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There are many excellent reasons to add a gym to your home. A nicely designed home gym not only adds convenience but it can also add value to your home. Who wouldn't want to purchase a home with a room already set up as a gym! There are many styles you can use as examples and here are 7 home gym designs that you may want to look at for ideas and inspiration. You may choose to design a home gym with a lot of windows to let in a lot of sunshine. A positive bright workout atmosphere can go a long way in helping you to exercise and feel more motivated. Or you may not want any windows or very few windows for more privacy, depending where you live and what room you use as your gym. It will be your gym and you can design the look and feel of it any way you like.
Many people do not like to work out at gyms. Perhaps they feel intimidated at gyms or they don't have time to travel to a gym or there may not even be a gym close by, especially for people who live in rural areas. Whatever the reason, a home gym can be very convenient to have as well as time-saving. You can even work out together with your spouse. A recent study done in London England revealed that spouses who work out together are 3 times more likely to stick to exercising than spouses who workout alone. This is because together they can support each other and motivate each other.
On the other hand, home gyms can be perfect for personal trainers. Instead of spending time traveling to the gym and having to wait for their clients they can come to your place. Another great benefit is that it can provide you with a substantial tax benefit since you are using your home for business purposes. Unfortunately to set up a proper gym will require an initial capital outlay for exercise equipment which over time will be tax deductible as depreciation. Of course you will have to determine what type of strength training and cardio equipment you will require for a good home gym that would be required for personal training purposes.
First of all, you will definitely need strength training equipment. What I recommend are free weights ranging in sizes from 10 pounds to 70 pounds. For most people this will be adequate or more than adequate. These weights usually come in increments of 5 pounds. There are also dumbbells called adjustable dumbbells (Pair) - you can add or remove weight for your desired amount of weight for any particular exercise. This dumbbell set is inexpensive and uses very little space but can be very time consuming when working out, requiring you to constantly add or subtract weights all the time.
You should also have an adjustable and stable flat bench so that you can work out on the bench at various angles with your free weights.
Having a multi-purpose weight training workout station with cables should be included since it gives you a wide variety of alternative weight training exercises that you can do and it varies your workout substantially. Plus over time you can add additional handles to create even more workout variation.
I also highly recommend a pull-up bar with various grips at different angles for example wide grip, medium grip and close grip. A pull-up bar allows you to do a multitude of exercises that focus on the entire body. Pull-ups are especially great if you don’t have a lot of workout time or you don’t want to spend a lot of time in the gym – it gives you the maximum workout for the least amount of time. For example, you can focus one workout day on your chest. Although you are focusing on your chest as the primary muscle group, you are also working out secondary muscles like your forearms, biceps and triceps, back, shoulders and core for stability. Change the angle of your pull-ups and you will be focusing on your back and shoulders as the primary muscle groups. Looking to work the abs? There are many hanging raise exercises that can be done for your abs. Again while focusing on your abs, you are also exercising your secondary muscles. As you can see, a pull-up bar is a very versatile piece of fitness equipment and should be included in any gym. The beauty of it is that it take very little space and it will give you an overall amazing strength training and cardiovascular workout as well as helping you with balance.
If you enjoy the traditional forms of cardio you may consider adding a stationary bike and an elliptical trainer. Or, you can opt to do all of your cardiovascular workouts outdoors.
As you can see, there are many benefits to having a home gym. I have outlined a few of them as well as indicating which fitness equipment you should have or that you should consider getting when setting up a home gym. It will of course take a bit of time and money to create your ideal home gym. It’s up to you if you want to make this commitment and that is why many people prefer to get monthly memberships at the gym.
Online since 2000