Tips for creating a home gym

Physical fitness is incredibly important, but many people fail to make time for their health. Often, that's because a gym is too far away from their homes or workplaces. It's easy to alleviate this issue by putting a gym in your home. While this might seem like an extreme measure, nothing is too crazy when your personal health is involved. Simply throwing some exercise equipment into your carpeted basement isn't going to cut it, however. You want to create a space that feels separate from the rest of your home. This will allow for more focused and productive workouts. If you're interested in creating a home gym, follow these tips to make it perfect:

Stay low

If you're planning on installing any exercise equipment or heavy weights, it's best to isolate your workouts to the basement of your home. Basement floors are generally concrete, will better support the weight of heavy equipment and should provide a better surface for the constant motion involved in a workout, according to Bob Villa. The last thing you want is for your fitness regimen to cause issue during your next home inspection, but that's a definite possibility if you set your workout space up too high. 

Beyond structural concerns, a basement offers improved sound isolation. Workout equipment can be noisy, and it's easy for the vibrations caused by a workout to travel through the walls of your home. The concrete flooring in a basement absorbs a lot of this sound energy.

If you are using the basement as a home gym, you'll want to create a layer of padding on the unforgiving concrete. Concrete will weather weight and impact better than the second floor of your home, but it could damage your body if you fall during a workout. Luckily, it's relatively easy to pad the floor of your workout area with rubber mats. These mats can fit nearly any size room and provide a nice springy surface that keeps you safe while you're pumping iron. 

Set the mood

Whether you put the gym in your basement or on the first floor, you'll want to ensure that the room puts you in an energetic place. Dreary color and lighting choices can drag down your enthusiasm and will make you less likely to take advantage of your new workout space. Light colors and bright lighting will keep you focused on fitness when you enter your gym. As you arrange lights, Pegasus lighting suggested you consider that many exercises require you to lie on your back. If you cover the ceiling in bright lights, this can be an unpleasant experience. Choose lighting options that provide diffused and even light through the entire room. 

You'll want to cover the walls in light colors, and the room doesn't have to be stark and boring. Consider putting up posters or quotes that you find motivational. When you're in the depths of a difficult workout, these elements could help you pull through. 

Maximize the space

Space will be at a premium in your home gym, so make sure that every piece of equipment you add to the space will see regular use. Certain specialized machines simply don't deliver enough versatility to earn a spot in your gym. When you select equipment at the store, focus on classic items you can use for a wide range of exercises. A weight set and bench provide nearly everything needed for comprehensive strength training, and a simple pull-up bar delivers an enormous amount of utility. 

You don't want to overcrowd the gym, so pick some core items and use them to their full potential.