You’ve rediscovered your love for fitness and now you want make it a serious habit. You have the means to invest in good, quality equipment and make this a daily practice. But you lack the space to create your new dream gym.
Why not turn your garage into your gym?
Benefits of turning your garage into a gym:
Accessibility. If your gym is right there, you’re more likely to use it. No excuses for not driving to your gym if it’s just a ten step walk from your back door.
You get to design your gym. Put things where they’ll make sense for you. Give it the energy that feels inviting to you.
First Steps
First, clean out your garage. Drag everything into the driveway, sorting into four piles: Keep, Sell, Donate and Throw Away. Try to distribute evenly, so each pile has approximately 25%.
Once your garage is cleared out (and before you move the keepable items back in), now you can determine what needs to be done before you create your gym. Need pest removal? This is a good time to get rid of the spiders and wasps that made their way into your garage. If your garage is especially dusty and dirty, hire a professional cleaning crew. If it’s not too dusty, you can clean it yourself with a good whisk broom to get into those nooks and crannies.
Lighting
Do some of the overhead halogens need to be replaced? Should light bulbs be updated? Maybe call an electrician to wire in some additional spot lighting.
Then, take a look at your floor. It isn’t a good idea to stand on concrete while lifting weights or working out. Instead, install rubber flooring, either interlocking mats or invest in a spray-in rubberized floor system.
Storage
Once your space is prepared, now you need to decide where everything is going to go. Make a list of all of the gym items you think you’re going to need (weights, bands, balls, gloves and other accessories) and decide where you want to store these items. Do you need more storage? You want to figure that out before you move the heavier equipment in. Create a blueprint for your garage gym so that you know exactly how much space you need, what will need to go into that space and how to maneuver around it.
Equipment
The last things you’ll want to plan for the large pieces of gym equipment, like treadmills. You’ll install them first (after the flooring) but should be the last items addressed on your garage blue print. You know you’ll need them – but figuring out the small stuff is usually more challenging and should be done first.
Red Umbrella Services offers signature remodels for the home and garage as well as general contracting for homeowners. If you have a unique design project for your garage, continue to follow our blog for tips and inspiration including our ideas last month for a garage craft center!