You definitely can start this way. When I started, I got some help from a physical therapist–I had really messed up my back, and in addition to helping with the acute issue, they also selected a set of exercises and numbers of reps for me that I could do at home, and that was a great starting point for my exercise routine. It was pretty short and focused, so it was easy to find time to do it every day, and the practice of keeping at it was really helpful. My health insurance covered most of the cost of the physical therapist; I had to pay a copay, but even then it was just a couple times a week for maybe two months, so not exorbitant. Insurance is generally willing to help with this stuff for a little while because they know that if your health improves, it’s likely to reduce their future costs. So it’s worth looking in to whether yours would help with something like that just to get yourself going. I don’t think you need to have an acute problem to take advantage of that; I think having a specific goal for improvement is adequate. (They want measurable goals, like “I’d like to be able to jog five minutes without getting winded,” or that sort of thing. I believe mine was “I’d like to be able to spend a day out walking around a garden with my family without being laid up the next day by my back.” Which reflects where I was at the time. But, y’know, anything that reflects where you currently are, and something that you might be able to achieve in a six-to-eight-week timeframe, is probably a good goal.)

Doing that regularly also got me listening to my body, and that got me to gradually expand my routine–I eventually understood that some of my back issues were propagating up from hip issues, so now I work on those, and some of those are coming from limited ankle mobility, so I’m also working on that, and working on that has got me doing “goblin squats” that has gotten me to stop thinking of dumbbells as something to avoid. I’m also getting closer to being able to do pull-ups; I got a pull-up bar because just hanging from a bar sometimes can really help with a bad back, but at some point I started thinking about how much more I enjoyed moving when I was a kid and took gymnastics classes, and back then I actually had the strength to do things like pull-ups. So now I can do some resistance-band assisted pull-ups, and hopefully in a year or two I’ll be able to do the proper thing.

Picturing enjoying movement is something that really motivates me, actually. Like, I used to enjoy biking and ultimate frisbee. I don’t, now, but I think I might enjoy them again at some point. I think I might also enjoy parkour, if I can get into that kind of shape, but I recognize that may not be an achievable goal at this point. I had a kind of enthusiasm for brief bursts of very intense movement, like sprinting up a flight of stairs two at a time, or climbing up onto a loading dock in a single giant step.

At this point I do a basic set of dumbbell weight exercises, squats and lunges, push ups, a back stretching and exercises routine, assisted pull-ups, and a walking/running aerobics routine. It’s not a ton, but I’m really in vastly better shape than I was when I started a few years ago. I do have a handful of equipment–the dumbbells, a floor mat, a couple of foam rollers, an exercise ball (for trunk lifts, which are good for a weak lower back), a doorway pull-up bar, some resistance bands that I basically just use with the pull-up bar, and the biggest thing is an elliptical machine for when the weather is too bad to do the aerobics outside. There are ways to do it without a machine, like jogging in place or doing rapid shallow squats, but the machine is kind of nice–it’s hard to explain, but it really helps to have the exercise take place in its own little isolated space, or even just in its own mental space. I actually also have a little lighted sign that I made (it’s a recreation of the neon sign for an exterminator’s in my home town that always tickled my fancy back then–it’s got a giant neon rat in the middle) and I like to turn that on in my room specifically while I do my exercises there (everything other than the aerobics and pull ups), just because it kind of marks out the distinction of exercise time. It helps make it a ritual, and that helps make it a habit. As I say, hard to explain, but it feels like it matters.

I will say, this routine has also helped me lose some weight. I’m down about 45 lbs (~22kg) from this time last year. That’s mainly down to diet changes, but I did ramp up my exercising while doing this to be sure that I was losing fat rather than just losing muscle. I’m still a lot heavier than I’d like, but I’m definitely proud of how far I’ve come. I’m improving in other measures, too, like my resting heart rate is down from around 100 to around 80, which, again, is not where I’d like to be, but represents movement in the right direction.

So, I do think the physical therapist helped a lot with getting me started, but most of my work I’ve done at home, and without too much in the way of equipment.

Would I have done better, faster by going to a gym? I dunno. I definitely know that friction is a big factor. If it’s hard to actually go do the thing, then it’s easy to make excuses not to go do the thing; needing to actually travel to a gym definitely counts for that. There’s kind of a balancing act in making my routine easy enough and pleasant enough that I’ll actually do it, but also challenging enough that I’m still gradually improving. Sometimes I need to let myself slack off at something a little as an incentive do just do the thing. And sometimes once I’m actually doing the thing I don’t need the slack after all.

Bit of a rant, I guess. Sorry, it feels like so much of this stuff is, like, techniques for outwitting part of my own brain, and it feels like those are things other people might be able to use, but I’m not sure how transferable they really are. Hope it helps.

Good luck with your journey! I know I’ll need luck on mine.

During covid I built a home gym (power rack, barbell and plates) never having touched any of it before in my life, and built a wrestler’s physique. It is absolutely possible to go this route. The amount of information available online now is incredible, and in some ways you would be better off teaching yourself versus going to a personal trainer in the gym. They tend to baffle you with BS, and “manage” your program for you with all kinds of wacky exercises.

The recipe is deceptively simple. You don’t need a gym full of machines, a barbell at home can get you yoked. If you are interested in going this route let me know I can point you in the right direction

There is tons of legit way to exercise, and lifting weight in a gym isn’t the only way. It may be worth looking at sports clubs in your town, no matter you want to practice Karate, volley ball or even rock dancing these are fun and legit way to exercise. They also tend to be more social than fitness gym which helps with motivation.

Now regarding what you can do at home, depending what you call home. A fitness mat and a rubber band can bring you far. Body weight training does work too. While not strictly at home running is fun too, and goes from beginner who alternate one minute running and one minute running to people preparing Ultra Marathon

Honestly it makes me sound like a shill but the Apple Watch / fitness+ stuff has been incredibly helpful and motivating. I went from not doing anything to getting at least 30 mins a day after about 6 months. I work from home and am the primary caretaker of a toddler so getting to the gym hasn’t really been in the cards.

The real trick is sticking to it. But I promise it’s worth it for you and everyone in your circle. You can do it!!

After corona I bought a threatmill for pennies. It was nice building up some stamina without anyone seeing me break my back over a half kilometer. At some point I was doing 3km fairly comfortably and than my threatmill broke. By this point I had enough confidence to go to the gym. Now I’m doing 6km twice a week.

Training at home was the best thing for me to start a routine.

I’ve been working out at home since the late '70s/early '80s, as I found gyms in that era seriously woman-unfriendly. I splurged for a simple bench, a barbell/dumbbell set, a cheap area rug and a book by Arnold Schwarzenegger on workouts for women. At my peak, I was pressing 130% of my body weight, and able to bring my head down to my knees without fracturing a vertebra. Nowadays, my aim is to be able to carry my own groceries 9 blocks home, chase the cat up the stairs and down the hall when it’s time for his meds, and defend my wallet as needed.

I prefer this. It allows me to focus, protects me from dorks who think I need their advice or should surrender the machine I’m on because they need it, saves $75-100 a year in membership fees, the cost of ‘proper’ gym clothes, the time and money travelling and I can work out when it fits into my day. I recommend it, but you will need a level of self-discipline and a daily routine that works for you. Don’t just buy the weights and start flinging them around: find a good book or two/a couple of websites and learn about basic nutrition needs, the best times for exercising, and why you need to cycle your exercises and take a day off regularly.

Don’t be discouraged if it takes a while to get into it, and see results. If you miss some time, just go back to it when you can. I can’t explain how good it feels every day, being fit, but it is worth it!

When it comes to exercise the struggle isn’t doing it, it’s finding a routine that works for you. That’s the key, figuring out something you can do and make a habit of it so it becomes routine, like brushing your teeth.

I bought a collapsible bench and hand weights in late 2024 so I could cut the gym membership from my budget, and I’ve been able to maintain my usual habit of lifting 3-4 times a week. The added benefit is that it’s nice not to have to deal with other people or wait for equipment. You can learn better ways to work out from professionals for free on Youtube, and you can add equipment to your home gym over time.

It’s definitely reasonable to be new and never go to a gym.

21 days to form a habit.
2 days to unform it.

Stick with what you’re doing for 6 weeks, then ask yourself this question again.
There’s no wrong answer. They key is to keep doing it.

The biggest issue with working out at home is that people simply don’t do it. They think they do but they dont. I’ve yet to meet a fit person that doesn’t go to gym, but hey - maybe you’re the first one. Or maybe you should just go to the gym.

For me, the hardest at-home part is the motivation. It’s so easy to “skip”. Finding things like pre-plans or games like Zwift on a bike trainer help, because it sets my schedule.

I also found it handy to pick an audio book, podcast, or show I liked, and only do that while working out.

Can someone reply to this comment with pointers or guides on high-protein vegan/vegetarian diets for reducing body fat?

I’ve trained calisthenics, plyometrics and power yoga at home for years and I’m very happy with the results. Just search on Youtube for advice and workouts you like. Use your common sense: look for people focusing on tried-and-true ideas and don’t use performance enhancing drugs.

My favorite channels are Athlean-X, Calisthenicmovement, The Stone Circle and Breathe and Flow.

Also, get a mirror or film yourself to check your form, or have someone watch you. After a while, you’ll start feeling whether something is right or wrong, but at the start it’s useful to have a visual check.

I spend a grand on a nice adjustable dumbbell set and a bench and went from 165lbs to 210lbs over the last 18 months with a combination of weight training and eating better. It’s absolutely possible to work out at home with the resources that are out there these days. I do miss some of the equipment at the gym but the convenience of a home gym is just too good.

I would point out that getting lean/shredded is not a function of the gym, it’s a function of the kitchen. You cannot out exercise a bad or even mediocre diet. You can use a gym to build muscle, increase flexibility, or improve cardiovascular fitness, but there’s no avoiding making changes to your diet if you want to decrease body fat.

Yeah I exercised with only my body weight for many years. I was pretty fit. Now I started going to the gym and one thing I discovered was that i never exercised certain muscles before. I had wide arms but small shoulders. This is because at home, you usually dont have all the equipment to exercise all parts of the body.

This may be fine though. For me it was fine for many years. But now I wanted a larger upper body and that means shoulders and back and biceps.

You can absolutely workout at home with almost no equipment. You will need something for pull ups and that’s pretty much it. Google “calisthenics” - that’s what bodyweight exercises are called. It’s a whole world of knowledge with books, blogs and YT channels covering the topic. Many would argue that this type of exercise is actually healthier than using gym equipment.

I started doing this 4 years ago and I can highly recommend it. I hate public places like gym and I don’t like wasting time for getting there and back so exercising at home is perfect for me.