Jun 28, 2024 - Luke WhitburnYou don’t always need a garage conversion to exercise at home. One of the reasons weights come in so many shapes and sizes is to cater to all preferences. As much as we would all love to have a fully decked-out garage, even a few pieces of equipment can make a huge difference to your fitness regime.
So, we’re here to create the perfect gym with you that can be implemented in one of your existing rooms. With size, themes and budget factored in, we have 12 different gym designs that will fit seamlessly into your home. And to narrow it down further, we’ve taken strength and cardio-based training and separated them into different sections so that your space is curated to your goals. After reading this, you should have a good idea of what’s best for you.
So, let’s dive straight in…
Bedroom designs (3.6m x 3m)
#1: Strength — low to medium budget
Includes:
Approximate cost:
- £350
Simple, but effective! A pair of 10-in-1 dumbbells and a weight bench are plenty to keep your fitness on track from home. Get some inspiration from our adjustable dumbbell workout where we show you how to hit your whole body with a single pair of dumbbells.
#2: Strength — medium to high budget
Includes:
Approximate cost:
- £750
Coming in like an older brother to the first design, we’ve kept the premise the same but wildly bumped up the weight load of the adjustable dumbbells and weight bench. How does training with a 40kg pair on a bench rated to 286kg sound? Plus, it’s somewhere to catch a midday nap when you’re not training!
#3: Cardio — low to medium budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £650
Let’s keep this one simple — a folding treadmill that’s easy to store away. Forget leaving the house, commuting to the gym and paying for a membership every month, how about quite literally getting out of bed and jumping on the treadmill? Even while in front of the TV?! Yeah, that’s living.
#4: Cardio — medium to high budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £800
Now, let’s get serious. We’ve levelled up the treadmill in this design to our high-performance P200. It still folds away and allows you to do all sorts of walking and running workouts on it. How about taking part in a six week cardio routine to really make the most of your purchase?
Living room designs (5.5m x 3.7m)
#1: Strength — low to medium budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £350
The living room, a perfect place to get your family involved with your workouts. Grab some dumbbells, jump on the mat and get straight into a workout. Feeling up to the challenge? Take on a high-rep strength routine or a heart-racing HITT workout.
#2: Strength — medium to high budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £1,800
Here’s a radical idea: rather than getting the bigger sofa you’ve been thinking about, why not bring a powerlifting gym into your living room? We’ve taken our low-profile products and created you a whole setup without sacrificing your comfort. First, you have a pair of 12-in-1 dumbbells, a fan bike parked next to the sofa and a wall-mounted rack that can be folded away to just 30cm in depth. That’s our definition of work hard, play hard.
#3: Cardio — low to medium budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £1,000
Smash your weekly cardio from the comfort of your living room with a folding treadmill and neoprene dumbbell set. These each tuck nicely away into the corner and the no-smell, colourful finish to the dumbbells help them blend into the aesthetic effortlessly. Get your sweat on with some boxing punch outs or use the dumbbells as an intensifier to HIIT movements.
#4: Cardio — medium to high budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £1,900
Now we’re in for a full cardio regime! Here’s what we’re thinking. Your first workout of the week is simple: a walk, run or a jog on the treadmill. The second will use the exercise bike, putting those burners on and seeing how long you can go for. The third and final day is arguably your toughest: a HIIT workout with dumbbells. Lat raises, burpees, squatting shoulder press — take your pick, so long as it gets your heart racing!
Spare room designs (3.6m x 3m)
#1: Strength — low to medium budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £1,300
Don’t have a garage but do have a spare room that barely gets used? Sure you could turn it into a guest bedroom, but where’s the fun in that? Investing in a rack package, complete with a barbell, bench and adjustable dumbbells, will give you everything you need to complete your workouts at home. Plus, the rack we’ve chosen in this example is set on a 1:1 ratio, meaning you can get the full use of the pulley system rated to 100kg. Understanding cable ratios will be important to grasp which rack is right for you.
#2: Strength — medium to high budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £1,900
This design consists of a full set of dumbbells from 5-25kg, a rack with cable pulleys along with a barbell and bench. The rack itself can be used for your compound lifts: bench press, squats and deadlifts. With the cable on our Phase 2 quarter rack, you can use the high pulley for lat pulldowns and the low pulley for bicep curls. Out of all the designs we’ve listed, this is the top-dog.
#3: Cardio — low to medium budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £900 - £1,100
This design has its strength in being portable. Each piece of equipment can be moved around—the treadmill even has wheels on its base—so this room can expand as you collect more equipment. Think of it as the start of your cardio haven.
#4: Cardio — medium to high budget
Includes:
Approximate cost: £2,100
Everything you need to develop your cardio along with a dumbbell pair to play with. The beauty of having this amount of space is the possibility to have multiple people training at once, giving you the gym vibe you may miss out on.
And that sums up all the gym designs to fit in your house! Now you have a good template to start from, take this opportunity to think about what equipment you want in your gym.
The key takeaways from this are:
- Ensure your room is measured up accurately, especially when fitting a big unit like a squat rack.
- Design your gym prior to purchasing the equipment to ensure you have enough space around the weights to complete your workouts.
- Be smart with your room choice — if you can’t commit to a spare room design, then don’t force it. You can still do plenty in your own living room.
If you want to bring your own ideas to life like we’ve done here, then we can help! Get in touch with our expert team through our gym designs page and we’ll take you through the process of curating your gym into the best space for you.
Already have a room packed with equipment? Start training with the range of workout guides and find the right routine for you! 💪
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