Setting up home fitness equipment
Most unused home gym equipment was bought for the training someone intended to do rather than the training they actually do. Start from the second one.
Measure the ceiling as well as the floor
Treadmills raise you 15 to 20cm off the ground before you start running, and overhead pressing adds your reach again. In a garage or loft room, headroom rules out more equipment than floor space does. Check the folded footprint too, not just the in-use one.
Cardio: pick for your joints and your neighbours
- Treadmills — the most transferable to real life, the loudest, and the hardest on knees. Deck cushioning is worth paying for.
- Exercise bikes — low impact, quiet, small footprint. The easiest to keep using in a flat.
- Rowers — full-body and low impact, but they are long. Check whether it stores upright.
Strength: free weights or a multi gym
A bench with adjustable dumbbells covers most strength training in the least space and grows with you. A multi gym is safer to use alone without a spotter and easier to start with, at the cost of a much bigger permanent footprint. Adjustable dumbbells replace an entire rack and are the single best-value purchase for a small space.
Protect the floor
Rubber matting under any heavy equipment protects the surface, cuts noise transmission to rooms below, and stops machines walking across the floor as you use them. On a suspended timber floor upstairs, take the total loaded weight seriously.
