The pandemic sparked a rush to buy home fitness equipment and launched a boom in online exercise programs.

However you adapted to the disruptions, now is a perfect time to assess where you’ve been and where you’re headed. With a little reflection, you can design a purpose-built wellness haven that reflects your personality and aspirations.

Before you take steps to establish a home gym, ask yourself these questions:

• What are my fitness goals?
• What obstacles would I like to overcome?
• What’s going well with my current fitness routine?
• What do I want to change or add?
• How much do I want to spend?
• Do I want to have any memberships outside the home?

Get clear on what you want from your gym, and then build one that delivers.

Home Gym Benefits

Whether you’re looking for your home gym to complement your current fitness regimen or to become your primary focus, there are many benefits to having one.

• You can show up at any hour with no wait to use the equipment chosen specifically for your performance goals.
• No one is watching you, waiting for you to finish a set, or sharing germs with you.
• You can wear whatever you want.
• There’s no commute.
• A home gym can save you money and time.

The freedom, flexibility, and convenience are worth the effort if you create a space that helps you achieve your goals.

Where to Start

In Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, James Clear teaches how to successfully develop new habits. He advises his readers to make new habits obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.

To create regular home gym habits, design something you look forward to using. Choose a space that’s easy to access, and make it something special—paint it your favorite color, put up artwork that inspires you, set up a Bluetooth speaker, and make playlists with your favorite songs.

Whether it’s your basement, garage, or spare bedroom, create a space that feels good, and fill it with what you need to reach your goals.

Strength Equipment

Strength training is an important part of any fitness program and an essential element of a home gym.

Adjustable weight dumbbells give maximum versatility with minimum space requirements. Effective for beginners and experienced lifters alike, they’re on the home gym shortlist.

Other options to consider:

• Kettlebells
• Bench
• Barbell set
• Pull-up bar

Strength training doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective. Even without equipment, bodyweight exercises like planks, push-ups, dips, squats, and lunges can bring significant gains.

Cardio Equipment

Set up a fitness oasis where it’s never too hot, cold, wet, or dark to exercise, where you can work out any time of the day or night.

Popular cardio equipment:

• Treadmill
• Stationary bike
• Rowing machine
• Stair climber
• Jump rope

You can achieve cardiovascular fitness with a combination of strength training, flow yoga, high-intensity interval training, bodyweight workouts, and exercise equipment. For maximum impact, choose a variety of things you enjoy.

Premium Flooring

Give your workouts a solid foundation with a surface that provides dense cushioning and outstanding support and stability.

Popular choices include low-pile carpets or interlocking rubber tiles that cover the whole space. Make sure it seals out moisture and bacteria and is easy to clean. The size of your mat depends on the amount of space that you have in your room and budget, but when in doubt, wall-to-wall coverage is your best bet. A yoga mat can also provide targeted coverage to specific areas. Choose a durable mat built for a lifetime of use.

Recovery & Performance Tools

Keep your body healthy, competitive, and injury-free with therapeutic tools and practices.

• Mobility training is an important part of any fitness program. Yoga is a potent practice that combines strength and flexibility, and yoga straps are a helpful tool to increase your range of motion and decrease strain on the low back while stretching.
• Massage guns make regular massages easy to access; they’re popular with sports medicine professionals who use them to decrease pain and increase mobility.
• Ice baths are effective for reducing back pain and inflammation, and they’re a potent way to access good stress and increase resilience.

Banish “no pain, no gain” from your mind, and embrace practices that help your body feel good. With regular rest and recovery, you’re better able to avoid injury and perform at your best.

How Much Does a Home Gym Cost?

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to this question.

You could get started for less than $500 with adjustable-weight dumbbells, a mat, and a jump rope. Or, you could spend thousands remodeling a space, incorporating the best equipment, and adding bells and whistles like a TV and mirrors.

Decide what you most want, need, and can afford initially, and then evolve your space gradually as your fitness journey unfolds.

Customize Your Space to Optimize Your Process

To create a space that will serve you well over time, get clear on your goals, and design a gym that’s welcoming and fun.

Whether your activity of choice is CrossFit, long-distance running, or thriving as a weekend warrior, you can improve your performance and streamline your workouts with a home gym that caters to your needs.

Include strength training, cardio, and flexibility equipment, and remember to make recovery a priority.

With an abundance of benefits and the thrill of an icy plunge, Ice Barrel could be the crown jewel of your home gym.