15 Fabulous Home Gym Ideas From Our Favorite AD-Featured Homes
Whether you’re an endorphin junkie who doesn’t go a day without a solid workout or you’re trying to get into the habit of exercising, coming up with home gym ideas can seem daunting. Though it is getting better—and there are a number of designer-approved home gym equipment recommendations available nowadays—workout machines are at best impersonal, at worst straight up ugly. So how might you create a welcoming space that you’ll feel energized by? Like with any other room, it’s all about being realistic about your needs and finding inspiration so that you can create a room that’s just as visually appealing as it is functional.
What should I put in my home gym?
What to include in your home gym entirely depends on your space and your preferred workout! If you’re into yoga, curate a space geared toward total relaxation—along with a yoga mat, blocks, and a bolster, add house plants, candles or incense, and remember to keep your walls bare so the space doesn’t feel overstimulating. If you’re more the stationary bike or treadmill type, add some high-energy art, a station to towel off, a chic water bottle, and a well-designed speaker system that will allow for motivational music and add to the appearance of the space.
What do I need for a small home gym?
Depending on how small your space is, it might be best to keep the design concept simple. Either focus on adding one piece of equipment that you see yourself using most, or keep things open so that you have enough space to stretch, use weights, and accommodate whatever guided workout videos you hope to tackle any given day. For the former, you need a treadmill or stationary bike, and for the latter, you need a yoga mat, a selection of small weights (like Bala Bands), and a space to put a laptop or tablet if you hope to watch guided workout videos.
Is it cheaper to build a gym at home?
Building a gym at home can certainly be cheaper! It entirely depends on your fitness goals and how much home gym equipment you need to accomplish your preferred workout. If you tend to use a variety of weight machines at the gym, it’ll likely be more expensive to recreate that at home than to pay for a gym membership, but in many people’s cases, if you’re hoping to simply do yoga, or use a stationary bike or a treadmill, you’ll likely save in the long run by building a home gym. Plus, you’ll likely end up exercising more often since you needn’t worry about commuting to the gym.
How can I make my home gym look good?
Making a home gym look good is similar to making just about any part of your house look good. If you like to accessorize with houseplants in your living areas, add houseplants. If you prefer to keep things super minimal in your home, then don’t pressure yourself to add much beyond the basics to your home gym. By the same token—if you’re a master maximalist, go ahead and add tchotchkes aplenty to your home gym; that’s the beauty of having a workout space that’s all your own.
Read on for workout room ideas direct from AD home tours.
Photo: Douglas Friedman1/15Use outdoor space
If you live in a warm climate and happen to have extra outdoor space to spare, put it to use to create a home gym! At this St. Barts retreat, Vanessa Alexander of Alexander Design opted to do exactly that. A Peloton, a punching bag, and an assortment of dumbbells sit on a wood deck, offering exercisers unfettered access to the beauty of the home’s location. What’s better than a bounty of fresh air when getting your daily cardio in? Note that Alexander kept most of the exercise equipment to a natural color palette to best suit the area.
Photo: Marni Mervis2/15Add a sports court
One of the simplest home gym ideas, if you have the space to create it, is the addition of a sports court. A half court indoors is certainly a luxury, but one that can make exercise all the more alluring—just take a look at the Tiffany Thompson–designed half court in D’Angelo Russell’s Minnesota home which is accessorized with a neon sign and framed jerseys. Depending on where you live, exterior space is often easier to come by and could allow for the creation of a full court, or even a tennis or pickleball court.
Photo: Colin Way3/15Add mirrors to a small space
Whether or not your exercise room is particularly small—but especially if that is the case—adding mirrored walls is often helpful for observing your form as you work out and helps to make the room feel more open. Hockey all-star Connor McDavid’s simple home gym, which was designed along with the rest of the house by his girlfriend Lauren Kyle, of Kyle and Co Design Studio, proves exactly that. Mirrored walls are often a wonderful addition to a basement gym too as they help to brighten up the space.
Photo: Norman McGrath4/15Add shelving
While it might seem simple, adding shelving to a home gym setup often comes as an afterthought. In fact, it should be at the center, as a proper workout space winds up with plenty of odds and ends hanging about. Sweat towels, water bottles, cellphones, resistance bands, and jump ropes are among the many implements that deserve a distinct storage spot in your home gym. In Steven Spielberg’s Gwathmey Siegel–designed Hamptons home gym, built-in shelving was created to accommodate speakers and the like.
Photo: Alanna Hale5/15Repurpose a living space
What could have easily been an additional living room in this Berkeley Arts and Crafts home now functions as a home gym. Oftentimes it can be discouraging if a room in your space doesn’t feel like your mental image of a workout space, but often this is actually a strong suit. Rather than trying to make their space look more gym-like, homeowners and architects Vishaan Chakrabarti and Maria Alataris simply added a weight bench, a stationary bike, and some plants, allowing the room to flow seamlessly with the rest of the home. Lesson learned: In interior design, work with your space, not against it!
Photo: Melanie Acevedo6/15Level up with some entertainment
This Suzanne Kasler–designed space fills us with design ideas, but the most easily recreated is its inclusion of TVs. One of the best parts of working out in your own home gym is no longer being plagued by the pesky satellite TV shows that most gyms display on monitors throughout those communal spaces. Here, workout equipment is positioned around the TVs, making it easier to watch a motivating workout video or catch up on your latest Netflix binge—we’re not judging! Plus, the offer of not one but two TV screens means multiple household members could feasibly share the space without fighting over the remote.
Photo: Simon Brown7/15Put your motivation on display
While there may be plenty that’s outdated from our 1993 home tour of Elton John’s Adrian Cooper-Grigg and Andrew Protheroe–designed England retreat, there’s one element in the home gym that has proven timeless: displaying what’s most motivating in your space. In John’s case, this means a bevy of framed gold records. The rest of us may not have a stack of those lying in our personal collections, but prints with inspirational quotes, photos of friends, family, pets, or even role models should do the trick.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn8/15Stay on theme
If the rest of your house is geared towards certain decor ideas or styles, do not feel the need to switch it up for your home gym! For a Colorado ski lodge’s home gym, Atelier AM created a sleek wood-paneled space that perfectly matches the space without sacrificing functionality at all. If the rest of your space is midcentury modern-inspired, bring in a wood sideboard for storage in your gym space. If you have plenty of wall art throughout your home, make sure to include some in this space too.
Photo: Roger Davies9/15Center on natural light sources
There’s nothing more energizing than abundant natural light, so it can be key to creating an energetic space no matter what your workout routine looks like. Director Michael Bay’s gym is perhaps as dedicated to natural light as a space can get: An entire wall is comprised of floor to ceiling glass sliders. While we can’t all expect to have such a space, even if you have a small window, it can be very effective to simply center your equipment to face toward the light source, as Bay’s Lorraine Letendre–designed space does, rather than away from it.
Photo: Björn Wallander10/15Add rubber flooring
If the spare room you’re redesigning has hardwood flooring, covering it with rubber flooring can help provide traction, reduce the likelihood of damage to the flooring from weights or equipment, and it can be easier to clean than hardwood. An added bonus: If you happen to have old wood flooring that’s somewhat slanted, the rubber flooring will keep your equipment from wobbling on that flooring. For George Clooney’s workout room, a limited amount of space is covered by the rubber flooring in order to still show off that gorgeous, gleaming hardwood flooring.
Photo: Roger Davies11/15Break up the space
If you plan on having a variety of equipment, create defined workout areas for each distinct activity. In Giselle Bundchen and Tom Brady’s Joan Behnke–designed home, toured by AD in 2017, weight racks are employed to divide the space. Exercise bikes have a distinct area, while there’s a separate space for weight lifting, and even a runway for the ceiling-mounted monkey bars.
Photo: Durston Saylor12/15Don’t forget seating
Another element that can often end up as an afterthought in home gym design is seating. Though Madonna’s Christopher Ciccone–designed home gym seen in a 1991 tour is quite retro looking in the 2020s, we appreciate the rounded bench—and know that a place to catch one’s breath is always appreciated during particularly vigorous workout sessions.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig13/15Keep small spaces simple
If you only have a little room to work with, don’t attempt to stuff too much equipment in. No one likes to be cramped while trying to stretch! Assess your most essential equipment and cater the space towards it, accessorizing with hung artwork to avoid eating into the space’s footprint. In this Frederic Schwartz–designed New York apartment, workout equipment is kept to a minimum while still being effective.
Photo: Nikolas Koenig14/15Offer open space
If you tend to favor yoga or other mat exercises, presenting a blank yoga studio-like space is often best, even if it doesn’t feel quite as exciting as sourcing a myriad of equipment. In designer Laura Santos’s own Manhattan townhouse, she added a calming wood-floored space next to an indoor pool.
Photo: Pieter Estersohn15/15Focus on the ceiling and the floor
If you dread the idea of a minimalist gym space but don’t want to sacrifice valuable square footage to decorations, add drama via the floor and the ceiling. This Richard Keith Langham–designed home gym in Mississippi displays how effective that can be—extra points for the tented ceiling!
