Follow this Checklist to Create Your Own Fitness Room

If you’re looking to create your own gym, whether a home gym or a commercial fitness room, you may wondering exactly what is a fitness room and what are the best materials/equipment to use to make sure you know how to do fitness gym remodels and constructions like a pro. While your interior aesthetic and color palette are entirely up to you, there are several essentials that every gym room must possess so that you can fully attain the effects and benefit of exercise. To determine what about fitness machines make one more effective than its competitors, we looked at top exercise equipment machines in use today! There is a lot of equipment and accessories out there, so sifting through them is not easy. The following is a list of the best exercise equipment for home and commercial gyms that are worthy investments and will keep you safe:

1. The Treadmill: Of course no gym is complete without a treadmill, which is why this gym staple is at the top of our fitness list. A favorite amongst most gym goers, it is important to invest in multiple treadmills for a commercial gym because there will, guaranteed, be a long line for this machine if there aren’t enough. This machine burns the most calories of any cardiovascular machines common in commercial gyms. Whether walking briskly or sprinting to some personal finish line, treadmills adapt to any fitness level so it is ideal for a home or commercial gym that must cater to different people. Many treadmills offer incline options to simulate hills or slopes which help to maximize the amount of muscles you work out. These machines are now so high-tech, they can even give you an accurate reading of your heart rate, your miles walked/you’re your calories burned, and your peak aerobic pattern geared towards whatever goal you input (i.e. weight loss or cardio-training). Treadmills even include personal TVs so that you won’t miss any of your favorite shows and you can concentrate on something other than working out. For those that hate to work out, these machines are how to do fitness enjoyably!

2. The Elliptical: Exploding into the fitness scene, elliptical machines have quickly become one of the most sought-after exercise machines. Right behind the treadmill, these are the low-impact answer to cardio-exercise. They are less intensive exercise machines, so for those with aching joints or weak ankles these are the perfect solution. They burn calories effectively because you are using multiple groups of muscles, but beginners are not recommended to use your arms at first. These are arguably the best exercise equipment for home and commercial gyms because they allow the person working out to determine how vigorously they want to push themselves. Also a more broad class of individuals use the elliptical, though they certainly are not as religious in their workouts as are treadmill users. With a more personalized machine like this, it can be easier to convince yourself that the benefit of exercise is worth the pain.

3. Weights: While many people only concentrate on cardiovascular exercises to cut down calories as fast as they can, it is vital to also work out other areas of muscle groups. What many do not realize, however, is that lifting weights helps to keep you healthy while providing the necessary strain on your muscles to help you aesthetically. While burning calories will help you lose inches, it is actually lifting weights that help to give you a healthy, toned look that many aspire to. For home gyms, the best weights to invest in are just simple free-lift weights because these can work out almost all of your muscle groups with the correct fitness routines. For a commercial gym, it is worthwhile to invest in more intense and specialized machines. A chest press machine will work out your pectorals, front deltoid heads, and triceps. A chest press is less strenuous for people with shoulder problems and there is no need for a spotter, unlike a heavy bench press. Lat towers are also good to have for those that cannot complete a full chin up. These can help you train up to chin-ups because in a lat pull down you can determine the weight that you use to pull the bar, rather than in chin up where your only option is your body weight and any extra weight you put on yourself. Leg presses are also vital for any commercial gym. They are better alternatives than squats because they are safer than putting more and more weight on your legs without being able to guarantee that your legs can maintain it. Finally. The Smith Machine is an extremely versatile machine that combines many machines into one. It is a barbell that slides vertically along guide bars so that you do not need to balance and you can have safety catches so that you can perform this exercise alone. The Smith Machine allows you to do bench presses, shoulder presses, squats, standing calf raises, shrugs and numerous others. This is a personal favorite of Arnold Shwarzenegger. Enough said?

4. Fitness Flooring: undoubtedly the second most common smell associated with gyms is the rubber flooring smell. Whether it is the exercise mat for those who stretch or, the treadmill mats protecting the floor from pounding machines. The smell of rubber is the smell that makes a room, a fitness room! You ask what is a fitness room? In practical terms, a rubber exercise mat makes hard floors a little more comfortable and warm when stretching or during a cardio workout. Rubber mats also protect the floors from heavy machinery and possible dropped equipment. And in the case of rubber treadmill mats, they absorb impact and noise, while acting as protective flooring! Accidents happen and sometimes you may pick up a weight that is too heavy and drop it. It is important to take precaution and surface your floors with protective rubber flooring. These will provide traction, shock absorption, and protective surfacing. Treadmill and elliptical machines are heavy and can move when you use them because of both the impact of your feet and the vibration from the machine itself. It is important to purchase flooring to place over a hard subsurface to lock your equipment into place while protecting the subsurface and the machine. This provides excellent traction so the machine will not slip off, as well as shock absorption to keep the impact of your steps from rebounding from the hard floors back up to the machine and damaging it.

5. Mirror, Mirror on the wall: While you may not believe that you look your best while working out and sweating, it is crucial that your gym has a mirror. This will help you to see how your body is performing during these workouts so you can ensure that your form is correct. In fact, fitness craze P90X advises to always work out in front a mirror to maximize your body results. While you may scoff at your local meatheads that pump iron and talk about muscle milk while staring non-stop at themselves, they may have a point! With a mirror, you can see the amazing results of your efforts and motivate yourself to keep working hard. Maybe don’t take it to the extreme like those tools though.

6. Television or Stereo: Though this is not a requirement for every workout, many fitness routines are now guided by instructors that behave like composers, fitness gurus, and life-coaches all rolled into one. For ½ to an hour you can tune-off the world and make believe you are in a gym with a couple dozen people burning calories. If “dancing to the oldies” is not your thing, then DVR your favorite ball-games and blast the TV while burning some calories on the bike or the treadmill. TV’s and stereos help make time pass and take your mind of the mundane and redundant task you are engaged in!

7. Must have accessories:

   1. Towels – Helps keep sweat off the floors!

   2. Water Fountain – Hydration is the key to a prolonged and effective workout.

   3. Jump Rope – believe it or not it is still one of the best workouts around and it does not need an instructor!

   4. Gloves – If you lift a lot of free-weight, these will keep your hands soft!

   5. Ab Wheel – Affordable and helps to add strength to your core and tighten the abdominal muscles.

   6. Small exercise mat – this is the one that you can easily interlock or roll-up and move! Ideal for stretching, ab workouts, or just taking a breather on!

So what is a fitness room you ask? This checklist allows you to make sure you have all your essentials in one room, whether it be big or small. With this comprehensive list of all the best exercise equipment for home gyms, you can guarantee that your gym won’t miss any equipment that maximizes the benefit of exercise. Make sure you buy quality products and make sure you protect the equipment and the floors with high quality fitness flooring and treadmill mats. While others may not know how to do fitness right, you can jog away on your treadmill watching them take notes on your gym or you can just go back to whatever you were watching on your personal TV.