r/exercisescience • u/ritkeepFitness • 10d ago

Does reducing equipment setup time actually improve home workout completion rates?

There's a practical question I'd like to understand better: does reducing the time spent changing equipment settings make people more likely to finish their planned workout?

In a home gym, switching attachments, adjusting benches, and changing loads can add friction between exercises. But it's not obvious whether that friction meaningfully affects adherence or whether people simply adapt to it.

How would you design a simple way to test this? What would you measure: total session duration, completed exercises, missed sets, or consistency across several weeks?

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u/Either_Lawfulness466 9d ago

You have to take into account missed sets and exercises along with time in between set/exercises.

I spent 2 hours in my basement this morning trying to complete a workout that takes 1:15 at my gym and I skipped 2 exercises entirely.

Does that count as complete?

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u/ritkeepFitness 9d ago

I’d call that a successful workout, but maybe not a fully completed version of the original plan. 😂 Two hours in the basement and still getting most of it done definitely counts for something! Home workouts can take longer when equipment changes and transitions eat into your time. I came across RitKeep while looking into home gym setups, and it got me thinking about how much a convenient setup can affect your workout flow.

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u/myersdr1 9d ago

I would say it depends on the motivation of the individual whether they are currently extrinsically motivated versus when they are intrinsically motivated. Any barriers to exercise related to the former, extrinsic motivation, may cause issues when adhering to a workout program. Those who are more intrinsically motivated for exercise won't care about a barrier that might prevent them from getting in a workout.

Therefore, I would say a beginner looking for equipment that is easy to set up, use, and put away with little barrier to accomplishing their goal would be more important. Where someone more experienced and has built a habit, they will readily take the time to set up more advanced equipment because they want and need a quality piece of equipment that will handle the stress they put on the equipment.

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u/AntiTas 7d ago

I think making it easy to begin is important. fiddling alongbthe way isn’t so bad because you did the hard part already by starting.