The problem for a lot people who have finally made the commitment to get fit and lose weight is that membership gyms just aren’t for everyone. Sure they’re loaded with all the latest fitness equipment… but if you’re not comfortable there for any number of reasons, what good does all that state of the art equipment do you?
This is why the little known secret gym operators don’t like the public to know is that membership gyms have a surprisingly high drop out rate. Far too many people sign up, all loaded with enthusiasm, and then slowly over time they simply peter out.
The cliques, the lack of privacy, the crappy staff, dirty bathrooms, etc. It could be any one of a number of things, and it’s a shame too because when it comes to health and fitness peoples lives really are on the line.
Now one thing is for certain when you set up your own home gym in a spare room in your home or apartment: You can’t quit. Hey, you live there so there is no getting away from it. Still yet another nice thing: while it can cost more to set up, there are no membership fees.
Starting With the Floor
So let’s start with the floor. You have either one of two types: It’s either a raised wooden floor base or a cement slab. Tiled or carpeted if it’s in your home or bare concrete if your converting your garage.
If you’re converting your garage, the bare cement look has got to go for sure. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to spend a ton of money. For instance, you can have it pressure cleaned then go with some good concrete floor paint.
There are also some good rubberized concrete coatings on the market that you might want to look into. They’re actually made for coating cement roofs but would be perfect for this type of scenario.
Or another budget stretching idea is get on the phone and call around to some local carpet outlets. See what they have in the way of used carpet. They have to tear out the used carpet on installation jobs, before they can put in the new.
Don’t kid yourself because it’s not at all uncommon for people who can afford it to have perfectly good carpet replaced because they don’t like the color or nap. Anyway, if you are determined you can find an installer that has some to sell you on the cheap.
Now you can find any number of rubber padding products specifically designed for gyms and gym equipment online but it can be a bit pricey. Particularly if it’s quality padding.
But here’s something that you may not know about. It’s the sectional rubber floor pads that you can find at your local ranch or equestrian supply center. That is if your town has one. Anyway, it’s made for the floors of stalls and livestock transport trailers and it’s pretty amazing stuff.
It comes in sections that fit together like puzzle pieces. It’s thicker and more durable…just perfect for hard gym floor padding.
Now if you’re dealing with a spare room with a raised wood floor, you obviously don’t have to deal with the concrete like you would in a garage. Instead, what you have to deal with here is structural issues.
Now chances are that your floor will be able to support the weight of say a gym machine just fine. However, if you plan on using standard barbells, it’s another story. It’s the standing lifts that are the issue.
All it takes here is for one “psyched up he-man” to overdo it, lose a set of weights in mid-lift, and you could end up a set of weights stuck in your floor. Or the original underpinning underneath the floor may just not even be strong enough to begin with.
So start out by climbing under your home and taking inventory of what the floor in the room was joist’ with. What you want to hope for is something like 2 x 8s or 2 x10s or 2 x 12s. Or if you’re really lucky, you’ll find newer engineered TGIs or truss joists.
What you don’t want to see is 2 x 6s set on a 2 foot layout. That’s about as weak a flooring underpinning system as you can get and your home will have to be pretty old to have something like that.
Shoring up sub-grade flooring is no big deal. Simply use a shovel and concrete to add in some add hoc footings then post up and nail on some 4 x 4s where needed. Under the area you’re going to set up your weights for sure.
Written by Donald Davidson. Check out his website for more home gym related articles about Bowflex as well as new machines like Treadclimbers.
