Hard to beat a home gym for workout motivation

With so many New Year's resolutions revolving around weight loss, now might be a good time to ponder the convenience and motivation of a home gym.

“The first two months at the beginning of the year is a big push for people to set up a home gym,” said Tony Cameron, the Atlanta-based national director of sales for the FITCO company (www.fitcofitness.com).

FITCO provides equipment for home gyms as well as fitness facilities for an array of Atlanta clients, including the Buckhead Club, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Terminus and the Atlanta Athletic Club.

In the long run, home gyms can save money on pricey gym memberships, which often come with the social pressure of looking good while you work out. Home gyms also offer the convenience of exercising any time of day to suit one’s schedule, either very early before work, or late at night.

“Through a few pieces of good equipment, they can do a real good workout at home,” said Cameron, who has a gym in his own Buckhead home. His home gym includes an elliptical, an exercise bike, a bench with dumbbells and a cable column.

For as little as $1,100, it’s possible to outfit your home with a serviceable home gym to help achieve some of your fitness goals, said Cameron, who has set up home gyms across metro Atlanta for as much as $30,000.

“We actually have a CAD system so we can go in and take measurements of a room and then we can put that in a CAD and show them how the room would look for them,” he said.

Many homeowners locate a home gym in a spare bedroom. When space is at a premium, some integrate a treadmill or exercise bike into a corner of their master bedroom. But the majority of home gyms are still located in the basement, that vast uncolonized space in so many homes that lends itself to in-law suites, bars and rec rooms.

“I’m seeing people give up theaters for home gyms now,” said interior designer Cindy Porche of Luxury Lifestyles Design, as couch potatoes reinvent their digs as calorie-burning destinations.

Porche is converting her own Johns Creek home theater to a gym complete with diamond plate chair rail; a built-in cabinet for towels, DVD player and small weights; surround sound and a TV mounted on the gym mirror.

Before the equipment arrives, there are certain essentials any home gym requires: adequate light, room to move, and most crucially, a padded floor to reduce impact strain. Mirrors, a television and a sound system also can be great motivators.

Some rules of thumb:

• Invest in good flooring, said Chris Anderson, owner of Atlanta Home Completion in Marietta, who sees a real difference in the cheaper snap-together exercise floors and the high-end floors found in commercial gyms. "There's hardly any middle of the road. It's either you've gotta go cheap or you've got to go expensive," Anderson said. "The cheap stuff has the look of a home gym, but it doesn't have the quality or the longevity or the functionality."

• A bar added to a floor-to-ceiling mirror can be a great feature if the gym will be used for ballet or stretching exercises. Full-size punching bags for kickboxing are also big in home gyms, but ceiling reinforcement is a necessity, Porche said.

• Make the space beautiful. As most of us know, exercise is as much psychological as it is physical. Framed art, an oversize logo of a favorite sports team or some other decorative feature will make the space welcoming and motivating. In addition to wall color, using a pop of color in flooring also really can enhance the decor, said Porche, who often customizes gym flooring with colored flecks or a colorful border.

• Good light is essential. "Otherwise, it's not an uplifting experience. It feels like you're going down into this hole," said Cameron. Chic chandeliers, modern fixtures and flashier neon lighting in ceilings are the next big trend, said Porche.

• Soundproofing is key. Regular builder-grade insulation is not going to cut it. The sound of weights dropping and of music blasting means extra insulation on the walls and ceiling is essential, said Porche.

• For a basic gym, think cardio, strength and core. "Every home should have at least a piece of cardio, whether it's a bike or a treadmill or an elliptical," said Cameron. Add a set of dumbbells with a flat incline bench for strength and some medicine and fitness balls for core and stability.

• Consider who will be using the gym and the mood you want to create. Women often like to have windows in their exercise space for a view, but Porche said most of her male clients prefer not to have a window. Men also seem to prefer televisions (often placed within the gym mirrors) and surround sound. If the gym will be used mostly for yoga and Pilates, try soothing blues and soft greens on the walls, said Porche, for a more spalike effect. If high-intensity workouts with weightlifting and machines are the focus, a punchier color such as red or gold might make more sense.

• Extras such as saunas and mini coffee stations with refrigerator, sink and microwave all housed within built-in cabinetry are becoming more popular in gyms, Porche said.

• A diamond plate chair rail is great for protecting the walls from weight and exercise machine bumps and scratches. "Accidents happen. It's nice to have a barrier along your wall," said Porche.

When they built their home in Acworth’s Governors Towne Club, Angela Camp, real estate broker-owner of EquiVest Properties, and her husband, David Camp, owner of the marketing and technology consulting firm Reflect Resources, included a gym on the terrace level of their home.

“Quite honestly, we did it for the convenience,” Angela said.

“Gyms, you have to get ready to go to. We like being able to go down there in our PJs if we want to,” she said with a laugh. “You don’t have to worry about what you look like.”

The Camps' current home gym was not their first, but it was the first time they consulted with an interior designer, turning to Porche.

Porche installed a full-length mirror on one wall, a wall-mounted television and special rubber flooring that Angela said has made all of the difference. “It’s got a real good cushion to it, and that makes it really comfortable, especially when you’re doing your weights and things like that. You’re not standing on a hard surface.”

The Camps' gym has a treadmill, bike, free weights, tanning bed and kickboxing bag. Angela said she hopes to add an elliptical machine at some point. If she had to do it again, said Angela, she would probably add 6 more square feet to the approximately 12-by-16 room to allow more space for her to do workout videos.