There’s no question that having a dedicated space in your home for exercise makes it easier to maintain a fitness regime, but a poorly-designed gym won’t inspire you to workout to the best of your ability.
From lighting to layout, learn how to design a home gym that is fully functional and keeps up your motivation levels for the entire duration of your fitness journey.
Making the most of your walls
Since they provide a lot of vertical room to play with and can contribute a lot of value to the workout experience, it’s a good idea to take full advantage of every square inch of wall in your home gym.
Wall-size mirrors
What’s the point of working out on a daily basis if you can’t witness your physical transformation as it happens? That’s just one of many compelling reasons for adding mirrors to your setup.
The last thing you want while sweating and panting is to feel like the walls are closing in on you, and that’s why wall-size mirrors are particularly useful from a design perspective as they create the illusion of extra space and help light bounce around to reach every corner.
Motivational graphics
It’s amazing how a few simple words of wisdom or a powerful image can change your mindset in an instant.
Indeed, feeling motivated is a key ingredient of success and so it makes perfect sense to have some visual sources of motivation on hand to push you to achieve your fitness goals.
A motivational wall graphic that jumps off the walls and speaks to you on a deep and personal level will facilitate this.
Wall paneling
Every space deserves to have a focal point and your home gym is no exception. And besides, it’s nice to be able to rest your gaze upon something during a very strenuous workout.
Give one of your walls a decorative voice by dressing it up in some eye-catching paneling. There are many different styles of wall paneling and we recommend going with a look that adds texture and contrast in equal measure.
Wall protectors
If you’re a true fitness fanatic and your home gym has to bear the brunt of a relentless workout regime, the least you can do for your walls is give them some protection.
Metal sheets and checker plates will do an excellent job of protecting the walls from unwanted scruffs and scrapes, and more importantly they are the mark of a fitness environment that expects you to go hard or go home.
Choosing the best home gym lighting
Whether your setup is in the garage, basement or an unused bedroom, there’s no escaping the fact that home gym lighting has to be optimized if you want to train and perform at the highest level.
Linear lighting
First and foremost, your choice of lighting must offer high quality illumination so as to keep you alert, focused and safe while dealing with potentially dangerous fitness gear.
Linear lighting won’t just light up your workout space like nothing else, it has a contemporary design that will elevate the look of your home gym as a whole.
And it doesn’t exactly have that homey feel, which is ideal if you want to leave behind the comfort of home as soon as you enter the gym.
Recessed lighting
Unlike commercial fitness environments, your home setup is likely to have limited ceiling height and this needs to be factored into the lighting considerations.
A fully functional home gym has enough room to use the full movements of your arms and legs, so you should rule out pendants or any other light fixtures which have considerable drop height if it means you can’t fully extend your body.
That’s why many people turn to recessed lighting as it’s installed in the ceiling for a sleek finish that opens up the space as much as possible.
Cove lighting
If your workout space is already well-lit, you can use other forms of lighting for aesthetic appeal.
The soft glow of cove lighting never fails to please the eye as the light source is hidden from view, usually within a cove in the ceiling, making it a subtle yet mood-enhancing addition to your setup.
What better way to land your home gym design squarely in stylish territory than unifying the entire room with radiant light?
Getting the layout right
One of the most overlooked aspects when designing a home gym is the layout. Avoid any kind of chaos and demonstrate good design sense by arranging your gym equipment in a manner that flows.
Open slat room dividers
If your home gym is on the larger side and all your pieces of equipment look as though they are lost at sea, consider that room dividers are great for creating functional zones in large spaces.
Open slat room dividers should be at the very top of the list because they will separate your cardio machines from your weights with minimal disruption to that all-important feeling of open space.
Rubber mats
Not everyone has the luxury of space and therefore room dividers are not a universal solution to poor home gym layouts. But that’s okay because certain types of floor coverings can help with zoning, too.
Chances are you’re going to place rubber mats under heavy cardio machines to protect the floor, in which case you should use a single oversized mat to group the machines together as its own defined cardio zone. This can be repeated for other types of workouts.
Architectural considerations
Often what separates a great home gym design from a bad one is how well it incorporates the architectural features of the space into the workout experience.
Sliding doors
More space means more fitness equipment, which means you get to enjoy a more fulfilling workout. If that doesn’t convince you to search high and low for that extra inch of space then nothing will.
It turns out that the doorway has the potential to unlock a considerable amount of room, which is why doors are increasingly targeted when trying to make small spaces feel bigger.
Where hinged doors require space in which to swing open, a sliding door has space-saving properties by virtue of operating sideways.
Wall niches
For the uninitiated, a niche is a shallow recess in the wall – they are built between the wall studs. A small and compact home gym would benefit hugely from the extra little bit of storage space that they provide.
If it’s some visual appeal that your workout space is crying out for, you’ll be pleased to know that niches are brimming with design potential, with many homeowners making the wise decision to illuminate them or paint them in a contrasting color in an effort to update their homes, both of which yield stunning results.
Transom windows
Many homeowners fall in love with transom windows due to their decorative appeal, but this ‘extra bit of window’ comes with several functional benefits, too.
It’s an additional inlet for natural light to filter through, as well as enhancing the ventilation of the space when opened, which means you get to workout in a home gym that’s both well-lighted and has good airflow.