Garden gyms and home gym workout spaces are becoming increasingly popular. Whether for personal use or to kick-start a budding new business, garden gym rooms make exercise accessible and practical, and save on a costly gym membership.
But what are the must-have features you should consider when planning your bespoke home garden gym? With 10 years of experience building garden rooms and gyms of all sizes, here at eDEN we know just the questions to ask to make sure your home gym is an inspirational work-out environment for many years to come.
1. Room height
In-line with permitted development, the ‘standard’ external height of our garden rooms is 2500mm, and depending on the permissions of your property, building to this height may mean that you can build a garden room without the need for planning permission. However, when considering gym use in particular, it’s important to check that this limit will give you sufficient head-room for your favourite workouts – if not, you may need consider increasing the height to suit your needs.
Bearing in mind the timber frame and EPDM rubber roof membrane and insulation we build into each garden room, at 2500mm external height you would be left with around 2050mm internal head room. Perfectly suitable for the majority of people if using a peloton bike or a rowing machine perhaps, but if you’re planning on installing a treadmill, or larger equipment, you may benefit from increasing the height. We can go up to a maximum of 3000mm external height, but planning considerations will need to be made as the room is likely to sit outside of Permitted Development.
2. Equipment & reinforcement
Workouts are different for everyone, however if you’re planning on hanging something heavy from a wall or the ceiling, such as a punch bag, or perhaps a TRX system for body-weight work, it’s important to let us know before work begins. If we know where any weight-bearing equipment is likely to hang, we can reinforce walls, ceilings or floors accordingly, to make sure they can take the load.
The same goes for wall-mounted TV, sound systems or mirrors, which can often be heavy. Whilst planning the layout and design of your studio, we can guide you through the placement of these elements to make the very best of your space and ensure your furnishings can be installed without an issue.
3. Heating and Cooling
All eDEN Garden Rooms come with under floor heating as standard. This is a much sought-after feature for office or social use, but when it comes to gym use, the chances are you may be trying to work out how to keep the room cooler, not hotter!
We offer an optional upgrade to a combination air-con system which both heats and cools, allowing your room to maintain a fresh ambiance for workouts, but also providing the option to heat the space for comfortable warm-ups or stretching sessions (this can be particularly useful if the space is going to be used for multiple purposes).
As well as an air-con system, you may wish to add some small ventilation windows to allow air flow through the garden gym during a workout. Opening doors is perfect for an alfresco-vibe in the summer, but in colder Winter months a small breeze may be more than sufficient to let some fresh air in!
4. Layout for inspiration
The beauty of exercising at home means saying goodbye to uninspiring views from communal gyms, so planning your garden gym to create a space that feels motivational is part of the fun. Whether you opt for panoramic bi-fold doors to bring the outdoors in, strategic corner windows or floor-to-ceiling windows to add more interest, our design team will help you consider what goes where, so you can make the most of your space.
If you have the benefit of a larger layout, you may wish to consider using partition walls or sliding doors to create separate sections or zones for different types of exercise (or so the space can be multi-functional).
5. Connections
Because we build every eDEN Garden Room entirely bespoke, we can usually also quote to add features such as shower rooms and toilets. The complexity of this will depend on the length and gradient of your garden, the positioning of the studio, and the location of your waste and water pipes. Shower rooms and toilets of course add an element of practicality to a home gym, particularly if it’s likely to be used by visiting personal training clients for example and you wish to keep the facilities entirely separate to the house, and if required eDEN can work with a groundworks partner to quote for these connections.
As standard, our rooms are also connected with electricity and CAT5 cables for internet, so your room will be well connected to ensure a consistent flow of motivational workout tunes, (and the other important must-haves such as heating and lighting of course!).
In summary, building a garden gym in your home is a fantastic way to make the most of an under-used garden space, whilst providing a motivational, comfortable space to get you moving more. If you have a garden gym project in mind, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our knowledgeable team for a quote 0800 0935 339.
