When Home Workouts Stop Feeling Right

I loved Japan.

Fifteen months of soaking up the culture, eating incredible food, and training hard. It was one of the best stretches of my life. But when it ended, I made a decision I’d been thinking about for a while—I headed to Portugal to spend some time on my grandparents’ farm in the Alentejo region. It’s quiet. Isolated. And I thought, Perfect—this’ll be a great way to recharge and spend quality time with family.

There was just one catch: with no car, there was no gym for miles.

Luckily, remote work with my 1:1 online fitness members meant I could be flexible with location. But I knew if I was going to last long out here, I needed to build my own setup. So, I bought a decent home gym kit: adjustable dumbbells, a bench, resistance bands, even a chin-up bar and a kettlebell. It wasn’t fancy, but enough to get in good sessions. I even used the time to record over 100+ exercise library videos for my online members.

At first, I loved it. I trained consistently—full body, push/pull/legs, upper/lower splits. My German Shepherd dog, Nero, would chill nearby, sometimes falling asleep while I sweated through late-night sessions on the porch. The Alentejo heat was no joke—35 degrees even at night—but I pushed through, drenched after every workout.

But over time, something shifted.

The dread crept in.

Not the usual “ah, I’m not really in the mood today” feeling. I’m talking every single session felt like a chore. I’d stare at the equipment and just feel flat. Motivation? Gone. Momentum? Slipping. I wasn’t skipping workouts entirely, but rest days were piling up… and I knew deep down that something wasn’t right.

Then it hit me.

It wasn’t the program. It wasn’t the heat. It wasn’t even the limited equipment.

It was the environment.

What I was missing was that energy, the background hum of effort, the sound of weights clanging, being surrounded by people also trying to better themselves, that subtle but powerful motivation that only comes from stepping into a gym.

So, I made the change. Now, with a car, there was a gym just 15 minutes away, and the first session back felt like a complete reset. My motivation came flooding back. Personal bests started stacking up. I had access to everything I didn’t have on the farm—lat pulldowns, hamstring curls, dipping stations, squat racks. Even things as simple as a dedicated machine row felt like a breath of fresh air.

And the biggest change? I looked forward to training again.

Sometimes, the solution isn’t another new plan or fancy tactic. Sometimes, you just need a new setting.

If you're starting to dread your workouts, don’t ignore it. You might not need to stop weight training—you might just need a shift. Maybe that means joining a gym again. Or maybe it means building a home setup that works for your schedule. Either way, figure out the environment that makes you want to show up again.

And if you're unsure where to start, I’ve got a free workout plan to help you rebuild that consistency. It even comes with video examples, like those I filmed during that hot summer in Alentejo.

Grab it by clicking here and start moving forward again—this time, in the right environment.

Speak soon,

Leo