There are many advantages to having a home gym, convenience being right at the top of the list.
Being able to get straight out of bed and train can be helpful in the modern world, where traveling to and from your usual gym can be a chore.
The busy schedules many of us have means any time saved is a benefit, and being able to get in and out of training schedules at home, to your timetable is hugely beneficial.
In 2020, we saw even more benefits, as gyms closed around America.
Bloomberg.com reports that even after gyms opened in September, 60% of regular users did not return.
Many will have got into the routine of training from home and found it to be as rewarding physically as it is in terms of their time management.
The fitness industry may have taken a hit in the pandemic, but the home fitness industry certainly has not.
Another industry that saw a boom during the pandemic was online gaming, not traditionally an area that seemingly demands a degree of physical fitness.
Video gaming in the United States is big business, with Statista reporting 192.2m play games on their mobile phones and 126.6m play on tablets or similar mobile devices.
Within that industry, there has been significant growth in some sectors, with Poker.org revealing a second online poker boom through 2020 and 2021 courtesy of the shutdown of physical locations.
The original poker boom, back at the turn of the century, saw Americans turning to their computers in high numbers to play online, a phenomenon repeated over the last 12 months or so.
As with home fitness, thanks to the pandemic, one industry struggled whilst another boomed. In this instance, physical casinos shut, and players turned to those mobile devices in high numbers.
The two industries might not seem to be entirely connected, but as people have been restricted to their homes, they have become entwined.
Online gamers are sedentary for long periods of time, which can have significant health implications.
Therefore, a standard fitness routine is very important to anyone who indulges in online poker and casino games or deeper online gaming such as Call of Duty or Dota 2.
Exercise and fitness are incredibly important, especially for players wishing to be a success online.
One key reason for this is the fact physical exercise is known to boost the effectiveness of brain metabolism.
As your heart rate increases, which happens naturally through exercise, the blood flow to the brain also increases.
With that, your brain’s exposure to oxygen and nutrients rises which helps keeps it healthy. Playing any game online requires not only a degree of physical dexterity in the hands and arms but a sharpness of mind which exercise can help to promote.
Indeed, some studies have suggested that the parts of the brain that control thinking and memory are larger in those who exercise than those who do not.
Whilst cognitive function is one great reason why online gamers should consider exercise, the other major benefit is a little more obvious: physical fitness.
If you spend large parts of your day sitting down, it can adversely affect muscle strength, lead to a weakened heart and an increased risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes.
This also applies to people who have been forced to work from home and who may still not have returned.
Once upon a time, a home gym and workout routine were seen as something enjoyed by fitness fans and perhaps not the larger part of the population, but 2020 has changed the game.
We have been driven to mobile devices and screens for our leisure with online gaming, and in many cases for our working life too, so keeping fit has become more important than ever.
If you have realized that you are an online gamer needing to improve your health, then you can find reviews of all the latest home gym equipment, nutrition tips and the like by navigating from our homepage.