Home gym?

[JapanRed]

Hi all,
We are in the process of getting an extension designed. It will be a large one adding approx 50% on to size of upstairs and doubling the size of the downstairs. It will hopefully encompass a home gym.

My question is, does anyone have a home gym? What sort of size is the minimum required? In terms of equipment I was thinking,

Free weights stacks
Bench press for chest/tris
Free bench to allow flat or incline presses
Cable pull machine
A couple of EZ bars with weights
Some leg exercises if I can fit them in.
Treadmill
Bike if there’s room
Mirrors - lots of mirrors.

The idea is not to completely replace the gym that I go to, but to provide an alternative option for when I’ve not got time to do a full gym routine at my local gym.

Is there any essential equipment that I’ve forgot?

[RTB]

Power rack is the only thing missing from this list and if you buy one with an integrated cable system it would replace a couple of other bits of equipment. With a power rack you can do lots of exercises on your own in safety, plus they double as a pull up bar

I want a home gym. The next house will have room for one if i get my way.

I'm very envious of anyone who does have the space.

[JapanRed]

Power rack is a great shout thanks mate

[Hoofy]

As it's a home gym for use if you can't get to a proper gym:

Power rack
Free weights
Bench
Bike

If it was your only gym, then I'd add the rest.

Guess it also depends on the space and budget.

If money no object, then a proper rowing machine, heavy punch bag, kettlebells and fixed dumbbells as well.

[V8mate]

A key consideration when designing your extension should be room height.

I'm 6'3", and pressing a barbell with full size plates above my head will have me in collision with most modern ceilings.

[Jim on the hill]

V8mate said:

A key consideration when designing your extension should be room height.

I'm 6'3", and pressing a barbell with full size plates above my head will have me in collision with most modern ceilings.

What this guy said. I have a home gym, bench press, squat rack, heavy bag and space for free weights ez bar, DBs etc.

Overhead press I can't put the big plates on or I hit the ceiling. Summer I do overhead press out the back garden to get round this but it's a faff if I'm just squeezing in a quick workout.

100% prefer a home gym, I get in do my work then get out listening to what I want and never having to queue for anything. Also no excuse to go as it's in my house.

[Scobblelotcher]

In my home gym, I went for bench plus dumbbells and a quality cable machine. I choose the cable machine as it provides incredible variety of exercises for a relatively small footprint. I train more in the style of a bodybuilder rather than power lifter though.

[gregs656]

Id you have a free bench and a rack that you can squat and bench from you can go a long way.

The power rack with cable system is a great idea.

I quite liked having somewhere I could do dips.

Not really gym equipment but I would seriously think about having air con installed.

[LimaDelta]

We have two home gyms (I know, I know, PH etc.). Mine has a Concept2, heavy bag and kettle bells. Hers a treadmill, spin bike, free weights and a TRX.

[helix402]

Wide Pull up bar

[TwistingMyMelon]

What are your goals and budget. That would be my starting point

[JapanRed]

Thanks all, some great advice as always.

Those of you with home gyms, would you mind posting up some pics, or at least giving me the dimensions of your room?

I need to know beforehand how much room to allocate to a gym.

There may be a way to increase room height as there will be nothing built above it. Cheers for this heads up. Won’t be a massive issue though as I’m not 6 foot 3

[JapanRed]

TwistingMyMelon said:

What are your goals and budget. That would be my starting point

No real budget but not gonna go mad. The extension will cost £100-150k so a couple extra grand on equipment won’t hurt. I’ll probably buy second hand equipment and would like to think I could get all I need for £5k.

Goals - maintain a body builders physique. I don’t competition it’s purely for aesthetics. I do cardio 3 times a week but if I’ve no room for a treadmill I’ll continue to run outdoors.

[gregs656]

I would definitely buy second hand. You can save a fortune and the good kit is all commercial any way so if it was bought for a home gym it never gets anything like the volume of use it is built for,.

FWIW I mine was in a garage.

[JapanRed]

gregs656 said:

I would definitely buy second hand. You can save a fortune and the good kit is all commercial any way so if it was bought for a home gym it never gets anything like the volume of use it is built for,.

FWIW I mine was in a garage.

Thanks Greg. I completely agree. All the gyms I’ve had membership of have been back street gyms and they mainly have second hand equipment anyway. It all does the same job.

Mine will probably be about the same size as a garage - what equipment did you manage to fit in?

[LimaDelta]

JapanRed said:

Thanks all, some great advice as always.

Those of you with home gyms, would you mind posting up some pics, or at least giving me the dimensions of your room?

I need to know beforehand how much room to allocate to a gym.

There may be a way to increase room height as there will be nothing built above it. Cheers for this heads up. Won’t be a massive issue though as I’m not 6 foot 3

Mine is about 6m x 6m with a pitched roof (upstairs in my shed). I can do KB snatches as long as I stand in the middle of the room! Hers is a double length attached garage around 10m x 3m (which is shared with two cats and a freezer), so we are both around the 30-35m2 of floor area mark.