Creating our home gym

I’ve been working on my daily routines this past year including improve my sleep schedule and morning routine. I have also been making an effort to eat healthier and exercise more.

In the Summer months I threw on my work out gear and went for a run around our neighbourhood or made use of outdoor gyms. I also completed my first 5km race and a muddy obstacle race for charity.

Now the weather has gotten colder I find myself staying in and doing more exercise at home. The most important part of working out at home is having enough space to safely do your workouts.

Unfortunately we don’t have a dedicated space for working and have both been using our living room. Which isn’t ideal. We both wanted somewhere we could listen to our work out playlists and use work out dvds or videos without disrupting each other.

Our spare bedroom was the perfect option. Which has been home to our games consoles for the past two years. Along with a second television, two gaming chairs and a side table.

It was our games room but slowly turned into a dumping ground for other things. We found we were using the room less and less and even moved our two main consoles to the living room.

Please excuse the rather blurry before photos! They were quick snaps as we moved furniture around and I got told (more than once) to put the camera away. 😅 Anyone else have that problem?

Our small home gym

Ryan bought a weight bench recently along with a bar and weights. Being the largest piece of equipment we decided to put that in the room first and plan the rest around it.

I want a treadmill or a spin exercise bike so I can work on cardio at home when it’s too wet or cold to go for a run around our estate. Like now! Due to space I’ll probably purchase the latter and I’m looking for one that folds up for easier storage.

To protect the carpet from any scuffs while we’re working out we’re looking at laying down some foam titles which I found in Morissons. They come in black or multicoloured and will be perfect for what we need.

We placed a small shelving unit in the corner of the room with a small basket to store our hand weights, gloves, running belt, gym towels, Ryan’s skipping rope and my workout sheets. We also have a little Bluetooth speaker set up so we can easily listen to our work out playlists.

Our second TV found a home on the top shelf (which you can just about see it in the above photo), and is perfect for using with my workout DVDs or for online workout videos.

Unfortunately living in a rental we’re unable to hang artwork on the wall but I’m hoping to use some of the shelf space for one (or more!) of these prints which I’ll pop in a frame.

I love having our own space to focus on working out with no distractions and it will come in handy in the Winter months.

How do you keep fit at home? Do you have a space dedicated to working out?