How Big is your home exercise space/room?

Lannette · 04-03-16, 09:20 AM

I know there are VF members with rooms dedicated to working out. We're in the process of planning an addition with a dedicated gym space and a meditation/yoga/therapeutic massage room. I know what size I want for the meditation....room but am not sure about the exercise/gym space.

So I'm curious about the size of your space and what you have in the space.

Jeanne Marie · 04-03-16, 09:57 AM

Hi Lannette!

Congrats on your addition! My workout room was created as part of an addition we did 15 years ago. I've linked to some photos of it that were posted in a thread here several years ago.

Jeanne's workout room

It's about 15 ft x 15 ft size wise. It's mirrored on all 4 walls, so it does look bigger in the photos. It has been a good size for me. I have the TV/DVR mounted at the ceiling. I also have all my free weights, step & risers, barbell, bands, 2 stability balls, treadmill and a TRX suspension trainer that is mounted to the ceiling (I can unhook that and move it when I'm not using it since it hangs in the middle of the room). Another thing I've enjoyed having is a separate HVAC zone for the room. I can make it cold in there without affecting any other area of the house. And it has high ceilings (maybe 15 feet?) and a ceiling fan. Just some ideas.... good luck!

Demeris · 04-03-16, 10:14 AM

8X12--I use about half of the back bedroom for my workout area. The other half is my office space.

I want to build on--an Arizona/sunroom that would also contain my office area, then the back bedroom will become my workout area, and I plan to go to town setting that up.

amoodygirl · 04-03-16, 10:20 AM

We just built a brand new house. We wanted a ranch so that we could finish a large basement. Our basement is about 1,500 square feet, with 3/4 of it dedicated to our workout space. We finished it within 2 months of moving into the house. It's basically a full home gym - treadmill, elliptical, bike, step, large square pro yoga mat, weights, bosu, etc. The rest of the space is my husband's stereo room. It is completely PET FREE.....

Yesterday our realtor asked to show our home to a prospective buyer/builder (there are no spec homes to show). She immediately commented about the basement and the gym, saying "this looks like a real gym, only nicer!" The upstairs of the house is pretty much dedicated for our animals, i.e. NOT PET FREE! Every room has some kind of pet paraphernalia, including one bedroom for just the litter boxes.

I will try to post some pictures when I get a chance.

Diane

Cafelattee · 04-03-16, 10:45 AM

we have 2 workout areas one room is the guys room with bench press, leg press, punching bag, smith machine and a few other gym equipment

Then my dedicated space with all the dumbbells, step, spin bike, balls, flat bench this room is 15 x 17.

I have TV stereo on one wall, mirrors downs one wall and the floor is all low impact flooring.

The only time it seem to small is when I do walking lunges and those sumo squat walks. I don't have enough room to follow Cathe exactly. I make it work but really would love a bit more room.

fatkat555 · 04-03-16, 10:48 AM

My workout area is 13 X 17. It's plenty big to do all the workouts I want to do. I have mirrors so I can check my form, which I think is essential.

Lannette · 04-03-16, 10:51 AM

Thanks so much! I appreciate the pictures dimensions and square footage. Very nice! CharM, I think I found pictures of yours on one of the other threads.

We initially thought we'd make the gym 30'x20' but are now thinking that would be overkill. Our builder is going to quote 30'x15' and 18'x20'. I'm going to do some scale floor plans to play with equipment and machine setup.

If anyone else has dedicated or flex space please share.

Sissy B · 04-03-16, 10:57 AM

We are in the process of turning our third bedroom into a cardio room. I say a cardio room because we have a treadmill and a recumbent bike and with those 2 pieces of equipment in there, there's really not enough room to do strength training or yoga. There is room if we decide to add an elliptical or rower. We will be storing most of our fitness equipment in there too. And there is a TV and DVD player in there. Prior to this the treadmill was in the computer room/office and the recumbent bike was in our foyer.

It's a small room and it's also a weird room in the fact that there is not a lot of wall space. It has the door to the room itself on one wall, a large window on another wall (it's at the front of the house) and a third wall has a closet and the door to the bathroom (it's a Jack and Jill layout with DD's bedroom).

DH usually goes to the gym to do his strength training and I don't have to have a lot of equipment when I lift weights so I'll do that in the great room. That's where I do my yoga workouts too.

If we ever build a free-standing garage I plan to have an upper room that could become a home gym. Not in the immediate plans though.

TinierTina · 04-03-16, 11:16 AM

Mine is just around 12' or 13' x 7.5' ... and I sacrifice to maintain that rough area [I cannot be choking and I am old-school enough to need paper records (and a few tall, stately bookcases full of books] for my mental health!) but I did read about an intrepid city dweller who works out doing yoga in barely a crawl space in a less than 150 sq. ft entire Manhattan apartment.

At 330 sq. ft. (my entire apartment), even I feel sorry for her ...

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/zen-at-home-wor-152540

Anyway fwiw, you could put the resources of a smaller New York Sports Club branch in your big space with the right attitude (and prodigious use of cleaning supplies and WD-40) ... a couple weight benches, weight rack, docking station, room to have a group private session, mats, rollers, physioballs, bolsters, gymnastics ladders, the largest Peloton bike manufactured to date, a mini-cross training astro-turf based obstacle course ... and then even charge admission (with or without itinerant live instructor's fees) to your less well-off neighbors ...

warriorprincess · 04-03-16, 11:16 AM

Mine is 15 x 30, mirrored on one wall, and two mirrored closets on the opposing wall so lots of good feedback on form, and good storage. It's such a wonderful space! I love to dance so I need the room. Although since I added the squat rack, it limits my traveling moves a lot. Still, it's too small. What would be my dining room is filled with workout equipment. My DH got into fitness one year and went beserk, and I didn't try to rein him in :-)

I have two ceiling fans, which most of the time I really like because they really make a difference as you get heated up. But it does limit being able to work with veils or hula hoops or jump ropes. Oh, the sacrifices.

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04-03-16, 09:20 AM
Lannette Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: NH	How Big is your home exercise space/room? I know there are VF members with rooms dedicated to working out. We're in the process of planning an addition with a dedicated gym space and a meditation/yoga/therapeutic massage room. I know what size I want for the meditation....room but am not sure about the exercise/gym space. So I'm curious about the size of your space and what you have in the space. __________________ Lannette See my profile for info on relationships with various video distributors. Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it? - Caroline Myss

04-03-16, 09:57 AM
Jeanne Marie Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: Atlanta, Ga.	Hi Lannette! Congrats on your addition! My workout room was created as part of an addition we did 15 years ago. I've linked to some photos of it that were posted in a thread here several years ago. Jeanne's workout room It's about 15 ft x 15 ft size wise. It's mirrored on all 4 walls, so it does look bigger in the photos. It has been a good size for me. I have the TV/DVR mounted at the ceiling. I also have all my free weights, step & risers, barbell, bands, 2 stability balls, treadmill and a TRX suspension trainer that is mounted to the ceiling (I can unhook that and move it when I'm not using it since it hangs in the middle of the room). Another thing I've enjoyed having is a separate HVAC zone for the room. I can make it cold in there without affecting any other area of the house. And it has high ceilings (maybe 15 feet?) and a ceiling fan. Just some ideas.... good luck! __________________ *Jeanne*

04-03-16, 10:14 AM
Demeris Join Date: Dec 2006	8X12--I use about half of the back bedroom for my workout area. The other half is my office space. I want to build on--an Arizona/sunroom that would also contain my office area, then the back bedroom will become my workout area, and I plan to go to town setting that up.

04-03-16, 10:20 AM
amoodygirl Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: NY	We just built a brand new house. We wanted a ranch so that we could finish a large basement. Our basement is about 1,500 square feet, with 3/4 of it dedicated to our workout space. We finished it within 2 months of moving into the house. It's basically a full home gym - treadmill, elliptical, bike, step, large square pro yoga mat, weights, bosu, etc. The rest of the space is my husband's stereo room. It is completely PET FREE..... Yesterday our realtor asked to show our home to a prospective buyer/builder (there are no spec homes to show). She immediately commented about the basement and the gym, saying "this looks like a real gym, only nicer!" The upstairs of the house is pretty much dedicated for our animals, i.e. NOT PET FREE! Every room has some kind of pet paraphernalia, including one bedroom for just the litter boxes. I will try to post some pictures when I get a chance. Diane __________________ "When ignorance screams, intelligence moves on.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Never have I been a blue calm sea I have always been a storm Fleetwood Mac (Stevie Nicks) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Diane

04-03-16, 10:45 AM
Cafelattee Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Gulf Coast	we have 2 workout areas one room is the guys room with bench press, leg press, punching bag, smith machine and a few other gym equipment Then my dedicated space with all the dumbbells, step, spin bike, balls, flat bench this room is 15 x 17. I have TV stereo on one wall, mirrors downs one wall and the floor is all low impact flooring. The only time it seem to small is when I do walking lunges and those sumo squat walks. I don't have enough room to follow Cathe exactly. I make it work but really would love a bit more room.

04-03-16, 10:48 AM
fatkat555 Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: New Orleans metro area	My workout area is 13 X 17. It's plenty big to do all the workouts I want to do. I have mirrors so I can check my form, which I think is essential. __________________ Fatkat You have to make a mess, sometimes, to clean it up. DISCLOSURE: I have a professional relationship with a seller or producer of fitness videos or products. For details, please see my profile.

04-03-16, 10:51 AM
Lannette Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: NH	Thanks so much! I appreciate the pictures dimensions and square footage. Very nice! CharM, I think I found pictures of yours on one of the other threads. We initially thought we'd make the gym 30'x20' but are now thinking that would be overkill. Our builder is going to quote 30'x15' and 18'x20'. I'm going to do some scale floor plans to play with equipment and machine setup. If anyone else has dedicated or flex space please share. __________________ Lannette See my profile for info on relationships with various video distributors. Do you really want to look back on your life and see how wonderful it could have been had you not been afraid to live it? - Caroline Myss

04-03-16, 10:57 AM
Sissy B Join Date: Oct 2002	We are in the process of turning our third bedroom into a cardio room. I say a cardio room because we have a treadmill and a recumbent bike and with those 2 pieces of equipment in there, there's really not enough room to do strength training or yoga. There is room if we decide to add an elliptical or rower. We will be storing most of our fitness equipment in there too. And there is a TV and DVD player in there. Prior to this the treadmill was in the computer room/office and the recumbent bike was in our foyer. It's a small room and it's also a weird room in the fact that there is not a lot of wall space. It has the door to the room itself on one wall, a large window on another wall (it's at the front of the house) and a third wall has a closet and the door to the bathroom (it's a Jack and Jill layout with DD's bedroom). DH usually goes to the gym to do his strength training and I don't have to have a lot of equipment when I lift weights so I'll do that in the great room. That's where I do my yoga workouts too. If we ever build a free-standing garage I plan to have an upper room that could become a home gym. Not in the immediate plans though.

04-03-16, 11:16 AM
TinierTina Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: New York City	From the 98% contingent Mine is just around 12' or 13' x 7.5' ... and I sacrifice to maintain that rough area [I cannot be choking and I am old-school enough to need paper records (and a few tall, stately bookcases full of books] for my mental health!) but I did read about an intrepid city dweller who works out doing yoga in barely a crawl space in a less than 150 sq. ft entire Manhattan apartment. At 330 sq. ft. (my entire apartment), even I feel sorry for her ... http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/zen-at-home-wor-152540 Anyway fwiw, you could put the resources of a smaller New York Sports Club branch in your big space with the right attitude (and prodigious use of cleaning supplies and WD-40) ... a couple weight benches, weight rack, docking station, room to have a group private session, mats, rollers, physioballs, bolsters, gymnastics ladders, the largest Peloton bike manufactured to date, a mini-cross training astro-turf based obstacle course ... and then even charge admission (with or without itinerant live instructor's fees) to your less well-off neighbors ... __________________ Disclosures: From 2/10/12 to 2/10/13 I'd won unlimited access to Myyogaonline -Bettina "If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you"?! REALLY!! If it doesn't serve me, it doesn't save me!!

04-03-16, 11:16 AM
warriorprincess Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: West Palm Beach, FL	Mine is 15 x 30, mirrored on one wall, and two mirrored closets on the opposing wall so lots of good feedback on form, and good storage. It's such a wonderful space! I love to dance so I need the room. Although since I added the squat rack, it limits my traveling moves a lot. Still, it's too small. What would be my dining room is filled with workout equipment. My DH got into fitness one year and went beserk, and I didn't try to rein him in :-) I have two ceiling fans, which most of the time I really like because they really make a difference as you get heated up. But it does limit being able to work with veils or hula hoops or jump ropes. Oh, the sacrifices. __________________ Nancy S. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~* You're only 1 workout away from a good mood.