Are you committed to losing weight and transforming your life by working out? If you have a garage, you can quickly achieve this goal, by using some of these half garage gym ideas.
With some remodeling, you could convert your garage into a place that serves as a car garage and a half-gym garage where you can implement your preferred form of workout, including CrossFit training.
What is a Half Garage Gym?
A half-garage gym is half of your garage space converted into a place for working out.
If you’re considering starting your home gym, you have many options that can fit any home.
A half-garage gym is just one of the many home gym ideas to help you lose weight and transform your life.
However, a half-garage gym gives you the additional benefits of having a dedicated place to work out and still having a place to park your car.
Don’t think you’ll be sacrificing your parking space: You can have a decent half-garage gym without sacrificing the parking space you get from creating a half-garage gym.
Having a half-garage gym adds additional value to your life in several ways:
- Provides you with a place for your exercise equipment: Having all your exercise equipment on one side of your garage means your not taking space from family members for your equipment.
- Give you a dedicated place to work out: Knowing you can go to your garage any time you want can be an excellent motivator for realizing your fitness goals.
- Cost-effective: Creating a half-garage gym is more cost-effective than decking your garage into a gym. A half-garage gym will make less of a dent in your budget than a fully-decked-out home garage.
- Workout at your own pace: Your half-garage gym adds value to your life by allowing you to work out at your own pace without being rushed or judged by others.
If you’re a health-conscious person, creating a home gym in your garage is one of the many home gym ideas to help you transform your life.
You might be using your garage to store things you might never use again. Or you might only be using it for parking your car.
Why not make the most of your garage?
37 Half-Garage gym Ideas to Inspire You
I’ve put together 37 half-garage gym ideas as inspiration you can use to bring your garage home gym ideas to life.
Creating your half-garage gym so you can realize your fitness goals will now seem achievable.
Write Down Your Goals and Results
Before starting your workout regimen, you should set your goals. Write it down in a journal or keep it on your phone.
Look it over regularly to remind yourself why you are on this journey and what you hope to achieve.
You’ll also want to measure your results. There’re many ways you can do it. For example, you can weigh yourself once weekly – say every Sunday. And write down your weight.
And you can measure your weight regularly with a tape measurement. Most likely, you already have one.
What’s Your Budget
It’s essential to establish your budget for your half-garage gym project upfront. You don’t want to be the fanatic who spends the rent or mortgage money on equipment because you didn’t do proper financial planning.
You can build a decent half-garage gym on your budget: $1000, $3000, or $6000. It all depends on how much you’re comfortable spending and on the price of the equipment.
Also, keep in mind that where you buy the equipment will play a role in the price: some brands are more pricy. Also, ask yourself if you would buy used but good quality equipment to save some money.
You can create a decent half-garage gym to fit your budget.
Clear out the Garage
Start by removing the things you don’t need. Some of these things are just junk you can throw away.
You might even be able to sell some of them – depending on their condition. Or donate them to family and friends.
To build your dream half-gym garage, you must get rid of the things you store in the garage.
Adequate space
Make a mental picture of what the gym area will look like. Which site will be for your car? Where will you keep important non-gym-related things like lawnmowers and outdoor gear?
How you lay out your gym will depend on how much square footage you have. However, to bring your half-garage gym idea to life, you’ll need to dedicate at least 10 ft x 10 ft of space for your gym.
This ensures you and your working out partner aren’t bumping into each other. And you’ll have enough space to maneuver and fit essential equipment.
Prepare the Floor.
Most likely, your garage floor is made of concrete. You wouldn’t want to damage it with dropped dumbbells, heavy equipment, or other weights.
So you take precautions by protecting the floor with a mat covering. A good mat should offer shock and sound absorption. The 4 ft x 6 ft horse stall mats are good, sturdy options.
This mat can withstand heavy loads and high-impact activities, as demonstrated here.
Proper Ventilation
Creating your dream half-garage gym will require you to install some ventilation system. You will need a fan or two, maybe even an A.C., when it gets hot in the summertime.
And in the wintertime, when it gets cold, you’ll need a way to keep your gym warm. A portable garage heater might just be your best option.
You can leave it tucked away in a corner during summertime. Just make sure you cover it so it doesn’t accumulate just.
When winter rolls around, you’ll have it to keep warm while working out.
Of course, you can always get a professional to install a ventilation system. But that can be pricy.
Workout equipment
Every gym needs workout equipment. And the types of equipment you buy will depend on your fitness goals, budget, the space you’re working with, and the exercise you’ll be doing.
So, if you’re ready to transform your life by losing weight, strengthening your body, and increasing your stamina, here are some recommended pieces of equipment you can choose.
Recommended Equipment for serious garage gym owners like you:
Squat Rack/Power Rack
These aren’t the same, but they both allow similar exercises. Check out the differences between these racks, then choose one based on your preference, space, and needs. You’ll also need to consider the cost as well.
The power rack costs more, but you can configure and personalize it much more than the squat rack.
A squat rack will meet your needs just fine if you’re just starting on your lifestyle change journey. There’s no need to spend more than is necessary. `
Bumper Plates
You can get bumper plates from sporting goods stores. You can also buy them from Facebook Market Place or a garage sale.
Try to get the best quality at a reasonable price; you’re making a long-term investment, so you’ll want the ones that will serve you the longest.
Also, get them in 5lbs increments – for example, 30lbs, 35lbs, and so forth.
Pull-Up Bar
You’ll want a pull-up bar if your rack doesn’t have one. You can stretch, swing, do kipping pull-ups, and of course, do pull-ups. You can attach a pull-up bar to the wall or ceiling. Make sure – for safety reasons, you use studs when mounting it.
Bench
Get an excellent bench to build muscles in your chest and arms. You’ll be able to use the bench to do various exercises, including bench presses and reps to build arm muscles.
Medicine Ball
The medicine ball allows you to do various exercises to work out your upper and lower body. You get to mix up your weight-lifting with cardio in a fun and less strenuous way.
You can do wall ball shots, weighted sit-ups, push-ups, squats, and twists with a medicine ball.
Ply Box
Incorporate a ply box in your half-garage gym exercise routine, and you’ll improve your body. Use it for exercises like box jumps, step-ups, step down, push up, and more to build strength.
If you have the tools and want to save money, think about building your own ply box. You buy a piece of plywood at a store like The Home Depot and let them cut it into four pieces according to your desired ply box size.
With your plywood and tools, you can make your own ply box.
Dumbbells
If strength training is a priority, then you’ll want to get some decent dumbbells. Working out with dumbbells challenges your muscles, causing your blood to pump stronger.
Working out with dumbbells can lower your risk of heart attack and other major diseases. It even helps you sleep better.
Exercise Bike
Exercise bikes mimic the movements of real bikes, offering you a convenient way of losing weight and transforming your life. They are easy to use and comfortable, and you get results.
Because exercising on a bike works your heart, it improves your cardiovascular health. You’ll have better blood circulation, so your chance of having a heart attack decreases.
In addition to the other health benefits, exercise bike makes your heart and lung stronger; it causes oxygen and blood to flow to your brain, which is a big advantage of working out on a bike.
Rower Machine
Like the exercise bike, a rower is an excellent option for cardiovascular exercise.
The advantage of the rowing machine is that this uses resistance training which activates all your muscles; It gives you a full-body workout – because you’re not just sitting and peddling.
Because you’re pulling back and forth, you build up your strength and improve your stamina. Additionally, you’re burning calories and losing weight.
As you pull back and forth, the rower targets your stomach muscles, strengthening your core.
Kettlebells
Kettlebells come in different weight options. They usually start at 9 pounds and go up to 106 pounds. Here’s why you should try kettlebells:
Kettlebells may seem small and unimpressive, but they work your arms, shoulders, abdominals, and leg muscles.
An added benefit of using kettlebells is that you also improve your posture.
However, you must be careful not to drop it on your foot. And if you don’t position your body correctly when picking up the kettlebells or when swinging them, you could hurt your back.
It’s a good idea to look at some videos on how to use your kettlebells properly.
Glute and Hamstring Developer
The GHD machine can work out your hamstring and grow your glutes. It targets your hamstrings, your spine, and your calves.
Here are a few of the exercises you can do with the GHD:
Hip extension – developing and strengthening your glutes and hamstring strength.
Back Extention – strengthen the muscles in your back, the muscles that line your spine.
GHD Sit-Ups – Strengthen your core, back, and hip flexors.
The GHD is such an effective piece of equipment that using it twice a week will help improve your weight-lifting performance and even help you run faster.
Storage system
An essential aspect of a garage gym is your storage system for organizing your home gym. The design you choose will depend on the space and the aesthetics you want to create.
But whatever system you come up with should promote neatness and a safe environment for you and your partner.
Here are a few options:
Big Bin – store your loose weights in a big bin. Always put the equipment you often use on top to access them easily.
The Wall & Ceiling – Your wall is a good option for storing equipment. You can fix a metal pegboard to the wall as storage for specific equipment.
However, by using wall studs, you can hang a lot of equipment directly to the walls and ceiling.
Dumbbell Weight Rack – A dumbbell weight rack lets you keep all your dumbbells in one place instead of having them scattered.
Rather than getting a rack that can hold only dumbbells or bumper plates, consider getting a two-tiered or three-tiered rack to keep your multiple pieces of equipment on it.
This video by Shredded Dad gives you plenty of ideas for organizing your garage gym. The benefits of some of these ideas are that you don’t have to buy expensive gym equipment to store your own.
You can use a tire iron on the wall to hang weight plates, sleds, and dip bars.
Brighten Up your Garage
Garages aren’t usually well-lit places. You need to brighten up the space to make it welcoming for you and your partner.
There are many ways of brightening up your garage:
You could install a window and take advantage of the natural sunlight. But this will only be effective when it’s bright outside in the summertime.
The more obvious thing to do is to install better and brighter lighting. Consider putting a deformable LED ceiling light.
These lights fit in your regular light sockets. What makes these lights so special is that they come with panels you can adjust independently to focus on a specific area and, at the same time, flood other areas with light.
These lights will make a dark garage look like a bright sunny day.
Make it Kids Friendly
One benefit of having a half-garage gym is that your kids can have a place to work out. Why not make your half-garage gym kid-friendly?
Professional gyms do not allow kids under a certain age to join or go with their parents as guests.
Having your own half-garage gym means instilling a loving family environment while maintaining a good exercise regimen.
Think about installing a few pieces of equipment your kids can use. Depending on the kid’s age, these could be simple things such as swings, tumbling mats, bounce horses, minibars for kids, and other appropriate equipment for children.
It’s much easier to help your kids develop a love of exercising from a young age instead of waiting until they are older and have other interests. This will go a long way in your kids living a healthy lifestyle as adults.
Exercises You Can do to Build Strength and Endurance With or Without Equipment:
You can do many exercises to build up your strength and endurance. Some exercises require some form of machine, but there are some exercises you can do without machines.
Deadlift Exercise
A deadlift is a classic form of exercise that works your entire body. So, make deadlifting part of your workout routine if you want to pack muscle all over your body.
Doing deadlift exercises lets you train your core, your back, and your forearm.
A deadlift is a serious exercise for strengthening your hamstrings and glutes.
Wall Clock
Having a wall clock might seem trivial. However, a giant clock, or a gym timer, can serve as a motivator. You get to track your time, ensuring you’re not stopping before the length of time you planned to work out.
It also helps you to exercise less or less. You wouldn’t want to over-exercise to the point where your muscles are too sore.
So decide how long and how often you’ll work out.
TV
Some people like to watch TV while they’re working out. Some people find watching TV while working out distracting. Then some find watching TV to be a complete waste of time.
If you’re a person who likes to watch TV while on the treadmill, exercise bike, or while using other machines, then go ahead and set one up.
You can always turn it off if it distracts you.
Hire a Personal Trainer
Some people only dream of having their own half-gym garage to avoid spending money on a gym membership.
Some people just want to have their own private space to work out. And some will want to hire a personal trainer to help them work out safely and hold them accountable.
If you feel that the benefits a personal trainer offers would help you, and you have the means of hiring one, then this is worthy of consideration.
Add Decorative Items
Adding decorative items makes your garage gym more inviting and welcoming – a place you’ll look forward to going to.
Try adding photos of your spouse and kids. They, too, will love it.
Do you have artwork you could hang on the walls? What about drawings your kids made?
Or other display pieces?
These will help personalize your half-garage gym to your taste.
Keep Your Equipment Clean
Have you ever been at a gym and seen an attendant walk around with a cloth and a spray bottle, spraying and wiping the equipment?
There are two reasons for this:
- To keep the machines clean of dirt and dust.
- To wipe away patrons’ sweat so other patrons don’t pick up other people’s germs.
And that’s why you should clean your equipment regularly. You wouldn’t want dirt and dust to accumulate on your equipment.
Let Fresh Air Circulate
You want to spend time on something other than working out in a stuffy and moldy garage gym.
To prevent dampness and mold build-up, you must keep the place ventilated.
A simple thing as opening a window – if your garage has one – can let in air to keep your half-gym garage cool and fresh.
You can also install an air dehumidifier to remove moisture from the air and curb dust mites.
Keep It Simple
You can keep things simple by creating a minimalist half-garage gym. You don’t need to buy every piece of equipment that looks good to you or someone else.
Keep it simple.
You don’t create a tight space where you’re bumping into equipment; you want to maneuver properly to make the most out of your garage gym.
You don’t want a cluttered place. You should be able to move between machines freely.
One suggestion is to buy the most essential machines based on your goals. Then add additional machines as needed.
Incorporate Music
So many people work out with music: Music is very motivating and helps put you in the right frame of mind.
Listening to your favorite music will encourage you to work out and not quit.
And you have options with you want to listen to your music:
You can use a wired headphone attached to your cellphone or an airbud connected by BlueTooth.
Have a Schedule
We have schedules for certain aspects of our lives. Why not create a schedule for the days and time you’ll dedicate to working out?
Having a schedule will help you create good health habits that ensure you’re working toward your health goals.
So write down the days and times you are reserving for your exercise. Tape it to the wall where you can see it. And try not to violate it. But don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day. There are going to be times when some unexpected things come up.
Be Prepared at a Head of Time
Get the most out of your workout sessions by preparing for workout sessions.
Try not to eat for two to three hours before you work out. At least don’t eat heavy food.
Know what you’re going to work out in, and have it ready.
If your workout time is after work, your gym clothes should be reading and waiting so you can change into them as soon as possible.
This makes the process more efficient.
Stay Hydrated
You must develop a system for staying hydrated. When you work out, your body loses water. That’s because you sweat, and sweat is water.
When you urinate, you lose water.
Avoid becoming dehydrated during your workout. To keep yourself hydrated, consider putting in a mini fridge in your garage to store bottled water. This way, you and your partner can easily access cold water.
If the mini-fridge takes up too much space, just get a portable water bottle.
Workout With a Friend
Invite a friend or two to work out with you. But make sure the friends you invite to work out with you want to work out.
They should have already understood the benefits of exercising and want to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The friend should be ready to transform their life, or it will just become a distraction for you and a waste of your time.
Sell to Buy
You will outgrow some exercise equipment as you progress in your training regimen.
However, you don’t throw them in the dumpster. You sell them online. Once you sell the equipment you no longer need, buy new ones.
You can use this strategy to get better and newer equipment. Sell the ones you hardly use and buy the ones you want.
Mirrors
Put a few mirrors in your gym. Having mirrors in your half-garage gym will help boost and maintain your confidence. You’ll be able to check your form to see how much you’ve progressed.
And you’ll get to watch yourself as you exercise and impress yourself with how much stronger you’re getting.
Save Money on Gym Membership
Paying gym membership fees month after month adds up. You’d be amazed how much you’re paying your gym yearly.
And membership fees aren’t the only cost of joining a gym. You have to pay an initial fee, buy gas for your car, and accumulate wear on your car from all the time your driving to the gym.
You need to buy clothes to work out at the gym to look good. You also spend money by buying after-workout drinks, which adds up.
There’s no logical reason to keep spending that money on a gym membership when you could create a half-garage gym for yourself and your partner. A gym to your own liking.
Use the time you spend traveling to the gym to do something productive.
Wrapping Up
A garage gym gives you a convenient place to exercise while saving you money.
And you can always find reasonable equipment online regardless of your budget.
There’s simply no excuse for not starting your half-garage gym.
The advantages of having your own half-garage gym far outweigh whatever inconvenience you think you might face.
Use these half garage gym ideas to create a comfortable half-garage gym on a budget right for you where you can work out as much or as little as you like.