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From 6 videos

Can you get the same results working out at home as at the gym?

Answered by Nikkiey Stott and WarriorBabe's coaches · Updated

The short answer

For most goals, yes. Nikkiey Stott says you can get as good a workout at home as at the gym, if not better, when you slow down, use the mind-muscle connection and create real tension. The caveat: for building muscle she favors gym equipment, and one coach says the gym's energy keeps you honest.

Hear it answered

Tap play to start right where it's answered. It keeps playing while you browse.

  1. Nikkiey on why a home workout can match the gym, or beat it

    Plays from 9:46 · Video: How to Get a Gym-Quality Workout at Home: 3 Tips

  2. Nikkiey says you don't need a gym membership and lists the home basics

    Plays from 44:06 · Video: Fasted Cardio, Deficit Length and Macro Questions Answered

  3. Jean, 75, on doing all her workouts at home and dropping her no-time excuse

    Plays from 15:03 · Video: Losing Weight at 75 With Home Workouts and Meal Planning

  4. Nikkiey on why building muscle leans on gym equipment

    Plays from 17:32 · Video: How to Lose Back Fat and Handle Food Triggers After 40

  5. A coach on the gym's energy and the risk of half-hearted home workouts

    Plays from 2:12 · Video: Dumbbell Only Shoulder Workout: Front, Side and Rear Delts

The full answer

Nikkiey explains that most of a good workout is in how you move, not where you are. Lower slowly into a squat, come up slowly, squeeze the muscle and feel the tension and the burn. Do that and you can train with the same intensity at home as at the gym. She says the basic home kit is dumbbells, barbells, your body weight and maybe resistance bands, and that she has members who kill it with home workouts. Even with body weight alone, slow negatives and self-created resistance can make your body feel like 100 pounds.

Members back this up. Jean, 75, does all her exercise at home on a program from her coach, plus walking outside or on her treadmill, and says it removed her old excuse of not having time for the gym. Cheryl, 57, did the Build workouts entirely at home and used Google to find substitutes when she lacked equipment like a Smith machine.

There is nuance. When asked about a home version of Build, her muscle-building program, Nikkiey said building muscle relies on the resistance from free weights, dumbbells and gym machines, so she doesn't see a home Build program coming soon. If you have a decent setup, she suggests swaps:

  • Hamstring curls on a stability ball, or with a band shut in a door
  • Leg extensions sitting off a bench with a dumbbell
  • Lat pulldowns with a superband anchored in a door

One WarriorBabe coach adds a different point: at the gym you feed off the energy of people doing the work, while at home the only energy is your own, and you can show up half-hearted without realizing it. So home can absolutely work. The real question is whether you're creating enough tension and being honest about your effort.

From WarriorBabe's coaches (how we write our answers). For education, not medical advice: talk to your doctor about your own health.

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