Welcome to Gym at Home. We are Ben Mercer and Nora Ellis. We are friends in real life, and this site is our shared project.
Ben teaches people in a gym. He likes the place, the regulars, and the conversations that happen between sets. Ask him about lifting and he will have plenty to say.
Ask him about running, food, sleep, a new class you want to try, or how to get back into exercise after a long break, and he will want to hear about that too. He follows football, cooks a lot, and usually has some new fitness idea he wants to try for himself. Gym at Home gives him room to write about all of it.
Nora spends more time on the questions that come after a plan has been made. How does a workout change when someone is returning after pregnancy? What can a person eat when a medical condition affects their choices? How much can a beginner reasonably take on in the first month? She writes about training and nutrition with the person doing the work in mind.
We both work with people at different experience levels. Some are new to exercise. Some have trained for years and want a better plan for the next stage. We also work on individual meal plans, including plans for people managing insulin resistance, diabetes, or H. pylori. Nora has a particular interest in helping mothers with diastasis recti as they return to exercise.
Gym at Home is where we put the questions we hear into articles that people can actually use. You will find workouts, equipment guides, cardio advice, and writing about food. Our Editorial Policy explains how we research, review, and update our articles.
Have a question about one of our articles or an idea for a new topic? Visit our Contact Us page. We’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for visiting.
Ben and Nora
Meet Ben
I am Ben Mercer. I learned to coach on gym floors where the plan for the hour did not always survive the first five minutes. The rack was taken. Someone arrived tired. An exercise that looked fine on paper did not feel right to the person doing it. I learned to keep the goal and change the exercise.
That is still how I work. I teach strength and cardio sessions for beginners and experienced people. When someone trains at home, I look at the space and equipment they have, then adapt the workout. A pair of dumbbells can do more than most people expect. A room full of equipment can be useless without a decent plan.
I also work on individual nutrition plans. Food preferences, medical advice, and the routine a person actually follows all matter. A plan that looks tidy on a page is no help if nobody wants to cook or eat it.
On Gym at Home, I write the kind of explanation I would give in a session. I want you to know what an exercise is for, how to make it harder, and when to change it.
Meet Nora
I am Nora Ellis. I have little patience for a meal plan that expects someone to cook three fresh meals every day. I want to know what is in the kitchen, what the week looks like, and what the person likes to eat before I start making suggestions.
Training needs the same attention. I work with beginners and with people returning to exercise after time away. Mothers often come to me with questions about their core after pregnancy, especially when diastasis recti is involved. I want to hear what they are experiencing before talking about the next exercise.
I write about strength, nutrition, and returning to movement after pregnancy. Some questions have a short answer. Others need an assessment and a longer conversation. I try to make the difference clear.
Ben and I are friends outside the site. We have different interests, which gives Gym at Home more room to cover the questions people bring us.
For more information about how we handle personal information, read our Privacy Policy. You can also review our Terms and Conditions for the rules that apply to our website.