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Writer's pictureRachel Otley

Home Gym Addition

Allow me to walk you through one of my favorite transformations - my very own home gym!

(Disclosure: Some of the links below are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you click through the link and finalize a purchase.)

Dylan and I are generally pretty good about working out. Prior to the pandemic I was going to the gym about 3-5 days a week for classes or running on the track. Once the pandemic hit we found other workouts and would do those in the living room or family room. It worked but was not ideal. We wanted more equipment and did not have space for it in the house.


Fortunately we realized Dylan rarely parked his car in the garage. All winter he would be skiing and so the cargo box would be on top of his car. During the summer we would use his space for projects, etc. So what ultimately was "my side" of the garage...

Became a fantastic home gym!


Dylan and I absolutely love it!


Here is more or less how we put it all together:


We tore down the shelving and relocated all the garage belongings to the other side of the garage (I am mostly done organizing! Have a couple bins that I still need before I want to share).

To prepare the area we replaced the garage door (necessary for multiple reasons!) and insulated the part of the ceiling that is not drywall.


We opted for stall mats for the floors. They are non-skid and help insulate and protect the concrete and don't break down like other foam mats. I highly recommend them! (We picked ours up from Tractor Supply)


Our first addition was the NordicTrack Grand Tour Bike, that I like but don't love. This is the bike they use in classes on iFit that I would love to upgrade to.


The second reason we wanted to build out the gym is that Dylan needed a way to do pull ups. So the second purchase was the power tower. I use it occasionally for ab work, but Dylan (and the boys) do the pull up bar and love the dip station too!

My main exercises I love for resistance training are TRX and Barre. My parents got me this whole TRX set up for my birthday. TRX is a brand of suspension trainers (it is two handled straps that mount to the wall or ceiling), I used to go to a class and it always kicked my butt! We have all enjoyed the suspension hanger since I also got some things for the boys!


My sister found the barre set up on NextDoor, which was a great find! It is super sturdy (i.e. heavy!) but moves easily to where you want to set it up. (Here is the barre) I don't pull out the mat from the barre, since I use this large yoga mat instead.

The basket is from Target and you can see the adorable koala bear and panda yoga mats from Target poking out that are currently in their $1/$3/$5 section.


We finally got the two mirrors installed so I can see how buff I get! Haha. They are both old builder bathroom mirrors and Dylan finagled how to mount them without drilling into concrete.


That meant I could finally hang up the exercise posters. Now there are no excuses since we have a lot of options and ideas!


We repurposed one of the 4x1 Kallax shelves from IKEA that was in Marshall's nursery. The drawers hold the resistance bands and the open shelves hold the foam roller and yoga blocks, along with a basket for towels when things get intense!

I am so excited that we have this awesome new place in our house! I definitely have a couple next steps in mind (rowing machine, lifting bench and maybe an inspirational phrase) but for now just try to get out to the gym as often as possible.


Have you considered building out a home gym?

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