Building a home gym was an exciting and rewarding project! Since it’s been built, it has been used almost everyday. I hope you find these instructions and guidance helpful to building your own gym. We would love to see photos of your end product too! From start to finish, our gym took less than a month to finish so it’s very possible to start now and get a finished product soon! So let’s get started!
1) Come Up With A Budget.
Although other steps will come first, it’s important to come up with a budget so you can plan ahead of time. Building a home gym also includes other items such as cleaning materials, and accessory aesthetics such as light fixtures and designs for your wall/flooring etc.
2) Clean Up Your Space.
Garages may be used as a storage unit of some sorts. Now’s the time to sort through everything, organize and throw out anything that is not needed. We had a rule of thumb that if the item wasn’t used in the past year, to throw it in the trash.
Once everything is cleared up and organized, clean the floors and walls. As most garages are used to store cars and other equipment, it is important to disinfect the space because it is unknown what is on the floor and walls. We used the vacuum to pick up any dust, dirt, and small pieces of trash. Then, we filled up a bucket with water and a cleaning solution. We poured the water on the floor and using a large thick garage broom we washed and swept the floor pushing all the water out of the garage. For the walls, use a rag and disinfectant and wipe the areas in reach.
3) Paint & Set Gym Flooring.
If you plan on painting the walls a certain colors or retaining it it’s color, it’s best to paint it before installing equipment. We wanted a fresh white coat, so we purchased a gallon of paint from Home Depot.
For the flooring, think of what you plan to do the most in the gym. This will determine how thick the flooring will be. My boyfriend and I do a lot of weight training and we knew we needed to protect the floors from heavy weights that will be dropped, so we purchased flooring that was 1 inch thick. If the home gym will be used for mobility, conditioning, cardio, yoga, or plyometrics (to name a few), then a 1/4, 1/2, or 3/4 flooring will be just fine.
This is the flooring we purchased for our home gym. After doing some research prior, I saw there was an importance to making one large order instead of making multiple, and these are one of the few tiles that are 24 by 24 inches, which made it easier to put down. We used XL floor mat tape to put the mats down to ensure they stayed in place.
4) Compare prices and purchase the equipment
Depending on your budget and the equipment you would like to purchase, we suggest you compare prices and reviews between companies. Our home gym consists of brand new products from Rogue and Amazon. We saw an increase in prices and some products were out of stock due to the high demand through the COVID-19 Pandemic. We build the gym in less than a month in January 2021. Since then we have seen more items back in stock! With order through Rogue and Amazon, we had everything delivered in less than 7 business days, which was great!
5) Make personal touches
As this garage gym is in the comfort of your home, make some last minute touches to make it more comfortable for you! Whether it’s a gym sign, gym flag, wall designs, etc, it’s your space and it will be something you will be proud to be in everyday.
The IronMatic 