current evidence showing how screens negatively impact the developing brain to make that decision easy for now, especially under age 2)
Risky play (here is a great article that outlines the necessity of risky, uninterrupted, outdoor P L A Y)
Learn about our local wildlife (when you spend enough time in one place, you start to become familiar with the wildlife that actually lives there. It’s not every day that I think about how our home is their home too. Our son has become very interested in bees lately, so we go watch the bees “work” in our backyard every day. When this changes to lizards, snakes, fish, centipedes, etc… we will just flow with it. This not only nurtures his curiosity and love of learning, but it instills a sense of wonder about God’s creation)
But enough about lizards lol, back to working out. Will there be days that it’s raining and 40 degrees and I’ll have to move things inside? Absolutely, but I will make the most of the other days!
money
I recently listened to my friends’ podcast series, and one of their episodes was “Money + Debt.” They inspired me to do an inventory of all the things I was paying a monthly membership/subscription to, and guess what? I cancelled all of them. Of course there are subscription services that can save you money (like Thrive Market), but all of mine were services that could be replaced with an option that saved more money. Keep in mind I was only paying about $10-20 a month for a gym membership, but for the price of a couple months, I could buy an entire equipment set-up through Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace.
In reality, though, I wasn’t just spending $10-20 on a gym membership. I was spending money on gym clothes that fit my criteria of modest AND comfortable AND decent quality AND squat-proof, I was spending money on gas, and I was spending money on that spontaneous coffee that sounded good as I was driving by. I could have argued all day long why I had every reason in the world to spend that money each month, but I made the decision to invest & save (even in the small areas), and boy did it feel good.
Time
The average American family spends 37 minutes of time together on week days. That was 100% true of us when my husband & I both still had gym memberships. One of us was with our child at all times, but the actual time spent with all three of us together at dinner was miniscule. For us, that was not enough. Our desire is for Koa to learn from our marriage- watch us resolve conflict, watch us discuss important topics and be a part of them, watch us laugh together, watch us pray together, and do life together. We weren’t getting that while playing “tag- it’s your turn.” We looked for areas where we could make small changes, we made them, and we never looked back.
freedom
Lastly, sweet sweet freedom. Freedom to wear whatever I want during a workout without thinking about modesty, freedom to start and finish a workout without having to take my headphones off while a trainer tries to sell me something, and freedom to try some weird variation of barbell hip thrusts without 20 people staring. What I did not expect was the mental freedom that took place when I stepped away from commercial gym culture. I feel more in tune with my body & what food it craves now more than ever. I can’t pinpoint exactly why that is, but I think that’s because it’s not just ONE thing.
I guess it might be a stretch to say it has given me freedom in all areas of life, because now I have a little monkey crawling all over me during my workouts, but the laundry list of pros outweighs the cons. Plus, I needed a 35lb weight anyways;)
For more information on my nutrition + fitness programs, click here!
Get outside in nature today!
-Kori
