Creating your own Home Gym

By creating your very own gym at home it makes finding time to work out a whole lot easier!

Where to start…?

You need to consider what space you have, whether this is a spare room or a garage/outhouse. If you are allocating a spare room this ideally needs to be on the ground floor as gym equipment can be quite heavy so a 2^nd storey gym would mean having to consider the possibility of having to reinforce the floor. Also, treadmills and rowing machines on a second storey can be quite noisy for the room below so this could mean having to soundproof the floor. Both of these elements can depend on the type of property but well worth a mention.

You need to take into account the footprint of the equipment you would like as most machines need approximately a 2^m2 area for the space to be practical. When considering such items as treadmills and cross-trainers then considering the ceiling height is a must. An approximate ceiling height of 8ft will be needed for these pieces of equipment.

A garage is one of, if not the best options to allocate your home gym namely because the floor will be fit for purpose as it will be designed to take the weight of a car and the walls will easily take the weight of any attachments. Also, there will be no noise worries!

Choosing the right equipment…

For some people, they will have a set routine that they currently do or have done previously and will know exactly what they need. For the majority of us, a home gym will give us the ability to perform a variety of workouts covering strength, cardiovascular fitness (using cardio equipment) and flexibility.

Garage Gym Design made on our in house software.

Cardiovascular Fitness

The recommended amount of cardiovascular exercise per week is 2 ½ hours: Cardiovascular exercise is any continuous rhythmical activity that raises your heart rate into varying zones depending on the desired outcome.

The pieces of equipment that help improve cardiovascular fitness are:

Strength Training

MYTH – ‘’Weight training is only for people who want to gain big muscles…’’

While weight training can increase muscle mass there is much more to it than lifting a few weights regularly and it certainly does not and cannot happen overnight.

Strength training for both men and women helps to reduce body fat, burn calories and increase lean muscle more efficiently. It is vitally important to keep the bone strong by increasing the bone density as this helps in reducing the risk of osteoporosis. It can also help to increase your metabolism which helps burn more calories. As you are gaining strength this will help to improve balance, coordination and stability.

Strength Training can be done using:

Bodyweight exercises