Building a home gym is a considerable investment of time and money. If you do it the right way, however, it’s worth every minute and penny spent. Let’s clarify upfront that sticking an elliptical machine in your basement is not the same thing as building a home gym; the latter is more involved.
Home gyms are appropriate for people who spend a lot of their free time working out and who take their physical fitness very seriously. Most home gyms place a big emphasis on free weights and weight machines, as aerobic exercise such as jogging and cycling are easily accomplished outdoors.
That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a treadmill or exercise bike in your home gym, but if you’re working with limited space you may want to forgo them in favor of something a little more specific.
What are the advantages of a home gym?
The benefits of a home gym are fairly obvious. After all, it belongs to you. You don’t have to share the machines and equipment with anyone if you don’t want to. You don’t have to worry about anyone misusing the machines, or sweating all over them and neglecting to wipe them down.
We list the three main advantages of a home gym below.
Who knows what you like better than you do? The answer should be no one. Therein lies the number one advantage of building a home gym: customisation. Unless it’s inherited, a home gym should be designed in a way that reflects your personal fitness preferences and goals.
Don’t install equipment you’re unlikely to use, just because it’s prominently featured in every commercial gym. Determine your specific objectives and build your gym accordingly.
A weightlifter’s gym should look very different from a boxer’s which should look very different from a rower’s. Do you like to do a lot of body weight exercises? Leave adequate space for that purpose; you can always add more equipment later.
If you’re working with a tight budget, consider buying used gym equipment. I’ve done this in the past and had it delivered by a courier Nowra where both the seller and myself resided at the time. Just make sure you’re not getting ripped off, which is sometimes easier said than done.
A home gym affords you privacy. This is more important to some people than to others. There are folks (I know a few of them) who thoroughly enjoy working out at a commercial gym. The atmosphere can aid motivation and help you achieve the right frame of mind for a good workout. It can also provoke unspoken competition between strangers, which I don’t find particularly appealing, but hey, whatever blows your hair back.
There is also the show-off element which many individuals-both men and women-clearly go in for. Why bother developing my body to this extent, they think, if nobody can see it?
Such people are a minority of gym users. I’ll go out on a limb and say that, given the chance, most people would prefer to have an entire gym to themselves (maybe including a friend or two) for the duration of their workout. Well, that’s precisely what a home gym provides.
Returning to the issue of privacy, it is a good thing for several reasons. Have you ever wanted to try a new type of workout but refrained from doing so at the gym because you didn’t want to embarrass yourself? In a home gym you can make an utter fool of yourself and no one will be any the wiser.
Not least of all, you have total control of the music in your home gym. No more trying to pump yourself up for a tough set while inane commercial pop blares from the ceiling.
The third major benefit of a home gym is the convenience factor. Think about it. There’s no need to pack a gym bag. No need to drive your car to the gym. No need to avoid peak hours. No traffic, no intersections, no stress. Most importantly, no more skipping workouts because you don’t want to deal with the hassle of going to the gym.
You can be into the gym and warming up in five minutes with a home gym. And you can go anytime you like. Feel like exercising at 3 o’clock in the morning. Great-get amongst it. Crucially, because you’ve spent a fair amount of time, money, and effort building your gym, you’ll naturally have a strong motivation to use it.
Tips for building a home gym
In this section we offer a few tips for anyone who’s considering building a home gym but isn’t sure where to begin.
Start modestly and build slowly
As we noted earlier, building a home gym takes time. That means you have to be patient. Start small and work your way up. Begin with basic equipment like a barbell, squat rack, kettlebells, and bench. Don’t buy the cheapest stuff you can find on the internet: when it comes to gym equipment you need to stick to well-known brands. You can buy online and have the equipment delivered to your home via a courier service.
Strongly consider putting in dedicated gym floorin, especially if you plan to do heavy weightlifting, which oftentimes requires you to drop your weights on the floor following a set. Gym flooring also gives you more traction and is easier on your joints.
Gym flooring comes in various types including foam, cork, rubber, laminate, and horse stall mats. Whatever you end up going for, make sure it’s not too soft. Ideally, it will cover the entire surface area of your home gym.
Gym mirrors serve a purpose besides allowing people to indulge their latent narcissism. They’re actually critical if you want to develop and maintain good form. If you can’t see yourself while you’re working out, it’s hard to know whether you’re doing it properly. Poor form can hinder your progress and lead to injuries.
Make the most of your available space
This doesn’t mean jamming as much equipment into a limited space as you possibly can. Quite the reverse. If you can only fit one or two pieces of equipment, that’s fine. You can make the most of the space you have by ulitising resistance bands, medicine balls, punching bags, and body-weight exercises. Get creative. It’s amazing how much you can do with minimal resources.