With the current pandemic our nation faces, gym goers have been torn between staying at home to avoiding unnecessary contact with others and sharing gym equipment, and continuing their routines to improve/maintain their physical health. While some do decide to risk it, some gyms require you to wear masks within their facilities, making cardio and general workouts not the most enjoyable thing in the world.
Presented with the above options, many have opted for a third: to stay in and design their own personal gym within their basements to stay safe inside while continuing their fitness journey. In this article, we will outline the benefits of your own personal workout space and narrow down your needs to help you decide what type of equipment and materials you will need to reach your fitness goals.
The Benefits of a Basement Home Gym
Even before COVID-19 appeared and made people weary of going to any public place, basement home gyms have become more and more popular to the typical homeowner. One of the biggest appeals is the freedom to work out on your own schedule – not only when the gym is open. You also can blast whatever music you want, at any hour of the day. And although it lacks the social aspect of gyms, it may be more appealing to some to work out alone, as some people want the freedom to go at their own pace. Many people are also not too fond of public places and prefer to exercise in the privacy and comfort of their own homes, wearing whatever they want and not have to worry about who else has been sweating on the equipment.
Also, you will no longer have the excuse to say you “don’t have time to go”, or that you don’t want to waste the time or spend money on gas. Some people may see a basement home gym as a large out-of-pocket expense, but it does pay off in the long run with how much you can save on gym membership dues. And adding a workout room can even increase your home resale value.
So Why the Basement?
Basements will generally have a concrete foundation, creating much less noise when weights are dropped. They are much more resilient to heavier amounts of weight, allowing more equipment to be in the space itself. Dropping weights in the attic or base floor can create resonating booms of sound throughout your house’s foundation, even if you do invest in special flooring. The constant pounding of your feet on a treadmill isn’t the greatest background noise, either. Having your gym in the basement will also have it below-ground in a naturally cooler space, creating an ideal environment to counteract your strenuous workout. Places such as your garage or shed would not be as well insulated or have any form of temperature control.
The Equipment
The first thing when considering your basement gym is going to be your equipment. Depending on what your fitness goals are, this can vary. From strength training to cardio, there are multiple machines and accessories you may decide to implement. For different ranges of fitness, you may want to invest in protective, non-slip rubber flooring mats to reduce the chances of damaging the floor as well as reduce sound.
As most people will not have hundreds of square feet to dedicate to this project, you will want to consider a universal home gym machine that will allow you to work out a multitude of muscles groups. You’re looking for maximum bang-for-your buck, so consider a squat rack and barbell with a sufficient amount of weights, as well as a simple bench and dumbbell rack duo to efficiently use your space. Also a pullup bar mounted on the doorframe is always a good play.
Depending on whether or not you install protective floor mats, you want to consider what type of weights you purchase. Consider whether they have a protective coating or not, as the ones with either a rubber or urethane coating will be slightly pricier. However, if you are allergic to latex or sensitive to strong odors, you may want to choose to get iron or chrome weights. For cardio, you can opt for a treadmill, row-machine, elliptical, or stationary bike. Kettle bells, yoga balls, and weighted bands are great accessories to have also, and you can spice things up by adding a heavy bag or varying sizes of boxes to jump on or over.
The Design
When designing your basement home gym, you will also want to create a space that makes you comfortable, yet motivated. Different colors invoke different feelings, so depending on your main fitness focus, your color choice may vary. Adding mirrors to the space not only gives you motivation and allows you to visually track your progress, but they also make the space seem larger than it is.
If you are having trouble finding motivation to exercise, hanging motivational pictures, old medals and trophies on the walls may give you that extra push to keep going. Placing racks or pegboards on the walls allows you to store your equipment ergonomically and free up your limited floor space, and consider adding a sound system to keep your focus sharp or stay in a rhythm while you run or work on cardio.
Adding a ceiling fan in your basement home gym to circulate the air helps cool you down as well as brings in fresh air. And when it comes to positioning equipment, make sure that the ones that require electricity are placed near the power outlets of the room, so that there will not be any wires crossing any walking spaces. Or consider putting outlets in the floor space to prevent having them appear on the floor at all.
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