A new year often comes with new resolutions, and for many, those resolutions revolve around physical fitness. Whether you want to get rid of all those Christmas cookies or work your way to a healthier year, a home gym can make that easier — and safer, as the pandemic rages on.
A dedicated home gym isn’t a necessity, of course, but if you’re lucky enough to have the space, it can be a real luxury, especially if it’s well designed. To make it a place you love to spend time in, you need to think about it and focus on the design, advised Sara Story, a New York-based interior designer and sports enthusiast. “It has to have a good atmosphere and good lighting,” she said, just like any other room in your house.
For tips on designing a hardwearing gym that’s fun to use, we asked designers how they approach workout spaces.
Choose the room
While it’s nice to have a large space for your gym, it doesn’t have to be a huge space. Nicole Hollis, an interior decorator, turned a small, clunky room on the top floor of her San Francisco mansion—about the size of a walk-in closet—into her home gym.
“We have this tiny room that’s too small to be a bedroom, so we’ve set it up as our gym,” said Ms. Hollis. Rather than trying to emphasize the cramped spaces, she played up and painted the walls and floor in dark colors to create a sense of drama, a strategy many designers use for powder rooms.
Basements are a popular place for home gyms because they often have space to spare, but for fitness enthusiasts, it’s perfectly acceptable to place a gym in a more prominent spot, such as an unused guest bedroom or home office.
Olga Hanono, an interior designer, recently completed a four-story house in Mexico City with a gym on the main level, with glass doors and views over adjacent rooftops. “It’s not the deepest, most obscure corner of the house,” she said. “On the contrary, it is a space full of natural light.”
If possible, it’s best to locate the gym near a bathroom, said Jimmy Crisp, the director of Crisp Architects, in Millbrook, NY, because “there’s a good chance you’ll want to shower after working out. ” And if you’re all about it, consider installing spa-like features like a steam shower or sauna.
Take stock of your equipment
There are many ways to train, from free weights to cross trainers, so it’s important to know what equipment you’ll actually be using. And if you want a gym that’s both attractive and functional, you’re in luck: finding beautiful equipment with a compact size is easier than it used to be.
“Now there’s a mixture of luxury and technology in the gym, and that’s the best thing that could happen to us,” said Ms. Hanono. “It enables us to place not only useful but also beautiful objects in these places.”
Interactive fitness systems such as Mirror, Tonal and Forme are just as unobtrusive as a wall mirror or picture frame. Peloton has streamlined exercise bikes and treadmills. Wahoo and Tacx make stationary smart trainers that allow carbon fiber road bikes to be used indoors. Ergatta and WaterRower make rowing machines that look almost as beautiful as finely crafted rowing shells. And companies like Bala and Kenko are rethinking what weights should look like.
Develop a plan
There’s more to designing a home gym than just stacking equipment in an unused room — it requires a layout with good spatial flow.
“We like to think about the program and how the client will use the space, including what types of cardio equipment they will use,” said Heather Hilliard, an interior designer in San Francisco. For example, she said, “If there’s a treadmill, you need to have room behind it in case someone falls off. And you need space to navigate between machines.”
With electronic devices such as treadmills and Peloton bicycles, she added, having electrical outlets nearby so there are no extension cords strung around the room. If possible, Ms. Hilliard is happy to add floor outlets directly under the machines.
It’s also important to leave room for floor exercises, Ms Story said. “You don’t want to go to a gym where it’s all machines,” she said, because it can feel claustrophobic. Leaving open space in the center of the room makes your gym feel less cramped, while also allowing space for yoga, stretching, and gymnastics.
Address the floor and walls
The floors and walls in a gym should be durable and easy to clean.
“Some form of resilient floor is always a good idea,” said Mr. crisp. That often means interlocking rubber tile or vinyl flooring, similar to the kind commercial gyms use, wall-to-wall or as a large mat on other floors.
Another option is to use cushioned mats that can be rolled out individually, in discrete training zones, over a hard floor made of wood, laminate or concrete, Ms. Hollis said. (Carpet isn’t ideal, as it’s hard to clean.) She suggested “a few different types of mats — one for weights and one for yoga.” Individual mats can also be placed under equipment such as exercise bikes to dampen sound and trap sweat.
For the walls, Ms. Hollis recommended painting with an eggshell gloss, as it’s easier to clean than a matte surface.
Or you can cover the walls with a more durable material. Mrs. Hilliard used plywood on the walls of a home gym she designed. Crisp Architects, in collaboration with Valerie Grant, an interior designer, created wood plank paneling for another gym.
All of the designers interviewed for this story also suggested adding mirrors—mirror walls or large framed mirrors—to increase the sense of space and let you control your shape while you work out.
Watch out for lighting
You don’t need to blow up your workout room with the kind of overhead light you’d find in a commercial gym. Installing layers of lighting with multiple fixtures — and using dimmers to control those fixtures — can create a more inviting atmosphere and adjust the light level for different activities.
“We include a mood light and ambient light for the experience,” Rush Jenkins, the chief executive of WRJ Design, in Jackson, Wyo., wrote in an email.
And because it’s a home gym, you can choose fixtures you’d never see in a commercial gym, such as chandeliers, pendants, and sconces. “Depending on the height of the gym, the main lighting can be a beautiful chandelier, or a subtle recessed mounting,” noted Mr. Jenkins on.
It’s also important to consider where the fixtures are placed relative to the training zones, he added: “You don’t want to lie on a mat while exercising and look straight up in a bright light.”
To bring in relaxing, atmospheric light without installing new wiring, one option is a portable LED lantern, said Ms. Hollis, who uses a Pablo Uma Sound Lantern that doubles as a speaker. “It’s like a candle,” she said. “And it moves with me.”
finish it
By using furniture and accessories that make it easy to keep your gym clean and tidy — and complete your workout without interruptions — you can keep up with your workout routine.
If you have foam rollers, resistance bands or boxing gloves, think about where those items will live when you’re not using them, Ms. Hilliard said. Closets and trunks are ideal, but even a group of baskets on the floor can help.
By adding a bench, stool, or chair, you can catch your breath and throw in a towel between exercises. And if you like to watch TV or listen to music while you exercise, and you don’t plan on using a portable speaker or headphones, add audiovisual equipment to the room.
If space permits, Ms. Hilliard is also happy to install a small station similar to a kitchenette. “Sometimes we make custom cabinets where we have a water cooler or water bottles,” she said, as well as an area for clean towels and a basket for used ones. “As much as we can give it the look and feel of a high-end gym, so people really want to start using it, the better.”
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