The biggest room in my 960 square-foot home is the living room.

There is no couch. No seats. No television.

There are free weights, medicine balls, weighted poles, and such.

There is also exercise equipment.

A water resistance rowing machine. Two different weight benches. And a treadmill.

Sounds like a home workout room, right?

Wrong.

It is a living room in the truest sense.

You can’t live unless you move.

Exercise, even low-level, can improve your physical and mental lot in life.

That said, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

So why isn’t there clothes hanging on the treadmill, books stacked on the weight benches, and dust on the free weights?

Well, there is bit of dust. 

I’m not exactly going to win the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval when it comes to dusting.

I typically wait for the dust bunnies to multiply like rabbits before taking action.

As for having exercise equipment that I actually use, there are two reasons why that is the case — group exercise classes and multiple health club memberships over the years.

Both dropped out of my daily routine when the pandemic hit.

Then in the reconstituted reality of having more workload due to how COVID-19 rearranged life long after masks stopped being mandatory, time was more of a premium and class schedules were no longer varied enough to fit in to when I had free time.

For the past 39 years, I haven’t needed to be motivated to exercise.

It is important to note that because “experts” selling $800 machines and those hawking gym memberships claim forking over money to exercise is a way to get motivated.

More important, though, is it gives you a hands on experience, if you will, led by people who usually know what they are doing.

That helps you understand the benefits of specific exercises, how to do them correctly, and determine what works for you.

Most people view the exercise class leader as kind of a drill sergeant.

But if you literally treat it like a class where you learn, you can get a good grasp of basics to build on.

That’s the underlying value of classes like RIPPED, Body Pump, Jazzercise, Pilates, and such.

It’s as much about finding out what works for you as it is challenging yourself.

RIPPED is a perfect example.

I assumed to get my heart rate up, to have a faster recovery, and to get my resting heart into the mid-50s that I had to try to emulate the Tasmanian Devil in aerobics class, jog for 20 minutes a day, or bicycle between 14 and 20 mph a minimum of two hours at a time.

RIPPED drove home the point that light weights with a lot of repetition are aerobic exercises even when not combined with full body movement.

I also was able to grasp the fact you could do a 20 to 30 minute or so work out and get both anaerobic and its benefits.

As for gym membership per se, it is a good way to test out exercise equipment so you don’t end up spending $800 on a treadmill that ends up on clothes hanger.

When I started assembling my workout area, I went with free weights.

They are more versatile and you can spend a boatload of money for other equipment that has limited use.

And by adding group exercise classes you might learn the benefits of resistance training — such as an expensive Bowflex offers — can be obtained at a fraction of the price using bands with varying degrees of tightness.

When I decided to add a rowing machine to my workout room, I made it a point to try a guest membership at a rowing machine gym.

I had tried a home rowing machine before and wasn’t happy with it. 

That said, I heard instructors say you can get an effective aerobic workout with them.

My health club at the time had one style that didn’t do much for me.

I was aware there were three styles of rowing machines - hydraulic resistance, magnetic resistance, and air resistance.

What I didn’t know was there were water resistance rowing machines.

For me, the movements were a lot smoother and definitely more pleasing as the sound of swooshing water that varies based on the resistance level you chose makes you more relaxed as you work toward your endorphin high.

It is by far the best exercise specific “machine” equipment I have and that includes my long-time favorites —  a stair stepper and spin cycle — in my home office.

Without the trial membership I didn’t extend, I would never have considered a water resistance rowing machine.

A gym membership - even for an abbreviated time - also will keep you from parting with cash via late night informercials by buying something that in the end doesn’t work for you.

It’s like a treadmill.

I’d rather walk, jog, semi-run, walk-jog in the rain or in 105 degree heat than use a treadmill to do the same.

So why, do you ask, is there a treadmill in my workout room?

The answer is simple.

I savor hiking up hills and mountains more than anything else including descents.

It wasn’t until a few years ago when I wasn’t able to squeeze in a series of weekend hikes as a tune-up for a week of hiking high Sierra trailheads to passes and summits, that I decided to try to use a gym treadmill at the highest incline.

That is when I discovered the monotonous view I had of treadmills didn’t reflect my preferences or exercise needs was all wrong.

I use my treadmill at the highest incline for an entire 20 minute workouts.

It helps mimic the great “burn” feel I get on a hike.

I’m not going to lie.

The social interaction of gyms — at least in group exercise classes — does appeal to me.

I just can’t work in the classes I like with my schedule any more.

That said, the general atmosphere of the rest of a gym working out on treadmills, weight machines, free weights, and such with other people around me leaves me kind of cold.

But a gym membership for at least a short period is an ideal way to guide you in assembling your own home workout area.

And if you take advantage of group exercise classes you can learn to get killer workouts even with things around the house such as a kitchen chair or make minimum investments in free weights, bands, ropes, medicine balls, and even workout balls.