04 May Making fitness a lifestyle: Decorate your home gym

If something is fun, you’re more likely to do it. Everyone knows that.
On the same train of thought, if you enjoy being in a place, you’re more likely to keep going back.
You can accomplish both of those objectives by making your home gym or workout room a fun place to be.
Here are some tips to make your workout room a place you truly enjoy being in:
* Make sure you have enough space to meet your needs. If you’re only setting up a treadmill and won’t have free weights, then you might not need as much room. If you want to have more equipment, then find a room, basement or even garage that will accommodate it.
* If you want to have a bigger set-up – with perhaps weights, a treadmill and functional trainer – then take proper measurements and make sure everything would fit. Some of the best home workout rooms I’ve found are in basements people have converted into home gyms.
* Talk with an associate at a fitness specialty store about flooring options. Not all floor mats are made to go under the same types of equipment.
* Add some perks that will make the room more enjoyable, such as a TV and/or stereo system to help get your through different workouts.
* Get racks for free weights and dumbbells. You’re gym will be more organized an you’ll save space with racks.
* Set up big mirrors on the walls and get some good overhead lights. It will add to the atmosphere and help you see what your form looks like. The mirrors will also make the room look bigger.
* Make it a fun atmosphere by hanging up pictures or posters. A lot of people have a mix of personal photos and ones they’ve acquired from magazines. Or actual photos of famous fitness people, other athletes or movie posters.
* Get creative with your decorations. My dad has a great home gym in his basement and his thing is collecting weight plates from different manufacturers and gyms across the country. He has hundreds hanging on the walls, from modern day to antique plates.
The most important tip to setting up or improving your home gym is to do what feels right for you. Set it up in a way that you’ll enjoy working out there, it will help you be more efficient and more motivated.
Do you have a really cool home gym set-up you’d like to share with others? Send me an email explaining what makes your workout room special and a photo and I’ll include it on a future blog.
In the meantime, keep working out and make fitness a lifestyle.

At Home Fitness consultant Aaron Dorksen’s blog deals with a variety of fitness topics, ranging from workout tips, motivational ideas and feature stories on how exercise impacts people’s lives. E-mail him with comments, questions or ideas for future blogs at aaron@athomefitness.com