Many who pursue muscle mass gains or fat loss feel that joining a local gym is a prerequisite, and so, following a rather food friendly December, thousands crowd local gyms, signing up for a 3+ year membership, believing that they've just made the initial leap towards a muscle building or fat loss transformation. But if we consider the number of people who actually continue attending the gym following their contractual commitment, we find that the once excited patron fueled with zeal for substantial change suddenly fails to walk through the gym's front door after the first few weeks.

Many assume that sloth is the natural enemy that prevents most from pursuing a pattern of muscle building or fat loss consistency, and never consider whether in fact the gym environment itself may obstruct desire for many, eventually causing most to quit the pursuit of muscle building or fat loss completely.

But why? Is it possible for the gym to reduce motivation, when in fact such an environment should be conducive towards achieving significant results? The true reasons will be found within the initial workouts, and clearly becomes one of the primary reasons why many lose their toleration for gym attendance long before producing significant results.

Imagine you are prepared for an intense bodybuilding workout, and you encounter numerous friends who decide to attend at the same time as you. What will most likely happen next? Will the group experience the best weight training and aerobic workout of all time, or will the next hour that follows focus upon discussing yesterday's episode of the Biggest Loser? Let's instead assume you attend the gym and happen to do so without meeting any friends, but as you browse the gym floor, immediately sense that each machine you need for your weight training workout is occupied, with a very lengthy wait for each. Do you think this will contribute to a productive bodybuilding workout, or encourage a visit to the neighborhood drive thru to try and munch the anger away?

Also, let's not neglect the most many additional common excuses to abandon the gym for a day, such as bad weather (ten feet of snow might make traveling the highway difficult), car breakdown (a flat tire always offers justification to take a nap), and traffic (wouldn't want to be late for a date with the TV)! Some may believe that these obstacles cannot occur regularly, but once momentum is ruined, and even one workout is skipped, the brain becomes far more lenient of the next skipped weight training workout, and this attitude will eventually lead to a brand new habit, one which is much more enjoyable; furniture sitting, without the interference of a gym visit for your bodybuilding workout.

Is there another option? I perform my bodybuilding in my basement, having gained over 60 pounds of muscle and lost 50 pounds of body fat, without use of a gym, proving that neither fat loss nor muscle gains requires waiting in line for machines or paying expensive bodybuilding gym dues. In fact, my bodybuilding success was achieved in my basement, with basic weight training equipment, and I was able to produce far more consistency with my bodybuilding workout regimen than most who must contend with the inconvenient gym environment, specifically because I am in control of my environment, and can remove distractions that interfere with my ability to perform my bodybuilding workout.

I am not claiming that achieving a bodybuilding caliber physique or producing consistent fat loss is impossible through gym training, as many with such memberships achieve very impressive results, but for those who have the option to invest in some basic weight training equipment, I believe doing so is far more convenient, offers a controlled environment, and is significantly less expensive over an extended time frame than joining a local gym facility. Achieving success in muscle building or weight loss is in great part due to mental focus, a factor which suffers greatly when subjected to an uncontrollable group of circumstances, and this is why I have constantly trained at home, and achieved very impressive muscle gains and fat loss progress specifically because I have constantly been able to proceed with my bodybuilding workouts in a systematic, controlled fashion.

Don't reject the idea of performing your bodybuilding workouts at home until you've experienced the frustrations of attending a gym, but if you choose to join a local gym facility, please make sure not to sign a long term deal until you have consistently trained for at least two months and have proven to yourself that the inconveniences and roadblocks will not interfere with remaining faithful to your bodybuilding workout routine.