Where Should I Place My Home Gym?
When it comes to creating a space in your home for a gym, there are endless possibilities. Creating an area within your home dedicated to working out without spending money on a gym membership is a smart choice. When deciding on a place to put your home gym, consider the spaces you have within your home that can convert easily to a workout room.
Convert an Office Into Your Home Gym
If you are limited in space and need to double up a room for multiple purposes, consider adding your home gym in your office space. You can easily separate a room to be split between two uses. One side of the room will have your office furniture and supplies while the other can hold your larger workout equipment. Smaller workout equipment, like small weights, bands, and mats, can be stored in drawers, closets and even bins.
Workout Space in the Basement
In many homes, the basement is a lot of wasted space. Typically, the square footage of the basement is larger than a single room in the house. Why not use this space for your home gym? Simply by adding some rubber flooring, good lighting and a few mirrors you’ll have a large open space to concentrate on your daily workouts.
Garage Gym Space
Yes, we all know the garage is meant to protect cars, but not everyone actually uses the garage for that purpose. Most use it as a storage area for everything else. However, turning this space into a home gym makes perfect sense! Adding rubber flooring to the garage is a good idea as the cement ground isn’t ideal to workout on. Using the garage gives you plenty of space for larger equipment like treadmills, ellipticals, and exercise bikes. Do you know the great thing about having a garage gym? When the weather's nice just throw open the garage door. Fresh air, even if it is raining, will feel great when you are working out.
Unused Bedroom Workout Space
If you’re lucky enough to have a bedroom that isn’t being used, this is the ideal space for your home gym. This gym space will have a door for privacy, closet space to store smaller items, and carpeted flooring. Some bedrooms do not have carpeting, but like in the basement or garage, you can throw down some rubber flooring for comfort. Having a bedroom turned workout space is probably the easiest way to create a home gym space.
Working Out in the Attic
Some homes are lucky enough to have attic space that can be utilized as additional living space. Meaning, there is so much room that an adult can comfortably move around without hitting their head on the rafters. When creating a home gym in this area, please be sure that there is not exposed insulation. Ideally, you should enclose all the walls with drywall and add fans and an air conditioner. If you plan on using heavy equipment or weights, also ensure that the floor joists are properly braced.
Workout Space in the Shed?
This might seem a little far fetched, but if you don’t have room in your home that you can convert into a workout room, considering taking your workout to the yard. There are small sheds, large sheds and everything in between. If you are able, setting up your workout space in the shed is a great way to bring your workout home without losing living space. Use rubber flooring, add some shelves for your equipment and get to your workout.
Home Gym Tips
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Rubber flooring is a must have when creating your home gym in a space with hard flooring like cement or hardwood flooring.
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Hang motivational posters on the walls to keep you focused on your workout goals
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Add a television with a DVD player. Sometimes, watching a television show or a movie will keep our mind off of the workout we are doing. Having this in your workout room also allows you to play workout dvds.
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Adding a good sound system also helps to keep you motivated during a workout. For those that don’t like watching the television during a workout, listening to music is more motivating.
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Consider adding a chalkboard to your workout space to keep track of your workouts or to scribble motivational notes to yourself.
Creating a space for your home gym can be daunting at first. However, when you consider all of the options available, you’ll figure out what works best for you. Saving on a monthly gym membership is a motivating factor by itself. Using the space that is already part of your home and converting that into a usable workout space will save you money and keep you on track with your healthy goals.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. Where should you put a home gym?
A. You should look at your home to find out where you have the room to add a home gym. Home gyms can share space with an office. Home gyms can also be set up in empty areas like an unused bedroom, basement, or attic. Getting creative, you can also create a home gym in a shed in your yard.
Q. How do I organize my home gym?
A. Home gyms can be organized in many different ways. Using pegboards on the walls of the home gym can take care of a lot of your storage issues within the home gym. Hooks can be added to the pegboard to hold all of your resistance bands, jump ropes, and even some of the smaller weights. The flow of the home gym should coincide with your workout process. Smaller equipment should be place close to where you would use it and where you can easily access it should someone else be working out in the room as well.
Q. How should I store my workout equipment at home?
A. Small equipment like small weights, resistance bands, and yoga mats can be stored in closets or drawers. Large equipment can be left out and placed so that you have some type of view of the outdoors or the television while using it. Pegboard can also be used on the walls so that some of your equipment can be hanging and available quickly.