Keep New Year’s Resolutions on Track with a Home Gym

According to Twitter, working out on a more regular basis is at the top of the list for most people who make New Year’s resolutions, but how many people actually stick to their fitness goals? For me, working out is a big priority, but going to the gym is not always an option. I’m a busy mom, a business owner, and I travel quite a bit with my job, so having a home gym has been my savior in that it really has helped me to stick to my workouts. We’re not talking about a fully stocked equipment room here, just a space to call my own for working out.

Here are my top tips to inspire you in the design your own home gym:

• Pick a space that you can designate as your very own. It can be a corner of the living room, the basement, or a bedroom that you keep clean, uncluttered and always ready for your workouts.
• Test drive the space before investing too much money in it. Once you’ve confirmed it’s the right spot, personalize it to convert it into your fitness room.
• Color plays a huge role in our moods, so if painting is an option, find a color that energizes you and incorporate it into your space. Paint a feature wall or incorporate bright colors in equipment like an exercise ball, dumbbells, yoga mat, cushions, and towels.
• Wallpaper is also a great option — cover up an entire wall with cartoons to inject fun, pizzazz, and energy like in the example shown below.
• Use a neutral color palette (ivory, cream, and tan colors) to induce calm in a room that you’re planning to use for yoga and/or meditation.
• If you have a large mirror, move it to your gym. Use it to check out your technique when doing squats, lunges, or other exercises and it’ll help you with your core strength since you’ll want to suck in your stomach every time you take a glimpse at yourself. The mirror will make your space look larger and brighter too.
• Frame motivational quotes, or buy wall decals that will get you moving such as “Just do it!”  “Working out is a reward not a punishment!” or  “Stronger than yesterday!”
• If you’re considering buying fitness equipment, measure twice to make sure it’ll fit through the front door or up and down the staircase to your exercise room.

Read more about home-gyms here and check out great images on our Pinterest board to inspire you to put together the perfect workout space that will meet your needs.

Don’t wait, just do it!

P.S.  I love keeping track of my workouts with smiley faces. It keeps me motivated and inspires me to do better each week. Try it: it really works. I used a plain white board I bought at Staples, you could also use a chalkboard.

Liette Tousignant
Co-Founder of Under The Roof Decorating