Looking to invest in a home gym? There are a few things to take into consideration before proceeding. Here are 7 things you need to know when building a home gym.
1) Where will you put the fitness equipment in your home?
Typically only homeowners can afford to build a home gym due to the amount of space required to have one. Larger luxury apartments and condos have a dedicated fitness center for residents so it is unnecessary to have your own home gym.
A spare room, garage, or basement are the most popular places for a home gym to reside however sometimes a simple unit of cardio equipment can sit in a common area or bedroom.
Determining the location of your home gym will influence what kind of fitness equipment you can accommodate in your home and what other requirements are necessary to set it up.
2) What kind of fitness equipment do you need?
The kind of home fitness equipment you need depends on who will be using the equipment. Is it just you and your spouse? Perhaps your elderly parents? Any teenagers in the house?
Most people choose to get one or two units of cardio equipment depending on their needs. They get either a treadmill or elliptical as their main piece of cardio equipment but also get a exercise bike as well to mix it up.
A stationary bike is a less intense cardio workout and is good for people with mobility issues which is more common with the elderly. Consider a recumbent bike or upright bike for these less intense workouts. If you are looking for something more intense, there is always the indoor cycling bike.
3) Do you have the height clearance for a home gym station?
For cardio equipment, this is not as much of a concern as it is for strength equipment.
If you want a home gym station you need to have the clearance to place it within your home. The actual footprint of the home gym can be small but the height is what restricts you the most.
Find specific models of home gym equipment that has the necessary height clearance for your home.
We recommend the Paradigm Fitness GX4 Activity Trainer which is less than 80″ in height making it the perfect compact home gym.
4) Do you need rubber flooring for your home gym?
There is a reason that the flooring in gyms is always rubber: it reduces the impact of weights dropped protecting the floor and the equipment as well as dampening the noise from cardio machines.
Depending on where you want to place your home gym equipment, you may need to consider rubber flooring.
Gym Tech offers rubber flooring installation for your home gym.
5) What is your budget to build a home gym?
A home gym is a luxury and requires an investment. Depending on how big your home gym is, you can expect to spend anywhere from $5000-$25,000 to build it out.
For a baseline estimate, a brand new Precor treadmill starts at $2,399 for the most basic home model and goes all the way up to $12,455 for the most advanced commercial model. You can expect a brand new professional-grade model treadmill to cost you about $5,000. The price for an elliptical is around the same range.
For home gym strength equipment, a functional trainer is the most ideal piece of equipment; it offers the most variety of workouts and variable resistance. The average price of a functional trainer is around $3,500.
6) Do you need to finance your home gym equipment?
Gym Tech offers no-interest financing of home fitness equipment.
If you are looking to build a home gym without breaking the bank, consider financing the purchase and spread out the payments over a period of time so that you can get your home gym up and running as soon as possible.
For more information visit our fitness equipment financing page.
7) Where will you purchase your home gym equipment from?
If you are serious about building a home gym then you should also be serious about the quality of fitness equipment that you purchase.
Box store brands of home fitness equipment are cheaply made and will break quickly, you may even end up getting seriously injured using it when a cable snaps or the deck breaks.
We recommend getting the same kind of gym equipment that you would see in professional facilities. Brands like Precor, Life Fitness, Matrix, Hammer Strength, TRUE, Cybex, and Octane are some of the commercial brands trusted for their superior engineering and manufacturing.
Gym Tech is a supplier of professional-grade, gym-quality fitness equipment. We work with residential clients to build their home gyms, deliver and install the equipment as well as offer repair services should the machines ever run into issues.
With over 15 years of experience serving the commercial gym industry as their trusted fitness equipment technicians, we believe that you can’t go wrong with premium quality fitness equipment for your home gym.
Give us a call or leave us a message and we will work with you to build the home gym of your dreams.