How to Build Your Home Gym
You would think as a 16-year veteran in the fitness industry I would have a deluxe home gym, right? Think again.
(P.S. -> Here is a link to our free Healthy Habits Challenge starting 4/20/2020!)
I have forever prided myself on separating my work life from my home life. Why…I really don’t know. Because I still work at home a lot (like all of us are, more and harder now than ever.) And, I want my family to see and feel how much I love what I do. They sure see it a lot lately! 😉Somehow, I must have felt my motivation was deeper at my gym for workouts. With the Coronavirus Pandemic, I now realize the myriad of equipment was a crutch. I can be just as effective at home now with minimal equipment and much less space. I can even workout in my PJs which I’ve been doing. 
Enter COVID-19 and I am slowly building out my own home exercise space. I’m building it because Alexandria Wellness, for weeks, has been thriving providing a variety of virtual workouts.Why not prepare a cool space for my clients for the long term, turning this into my new “silver lining?” I also have several clients who live outside of the D.C. area. Best yet, I am building it for Bill, our children, and me.
See our small group training schedule here.
Let’s start with the why: I urge you to build out your own exercise space now. Even without COVID-19, how can building out this space positively develop healthy habits?
- • You can train for 5 minutes 10 times a day just as effectively as you can for 50 consecutive minutes. Even if you are going to the office, you can throw in a 5-minute flow in the morning, 5 minutes before the shower, 5 minutes when you get home from work and 5 minutes after dinner…or just one, ladies!
As obsessed with habits as I am: if you built a habit of a 5-minute flow every morning and every evening, would you be contributing to your health?
- • It can be designed with your preferences in mind, not the IG star, the skinny girl at the gym, or some online fantasy. For you.
- • Walking past your “exercise space” can be an incredible motivator to move. Even if you do one minute of push-ups. If you did one minute of push-ups one time each day, do you think you’d be contributing to your health?
- • In rain, snowstorms, kid sick, any circumstance preventing you from making it to your favorite gym or studio class, you have your space. When you make home exercise a habit, little “setbacks” are just that …“little.”
Let’s turn this total bummer of a time into a new way to approach your fitness – at home! Now let’s move to parameters to consider before building your space:
- • Will the space motivate you to move? Is it appealing? Paint the area. Put motivating art, quotes, or photos on the wall. Get some good tunes! 🎧
- • Can the area be used to move in a variety of planes (directions)? For example, every training with me is simple: it includes a push (eg. push up or press), a pull (a row or pull up), crawls (eg. plank on all fours for 5 minutes…ouch!), climbs (eg. row + plank), rolls, ball slams (the best stress reliever!) and loaded carries. My space will accommodate them all. Oh, and I want to crawl and not be grossed out by dirt, cat hair, nerf bullets, or a kid dropped chocolate kiss. Keep it clean, used for exercise only and make it yours.
- • Will it help me to move properly? Set up your equipment right. Don’t rush. Make it safe.
- • Can it be set up in a place where I can easily see the instructor on my computer or phone? Proper placement of both devices can make or break your workout. Don’t rush this one. Give it the attention it needs.
- • Do you have an 8x8 or 10x10 space you can call your own?
Now, what to put in your exercise space:
- • A beautiful mat. I prefer wesellmats.com because they are soft and feel good. I move (kneel and roll) better when I’m on it than when I am not. My clients know I’m obsessed with getting on and off the floor, I adore my mat.
- • A suspension trainer. My favorite is a TRX, yet there are others on the market where you can really get well “suspended.” Hanging is so therapeutic!
- • Weights – Kettlebells and sandbags are my preferred game. Dumbbells are great too. If I had extra cash, I’d invest in a women’s Olympic Barbell and a few plates. Yet, for now, I bought a few “bells.” Bill made a sandbag for me to throw on my shoulder for carries, squats, and loaded crawls. (You can even use paint cans filled with sand or rocks or water jugs as weights!)
- • A Medicine Ball. Ask any Alexandria Wellness client and they will tell you the emotional and physical benefits of slamming the med ball. Find a wall to toss it and you are in!
- • A Pull up bar: Not only is a pull up rig essential for your need to hang (great back relief), it is where you can mount your suspension trainer and other implements you can use to row, another movement we just don’t do enough in daily life.
- • Hip circles – Turns on those gluts and gets them ready for any workout.
- • Sliders – An awesome way to take your crawls, squats, and lunges up several levels.
Trust me: my wish list is long. And I admit I’m investing in good flooring, the crown jewel of many gyms. Yet, one of my lessons learned from my COVID-19 experience is we can all live on – and for - a lot less: clothes, equipment, stuff, gossip, waste.
