Whether it was some time in the last 6 months or the last 6 years, you read the articles and actually took the advice.
You set up your own home gym!
This is, without a doubt, the biggest step in your home fitness journey and you’ve undoubtedly experienced numerous benefits from training at home.
…however, sometimes, you start to get that itch where you want to change things up a bit…
Whether your workout space had very humble beginnings and you’re now ready to expand your gear inventory or if you simply want to create a more inviting environment with the addition of a window or two, your home gym remodeling process can be a rewarding experience.
Today, we’re going to discuss some of the home gym ideas you can incorporate into this process that livens up your space (and your workouts) while ensuring that it remains a place you can take pride in.
We have split our list of home gym idea into structural (permanent) upgrades and to equipment (non-permanent) upgrades to provide a bit more optionality for your remodel.
Structure-focused Home Gym Remodeling Ideas
- Ventilation System
Training montages in movies like Rocky have a raw, gritty appeal to them. You can actually feel how hard he is working and just how hot and sweaty his workouts are.
In reality, this isn’t always the nicest feeling and being able to properly breath during workouts is much more important than looking cool for the imaginary camera. Many home gym remodeling projects involve making upgrades to the space’s ventilation system. This can include anything from installing an extremely compact HVAC system, strategically-placed ceiling fan, or even adding a window for more natural ventilation.
Any of these options will help you to stay cool during workouts and will provide the added benefit of cycling stale air with a constant flow a fresh air.
- Flooring/Soundproofing
Your laminate floor may have been perfectly suitable for your initial, light dumbbell training ventures, but now that you’re thinking about incorporating HIIT-style workouts into your regimen, it’s probably not the best material for the job.
If you have money set aside in your home gym remodeling budget for hard-rubber tiles (maybe with some polyethylene plastic “turf”-style tiles thrown in), you’ll be well on your way to protecting your existing flooring and creating a more stable training surface.
Certain types of fitness training can be rather loud and it should come as no surprise that home gym remodeling projects are primarily focused on quieting the space up a bit. If this is one of your objectives, look into specially engineered noise and impact reducing, antishock under panels. Your neighbors will appreciate these even more than you will!
- Painting
Many suggested home gym ideas involve large, grandiose (and probably expensive) undertakings. However, even a relatively fast and inexpensive painting project can really liven up your training space.
Equipment-focused Home Gym Remodeling Ideas
- TV/Sound
Workouts are most fun when motivation is high; what can be more motivating to blasting your favorite tunes or watching insane sports highlights as you blast out your final set of heavy back squats?
Watching and listening with the highest quality audio-visual systems!
Sure, you can get away with a laptop and a Spotify membership (or even a boombox and some CDs if you’re going really old school), but a mounted television and a properly wired, surround sound speaker system will make it hard for you to want to end your workouts.
What’s more, in the event that you would ever need to move and sell your home, with all of the impressive audio-visual features, it would be easy to market the room as a “viewing theatre” or something similar, potentially increasing your home’s value.
- Platform
We previous spoke about installing more appropriate, permanent flooring during your home gym remodelling process. Getting ahold of some non-permanent flooring is also one of the most common home gym ideas of improvement.
If you’re confident that you will likely only be lifting in certain areas of your home gym, consider purchasing a dedicated lifting platform. These are especially valuable for exercises like deadlifts and Olympic weightlifting movements since they provide utmost stability and are durable enough to handle the impact of very heavy barbells.
Lifting platforms can be crafted to be directly installed alongside existing flooring (more permanent) or they can be positioned above existing flooring (much less permanent). If you want to reduce the wear and tear in your home gym lifting area, but don’t want to go through an entire floor remodelling project, a lifting platform is a great alternative.
- Plate Storage
One of the biggest complaints of home gym enthusiasts is the dreaded “I’ve outgrown my space!” problem. While, in some respects, this can be a “good” problem to have (you’re obviously getting a lot of use from your home gym!) it is, nevertheless, a frustrating one. Thankfully, in many cases, the problem can be solved with some simple space-saving steps.
A lack of adequate equipment storage is the main contributor to space limitations and an effective home gym remodeling process can be as easy as adding some dedicated weight plate storage areas. You can opt for dedicated, compact weight plate “trees” or you can kill two birds with one stone by purchasing a power rack or Smith Machine that has extensive plate storage built into it. Why not upgrade your lifting gear as you free up lifting space?
Home Gym Remodeling is the Best Type of Remodeling
We know that scrolling through lists of home gym ideas and of home gym remodeling “success stories” can be a bit overwhelming and can create the impression that tens of thousands of dollars must be spent to pull off a successful project.
However, if you are focused on obtaining the most impactful outcomes from your undertaking, our list has proven that it’s possible to upgrade your space without spending boatloads of money. You’ll really be impressed at the difference a mounted television, lifting platform, or even a ceiling fan can have on your favorite fitness space!
