2630: Get Rich With: Olympic Barbells by Mr. Money Mustache on Garage & Home Gyms

[00:00:00] Delicious meets nutritious in the snack that packs a real protein punch. Wonderful Pistachios. Each one-ounce serving of Wonderful Pistachios has 6 grams of protein, giving you over 10% of your daily value and making Wonderful Pistachios one of the highest

[00:00:15] protein nuts. But perhaps more than that, I love all of the flavors they have. Their sea salt and vinegar ones are my favorite when I'm craving that flavor but want to keep it healthy. But

[00:00:25] that's just the tip of the iceberg. Wonderful Pistachios come in a variety of flavors like chili roasted, honey roasted, smoky barbecue and jalapeno lime, perfect for enjoying with family and friends or taking them with you on the go. Whether you're a pistachio purist who loves

[00:00:42] cracking open every nut or you prefer the convenience of no-shells pistachios, Wonderful Pistachios has got you covered. Grab Wonderful Pistachios and elevate your snacking game today. So fill up with a healthy snack when hunger strikes. Visit wonderfulpistachios.com to learn

[00:01:00] more. That's wonderfulpistachios.com. This is Optimal Health Daily, episode 2630. Get rich with Olympic barbells by Mr. Money Mustache of mrmoneymustache.com. And I'm Dr. Neil Malek. Hello and welcome to our Sunday bonus episode where I share an article from

[00:01:21] one of the other podcasts in our network. Today's post comes from Optimal Finance Daily, where articles covering money and personal finance are read to you every day. And you can find Optimal Finance Daily wherever you're listening to this. So with that, here's Diana with the post

[00:01:37] and commentary as we optimize your life. Get rich with Olympic barbells by Mr. Money Mustache of mrmoneymustache.com. Just over 10 years ago, I was happily living in my first house. This house was within easy biking distance of work, 9 miles, and the grocery store, 2 miles,

[00:02:02] and walking distance of the city's recreation center, 1 mile, which I enjoyed visiting for workouts about 3 times per week. I was especially pleased with this rec center because the membership dues were only about $25 per month, much less than the private health clubs that I had been

[00:02:19] visiting for 10 years prior to that. A triangle of the big three, all the main places a person has to visit on a regular basis available without having to drive. What could be more frugal or

[00:02:32] efficient than this? But then one day I was doing my monthly stock up of bulk groceries at Costco, and there was a special item on sale. A full 300-pound set of Olympic plates and bars,

[00:02:45] including collars, clips, a long bar, and a curling bar for only $99. Next to this in the display area was a complete bench and squat rack set. A nice bench with adjustable angle, curling platform at

[00:03:01] the end, and a superb squat rack. Also $99. I was only a junior mustache at the time, but I could already tell this was a great opportunity. I loaded up the whole system onto a flatbed cart, bought it, and stuffed it all into the 1993 Civic Hatchback to rush home

[00:03:21] and assemble it. Because of this $198 investment, I am almost $9,000 richer today, and probably a lot less flabby. You see, having this simple but complete weight set has allowed me, my wife, and even occasional visiting friends to get amazing muscle-blasting workouts at all hours

[00:03:42] of the day, on weekends, holidays, during snowstorms, whatever, at a savings of $25 per month each. And that is assuming that we would never have driven to the gym for exercise, something that would have changed once we moved to our current town. It's incredibly motivating

[00:04:00] to have your gym at home too. There are no excuses about not wanting to go out or not having time. You just pick up the barbell and start moving. This feels good, so you put on some music and

[00:04:11] take up the intensity. Before you know it, you've done a complete workout and improved almost every aspect of your body and overall well-being. The convenience is astounding. I just walked over

[00:04:23] and did a set of clean impresses in my own gym between typing that last sentence and typing this one, just to prove my point. If a few pounds of steel is all you need to stay fit, why do our

[00:04:34] indebted countrymen spend $20 billion annually to accomplish the same thing in more complicated ways like yoga, bouncy aerobics, and indoor cycling classes? Why do they burn money in their cars doing unnecessary driving to go to gyms? This has always been a mystery to me. When I ask around,

[00:04:55] I get misguided answers like ladies saying, I don't want to bulk up and be one of those frightening women in Flex magazine. Or men saying, I don't really know how to use free weights. I just want

[00:05:06] a circuit of machines I can work my way through. It's wrong, all of it. If you do the research and read a gigantic pile of fitness books and magazines, you will come to the conclusion that free weights,

[00:05:19] barbells and dumbbells, and that's it, are by far the best way to get in shape, lose all your fat, build healthy amounts of muscle, and amazingly enough, fix almost every other possible ailment. Barbell exercise will drastically reduce your later life incidents of arthritis, heart disease,

[00:05:38] diabetes, bone loss, many forms of cancer, and all the common old age injuries. Weight training will make you live longer and healthier. Every person on the entire planet who still has control over

[00:05:51] their arms and or legs should be lifting weights regularly, no question about it. On top of that, ladies do not bulk up from lifting weights at a regular person level. They lose fat, gain nicer curves, and accomplish everything that Yogalati's aerobic stuff does in much greater quantities

[00:06:10] and less time. Ironically, this best form of exercise is also the cheapest. Big gyms spend over a million dollars per location on stupid treadmills with LED television screens and fans built in, powder-coated and padded electronic piston-y gizmos that let you wiggle your arms

[00:06:30] and legs around in strange patterns. And meanwhile, the worthwhile amenity, the barbells, benches, and racks barely show up on the budget. And they get surprisingly light use too, unless the gym is near an army base. If your monthly budget has any sort of health club

[00:06:47] spending on it right now, you should slash it and take this opportunity to add yet another 10 to 20,000 employees every 10 years to your stash. All you need is a 10 by 10 area of a basement, spare bedroom, garage, or covered porch outback to have a wonderful home gym.

[00:07:05] Find a big old mirror and set up a radio. Check the book Arnold's Bodybuilding for Men, Sculpting Her Perfect Body, or another suitable title out of your library and take some notes. Shop on your local Craigslist for an Olympic-style bar with some metal plates,

[00:07:23] a combination of bench or squat rack, and some dumbbells of varying weights if you can find them. These things never wear out, so there's no reason to buy them new. If you have a nearby friend who

[00:07:34] already works out at home, make a reoccurring workout schedule and you will both become more motivated. If you're ready to get in shape but don't spend money on health clubs right now,

[00:07:45] the decision is more tricky because I don't want you to increase your spending just yet. You can start with free exercises like taking every staircase you can find, pushups, and solo

[00:07:56] skipping in your driveway. And of course biking. You are doing a lot of that now since I published the article, aren't you? Biking is perhaps the cornerstone of this whole operation and my whole

[00:08:08] plan to save the human race. If you can start using a bike regularly, all other life accomplishments will flow naturally from that skill and you will join me and all the mightiest mustachian eagles

[00:08:21] as we soar daily through the skies above the Grand Canyon. You just listened to the post titled Get Rich with Olympic Barbells by Mr. Money Mustache of MrMoneyMustache.com. Dare I disagree with the bossy big brother of Fi? I think what this article is missing for me

[00:08:43] is the acknowledgement that sometimes there's a trade-off between optimization and efficiency and the enjoyment factor. There are so many areas of my life where I have optimized from a cost perspective and it coincidentally is also the superior option from an enjoyment perspective.

[00:09:02] So for example, I will almost always prefer to cook my meals and do meal planning. It's more cost efficient, I enjoy the food more, it's healthier, and it scratches my itch for creativity. Same with clothing exchanges. I will always prefer to get hand-me-downs from friends over

[00:09:20] shopping for new clothes. But when it comes to exercise, the optimal choice of working out at home with free weights doesn't align with my enjoyment factor. I 100% agree that I can do

[00:09:32] workouts at home and during the height of the pandemic I didn't have a choice as gyms were closed. I've certainly gone through periods where I lifted weights and have done more strength training but through many years of experimentation I've learned that my preferred workout for the

[00:09:47] enjoyment factor is hot yoga. I want to spend an hour in a room heated to over 100 degrees and sweat out all my stress. I want to be inspired by the person next to me standing on their head

[00:10:01] to remind me that I can do hard things. The sheer aggressiveness of hot yoga forces me to focus on my breath and stay in the present moment so that I don't pass out. It's absolutely thrilling.

[00:10:15] So while hot yoga is not the most cost-efficient way to get my exercise, I decided that I'm okay with that especially because I'm cost-efficient in many other areas of my budget. That should do it for another edition of Optimal Finance Daily. I'll be back

[00:10:31] tomorrow as usual so I'll see you there on the Wednesday show where your optimal life awaits.