How To Turn Your Garage Into A Gym?

These days folks are working, playing and enjoying life more and more from home. One of the best things you can do at home is exercise. Having your own home gym adds convenience to your life, saves you money and makes good use of space you might have just been using to store odds and ends, such as your garage. In this article, we share ten smart tips and ideas to help you turn your garage into a gym. Read on to learn more.

Make A Garage Gym Plan

Before you start exercising in your garage, take some time to think about the kind of exercise you want to pursue and the kind of space you want to create. Follow these 10 steps to plan and manifest your dream garage gym.

1. Give your garage a good cleaning

It’s a lot easier to put your garage gym in place when you are starting off with a clean slate. When you take everything out of your garage and get rid of the excess, you’ll probably find that you have a lot more room for your home gym than you initially thought. That empty space will probably tend to get your creative processes going, too.

TIP: Sell your excess stuff to make money for your gym equipment purchases.

2. Measure your garage

Measure your garage to determine what kind of equipment will fit comfortably and what kind of exercise you can do in the space. You’ll need to think about the floor space required for your equipment and the amount of space you may need for other garage-y purposes, such as parking your car and storing your stuff. Map out the area you plan to devote to exercise.

3. Make sure your garage is properly insulated

This is really the most important step in any garage conversion process. Good insulation helps you keep your garage comfortable year round, so investing in insulation will help ensure that you can use your garage gym any time you like.

4. Install proper ventilation equipment

If you want to use your gym year round, you’ll need to be able to bring fresh air in and expel stale, humid air in all seasons and all weather.

This means installing vents, fans, heating and air-conditioning units to ensure your health, safety and comfort as you exercise. The right ventilation will help prevent problems like mold and bacteria buildup in your garage gym space.

5. Add wall covering

Add wall covering, paint and decorate to suit your aesthetic taste.

6. Organize your garage gym

Organize your garage gym by planning the placement of all of your equipment and setting aside storage space. You can do this with smart use of:

• Wall-mounted bins
• Pegboards
• Cabinets
• Drawers
• Racks
• Totes

With good storage planning, you can keep all of your exercise equipment and accessories within easy reach and all of your off season stuff, neatly out of sight.

7. Install a resilient floor

You’ll need a floor that can help distribute the weight of your equipment to protect your existing garage floor, while helping protect your body against damage caused by high intensity exercise. Look for something that can stand up to lots of traffic while providing shock absorption.

Examples of popular garage gym flooring include:

• Commercial gym floor rolled rubber
• Horse stall mats
• Epoxy coating
• Carpet tiles
• Foam tiles

Of these, commercial rolled rubber and horse stall mats are the best; however, they are also the most expensive. Epoxy coating protects your garage floor nicely but doesn’t do much for you. Carpet tiles and foam tiles wear out easily but are also cheap to replace.

For these reasons, a combination of floor coverings may be your best bet. For example, you could install epoxy coating to protect your garage floor and then use individual horse stall mats under equipment to give yourself more shock absorption and protect both the epoxy coating.

Epoxy coating is water resistant and easy to clean. Horse stall mats can be moved from place to place as needed for cleaning or reorganizing.

8. Purchase the right gym equipment to suit your purposes

To make smart choices in equipment, you must honestly assess your space, your current fitness level and abilities, your goals and your pocketbook. Keep in mind that it is not necessary to spend a fortune, or even devote a great deal of space to fitness.

If you are just starting out, if your garage gym space is limited, if you need to save money, there is a lot you can accomplish with small, simple equipment such as a yoga mat, a light set of dumbbells, an exercise ball and some resistance tubing.

If your goal is to add strength, you’ll want to invest more in weight work equipment. If weight loss and toning are your goals, cardio equipment, such as an exercise bike or a treadmill may be in order. Ideally, a balance of equipment will help bring about balanced fitness.

If you are challenged financially in setting up your home gym, make a plan to buy inexpensive, light equipment first and gradually add larger, more expensive equipment.

You may find that your idea of dream gym equipment changes as you meet your fitness goals, so purchasing incrementally can be smart in more ways than one.

You might want to check local listings for used exercise equipment; however, if you go that route proceed with caution. Used equipment has no warranty, and it could be dangerous. Of course, you must always be careful about getting scammed when you purchase anything from individuals online.

9. Add media as desired to help make your garage gym more fun, interesting and enriching

You’ll be a lot more likely to spend time in your gym if you can watch your favorite programs, keep up with the news, listen to music and audio books, use exercise videos, etc. Give yourself good entertainment options to help keep your exercise space appealing.

10. Make a formal commitment

You may be the sort of person who can just make a resolution and keep it, but most people do better with a little more impetus.

Now that you’ve put so much thought, planning, effort and money into setting up your garage gym, keep your momentum going by signing up for an online fitness class.

This will give you the advantage of consultation with a qualified trainer who can help you establish and focus on your fitness goals.

Your Garage Gym Makes You Strong!

When you set up your own garage gym, you are taking control of a lot of areas of your life. Having a safe, convenient, private place to exercise every day helps you make the most of your resources, saves you money and supports your emotional, mental and physical well-being.

Exercising at home is an activity you can enjoy on your own and with your friends and family members.