It can be a daunting task to start designing your home gym. There are a million possible design directions to go, and hundreds of equipment decisions to make. Paralysis by analysis often sinks in. Instead of building a home gym, most people will continue to pay $60-200+ per month to go to a commercial gym, even if you don’t really like it. However, designing your home gym is as easy as following a 5-step process will set you up to build the home gym of your dreams, within your budget.
There are 5 key questions to ask when beginning your home gym journey:
- What training will I do in my home gym?
- What space can I utilize for my home gym?
- How do I want the space to look?
- What equipment should I prioritize?
- What is my budget?
These 5-questions provide the foundation that you will build your gym on. They set the direction for your home gym, and help you stay focused as you start building your gym …and eventually begin to expand it over the years. We will work through these one-by-one.
Plus, there are some extra considerations that I’ve included at the end of the article. These are the types of things that only people that have actually built a home gym will think about, but considering these from the onset will save you time, money and frustration down the line.
5 Step Home Gym Planning Guide
What Type of Training Do You Want to Do in Your Home Gym?
Most home gyms are designed around a specific type of training. This may be bodybuilding, functional fitness/CrossFit, yoga or aerobic conditioning. The focus of your training sets the stage for your home gym design.
You will likely need to prioritize one or two main training types, unless you have a significant budget and a large space to build your home gym (more on that below).
The equipment required, and subsequent space needed, for your home gym will be largely dictated by your training type(s). For instance, you could fit a body-weight and resistance band focused home gym in the side of a closet or a storage box. Those that want to do CrossFit at home will need ample floor space for a squat rack and a lot more equipment.
The best way to determine the type of training that you will do in your home gym is by answering a few questions:
- What do most of my work outs look like right now?
- How would I like my training to change in the future?
- What are my favourite exercises?
- What problem areas should I build up to be healthier?
Once we know what type of training you’ll be doing, we can move on to where you will be doing it.
Where to Build Your Home Gym
The space you choose for your home gym is likely the most important aspect of the home gym design process. For most people, space will always be at a premium. We only have so much room in our homes or garages to work with. Unfortunately, many people will overlook key room characteristics like natural lighting and airflow in the initial design process.
The key component here is to nail down your home gym location, and identify areas for upgrades or renovations before moving equipment into the space.
Home Gym Size Requirements
There are certainly a few things to consider when it comes to home gym placement. I think the most important thing to consider is the size of the space. You certainly do not need a massive 500 sq. ft. room, but if you plan on doing a mix of lifting weights and cardio then you (likely) can’t train in a closet.
Your training preferences really come into play when choosing your home gym location:
- A yoga or band-focused training regime can be stored in a closet
- A smart home gym may be mounted on a bedroom wall
- A CrossFit home gym could take over your garage
- An aerobic conditioning set up may fit into a (previously) unfinished basement
How Much Room Do You Really Need for a Home Gym?
If you want a well-rounded training space that utilizes free weights and a machine or two, then you should have a home gym that is at least 150-200 sq. ft. to avoid having to make substantial equipment sacrifices.
The largest piece of equipment you will buy for your home gym will be a squat rack and/or a treadmill. The average squat rack size is 17.5-18.67 sq. ft. (51-53” deep and 51-52” wide), while treadmills are 70-85” long and 32-40” wide (source). Foldable versions of this equipment may be a solution for small spaces.
Despite the large footprint of high-priority equipment like racks and treadmills, you can still build good strength training home gyms in spare bedrooms or in one half of a garage. Equipment prioritization is very key in these instances, and you may need to stick to a minimalistic design for the small space.
There is the possibility to build a home gym that can pack away into a closet or be mounted to a wall, as well. These gyms likely won’t have a treadmill or squat rack, but can still be highly functional home gyms that will help you improve your fitness.
Smart gym technology, like a Tonal system or Lululemon Mirror, are a game changer for people that want a home gym, without equipment taking up much floor space.
This is especially important for people in small apartments, where space is at an absolute premium.
At the end of the day, many people build beautiful and extremely functional home gyms in the corner of a room and in 3-car garages, and everything in between.
The key is to pick a space that allows you to do the training you like, and want, to do. It should be an area that is convenient, enjoyable and sufficient for your equipment needs.
Further Reading:
Note: It’s important to check ceiling heights too!
People often forget that they may be pressing weights overhead and they need clearance to avoid holes in the ceiling. Plates that go on barbells can be 18” in height. Due to this, I use the rule of thumb that a ceiling should be about 2 feet taller than your outstretched hand when standing as tall as possible and reach as high as possible. This should give you clearance to lift overhead, and to do things like pull ups without hitting the ceiling (but probably not muscle ups).
Lighting and Airflow
Airflow and lighting consideration are commonly overlooked when initially designing your home gym. Like flooring, good lighting and lots of airflow will make your home gym feel more legit and will increase the likelihood training more often.
Though it isn’t always feasible to have natural light in your home gym, you should always try to make the space bright and inviting. This may mean painting your walls a brighter colour (looking at you unfinished basements with bare walls) or investing in adjustable overhead lighting and photography lights.
Airflow is a key consideration for in home gym design a few reasons. Proper ventilation can help you stay cool during the hardest workouts. Equally important, is the role of proper ventilation in removing stagnant air and moisture after a workout, which can protect against mold build up and early degeneration of equipment.
For this reason, we suggest home gyms are in areas with two doors or a window and a door leading to the room. This will allow for air to flow from one side of the room to the other.
At the very least, you should have a large floor fan in your home gym – regardless of the size of the space.
How Do You Want Your Home Gym to Look and Feel?
The home gym design process starts to get very fun once you’ve sorted out which room you will be putting you home gym in and what your training focus will be. This is when you get to run wild on room rendering software to build out the home gym of your dreams.
My favourite software for designing home gyms is Rogue’s Zeus Builder. This web-based rendering program allows you to create a virtual room to the exact specifications of your future home gym.
The Zeus Builder is great because you can play with different equipment and room layouts so that you get a good idea of how your home gym will look, feel and flow before you every make a purchase.
The major downside is that you can only include Rogue equipment on the Zeus Builder, but Rogue makes a wide enough variety of equipment that you can match up pretty closely to other equipment manufacturers.
Choose Your Home Gym Flooring First
The flooring or mats that you use in your home gym play a huge role in the overall feel of the space.
A workout specific rubber mat can transform a pile of equipment in the corner of a room into a dedicated training area. The change in feel can be accomplished as easily as laying the rubber flooring over carpet.
Ideally, a bare concrete floor would be a great starting point for flooring. It’s a blank canvas. This is why a lot of people build their home gyms in unfinished basements or garages. Some rubber flooring over top of the concrete is more than enough to protect you, your equipment, and the concrete from damage.
Workout specific rubber flooring rolls, interlocking tiles and horse stall mats are the main choices for home gym flooring options. They each come in varying thicknesses and dimensions that can serve any training type, which we highlight in our home gym flooring guide.
The key is to lay your flooring BEFORE you set up your home gym, especially if you’re getting heavy equipment. You don’t want to have to move everything around just to lay your floor later
How to Prioritize Your Initial Home Gym Equipment Purchases
The equipment you buy for your home gym will be dependent on the space you have, your training goals and style, and your home gym budget. But even if you have a ton of space and sufficient budget, you likely shouldn’t go all in and buy everything you ever dreamed of.
A tiered approach to buying equipment will set you up for a better experience than buying everything at once. This way, you can see how your home gym set up works and flows with your initial equipment. A tiered purchasing approach also allows you to alter your training style or adapt your home gym based on what you learn in the first months of having it.
You may learn you want to focus on a slightly different style of training, or you really miss a specific piece of equipment that you used to use in a commercial gym. The tiered system means you’ll still have floor space and budget left for these changes in plans.
A Tiered Approach to Home Gym Equipment Purchases
We suggest that you create your budget and equipment purchasing lists with 3-4 tiers.
Tier 1 Equipment: The most important equipment for your training needs. This equipment is essential for you to train and you will (likely) buy it new and from reputable brands
- Examples
- Weightlifting: squat rack, Olympic weightlifting bar, your first bumper plates
- CrossFit: power rack with pull up bar, barbell, bumper plates, rower, timer
Tier 2 Equipment: This equipment is needed to do your preferred type of training but doesn’t need to be the top of the line. You may mix and match or use budget brands.
- Examples
- Weightlifting: change plates, dropper pads, some key dumbbells
- CrossFit: kettlebells, skipping ropes, plyo boxes, ceiling mounted gymnastic rings, adjustable bench
Tier 3 Equipment: Equipment at this level is stuff you want in your gym, but you don’t need now. You can hold off for sales or to find on things like Facebook Marketplace. They’re not integral to do your training but a complete gym will have them
- Examples
- Weightlifting gym: purpose built weightlifting platform, jerk blocks
- CrossFit: GHD, ceiling mounted climbing rope, air bike, wall balls
Tier 4 Equipment: This equipment is considered “nice to have” or more of a wish list. There’s no rush to get this equipment and you don’t REALLY need it …but you want it at some point. It might also be equipment that crosses over into different domains (e.g., some bodybuilding focused equipment for your CrossFit gym)
- Examples
- Weightlifting: GHD, reverse hyper, full dumbbell set, a bar just for squatting, belt squat machine, hamstring curl machine
- CrossFit: ski erg, lat pulldown attachments, farmer walk handles
Using Your Equipment List to Stage Your Home Gym
Once you’ve gone through your equipment tiering process then it’s time to return to your gym rendering. You want to ensure that your tier 1-3 equipment will fit into your home gym space without issue.
You may have to be a bit creative with storage (for instance, with jerk blocks), but you should be able to have all this equipment in the gym AND have room to workout.
If some of your equipment won’t fit, then you’ll need to search out smaller alternatives (e.g., wall mounted rack vs. full power rack), utilize vertical space (e.g., plates stored on a wall), or bump some things down to a lower tier.
At the end, you should have a few different renderings saved:
- How your gym will look after your initial purchases
- What you will consider a “done” home gym
- The dream space, including your Tier 4 wants
Following these steps should allow you to see how your home gym space can progress over the years, while having an idea of what the finished product will look like.
Setting Your Budget for Your Home Gym
When it comes to budgeting for a home gym, it’s important to think about both your initial investment and how it might evolve as you progress in your fitness journey.
Though the initial sticker shock of a home gym can scare people away from building their own gym, it’s worth evaluating how much you’d spend on gym memberships over several years. Developing your home gym budget based on the cost of a 5-year membership at a local gym is a safe place to start.
Additionally, a home gym eliminates travel time, membership fees, and the potential for overcrowded workout spaces. Over time, the investment in your home gym can prove to be cost-effective and convenient.
To begin, focus on laying the foundation with critical components such as flooring and tier 1 equipment. Choose quality flooring that not only protects your home’s surface but also provides a comfortable and safe workout area. As for Tier 1 equipment, go back to the list you made previously and start with the most important pieces on the list.
It’s a Marathon, Not a Sprint
The beauty of designing your own gym is that you can start with almost any budget.
A strategic approach to budgeting for your home gym involves gradual progression. Initially, prioritize the core equipment and flooring to ensure a functional space. As you move forward, you can expand your setup by adding lower-tier equipment and enhancing aesthetics with lighting, sound systems, and other design elements. This step-by-step approach allows you to spread out your expenses and adapt your gym to your evolving fitness needs.
For example, bodyweight and resistance band exercises require minimal initial investment, but may progress to a smart gym like Tonal or a Peloton system. Heavy lifting or specialized training might demand more equipment from the onset and thus a larger budget. It is key to tailor your budget to align with your fitness goals and the type of training you wish to pursue.
Find the Deals
When creating your home gym budget, remember that some equipment warrants investing in brand-name products, while for others, cost-effective alternatives can suffice.
For instance, a high-quality, versatile barbell might be worth the investment, as it’s a central piece for many workouts. However, there are alternatives available that offer good quality for less. Brands like Synergee offer budget-friendly options that suit the needs of most individuals and training styles.
To stretch your budget further, explore various shopping options beyond traditional fitness retailers. Check out platforms like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, eBay, and Amazon for used or discounted gym equipment. Often, individuals are selling gently used equipment that can fit your needs perfectly. This approach allows you to access a wider range of options while staying within your budget.
In conclusion, developing a budget for your home gym is a thoughtful process that considers both short-term needs and long-term aspirations. By focusing on essential elements first and then expanding as your fitness journey progresses, you can create a personalized workout space that aligns with your budget and training goals. Remember that your home gym is an investment in your health and well-being, providing a convenient and customized solution that can pay off both physically and financially in the long run.
The Wrap Up
Starting a home gym seems like a daunting task. However, you’re likely to get years and years of enjoyment out of it, especially by planning ahead, thinking through each aspect of the design and giving yourself room for your gym to grow. We hope that this guide has helped you along your journey, and that the Home Gym Design section of our site will be a resource for you for years to come.
We look forward to seeing your gyms as you build them out and then grow them.
All the best on your journey.