Why go to the gym when you don’t have to?

Home gyms are on the rise, says Philip McLaughlin of Sandymount-based McSport who has installed gyms in tech companies including Apple and LinkedIn. His home gyms business has doubled in the last five years with his clients choosing to invest in equipment for use at home rather than a gym membership. “A lot would run or walk during the summer months but during the darker months of winter they are less motivated to go outdoors. A home gym helps maintain a fitness regime. ”

James Murphy of Zest Fitness believes the home is a sanctuary and that working out in a sitting room and then expecting to be able to sit down in the same space and watch a movie is simply unrealistic. A one-on-one session with a personal trainer would deliver better results, he says.

Leigh Osborne who runs Chiswick Auctions in London agrees. He is the proud owner of a water tower that he converted into a five-bedroom home, a project that featured in the 100th episode of Channel 4's Grand Designs. The 10-storey property has just one room on each floor. Osbourne installed a gym on the first floor keeping the steel beam exposed and painting it an industrial red.

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Home gyms to buy in Ireland: Woodlawn, Sunday’s Well, Cork City, Co Cork

He matched the ceiling detail with a rubber mat floor in a russet colour and invested in big scale machinery, a cross trainer and a bike. So did the stylish set-up motivate him to get fit? “For the first year I didn’t cross the threshold of the gym,” he confesses. “I had gone out and bought what I thought I needed but it was only when I hired a personal trainer that I realised the kind of exercise I enjoyed doing and saw what it was that motivated me. I had to rethink the room completely.”

Simple gym set-up

He changed the set-up, replacing the cross trainer with Olympic weights which are now suspended from the support beam and bought a load of free weights.

Murphy says that a simple gym set-up can cost as little as €300. “All you need is some dumb bells, kettle bells and some form of suspension training that leverages gravity and the user’s body weight to complete hundreds of exercises.”

If you want to turn a room into a gym at home he suggests installing it at ground floor or basement level to minimise the transfer of noise through the house when you run, jump and or drop weights. Most modern equipment is designed with the home in mind. Some treadmills can fold up after use – perfect for smaller homes and all freestanding machines have pads on their feet so they don’t scratch floors. A window, even a small one, is essential for natural ventilation, McLoughlin adds.

A home gym is ideal for the time poor, says Chris Rowe, a former Welsh rugby professional who played for Wales under-21 teams, Llanelli and Wasps, and now sells home gym equipment for Kingscourt-based T&T Fitness. “For the couple with young kids who don’t have the luxury of being able to afford a gym membership it means one can mind the kids while the other works out for 30 or 40 minutes and then they can swap roles.”

There are several different visual approaches you can take, says Cormac Rowell of Donnybrook-based Rowell Design, who has installed gyms for several private clients. “Good lighting is essential and mirrors help refract light into the designated space. A chic floor and a textured wallpaper that is wipeable also help to integrate the look of the room into the rest of the house.”

London-based architects Hill Mitchell Berry, use materials that don’t jar with the architecture of the rest of the home. The gym has a swish herringbone floor, a wall of glass to open up the space and a focus on slick kit that looks almost sculptural when not in use.

Does a home gym add value to your property? David Ashmore head of Country Homes, Farms & Estates at SherryFitzGerald is unconvinced.

“For the time poor there’s a lot of merit in being able to work out at home. Having a room equipped with equipment that can be moved should you want to sell is a bonus. As an idea it is a good selling point but it does not add value.”

“What it adds is sex appeal,” says Osborne whose water tower is for sale asking £6 million through agents Hamptons International. “It is one of the toys you would expect in a house with a price tag like mine.”

Home gyms: What to consider

Spend money finding out from a personal trainer what type of fitness regime works for you before you invest money on gym equipment.

Find a space where you can set up your home gym. Consider converting a spare bedroom, garden shed or garage.

Try and put the gym at ground or basement level so that the noise you make from running, jumping and dropping weights won’t bounce all over the house.

Consider installing mirrors and flattering lighting that makes you look good and refracts light into the room.

Don’t purchase equipment before you’ve tried it out.

Don’t work out in the sitting room or kitchen.

Mcsport.ie; ttfitness.ie; rowelldesign.ie; zestfitness.ie