The Cost of Building a Home Gym
The cost of living a healthy lifestyle can get pretty expensive.
This is especially true if you are paying $30 to $50 per month on a gym membership. If you were like me who spent tons of money on a gym membership that is barely being used, then perhaps it’s time to consider building your own home gym.
In the long run, you will find that having a home gym is not only the more cost efficient option but it is also more convenient as well. In this post, I will go into detail on how I built my home gym and what you will need to build one for yourself.
Home gym vs. Gym membership
To start off, let me share some of the reasons why I decided to build my very home gym in the first place:
- More cost efficient in the long run
- Convenience of working out whenever I want
- Saves travel time and gas money
- No waiting for the equipments to be free
- Easier to work out to DVD’s
What you will need to build a home gym
Building a home gym does not require any of those expensive machines you see at the gym. However, you will need to invest some money into some basic equipment to get you started. As you begin to get stronger, you can slowly upgrade your gym. Here are the equipments I started out with:
An adjustable bench – $115
Dumbbell Sets (A set of 20, 25, 30, 40) – $230
Barbell & weighted plates (1 bar and 6-10lbs plates) – $60 +$ 60
Flooring mats ($10 per Sq Foot) – $200
Total cost for my home gym – $665
Home gyms will save you money
As you can see, the total price for a basic home gym would cost a one-time start up investment of somewhere between $400 to $700 whereas a gym membership would amount to around $300 to $500 annually. On top of the equipment cost, a home gym will also save you travelling time and transportation costs.
In just 2 years, you will already be saving more money by having a home gym as opposed to an annual gym membership. Plus, with a gym just a few seconds away from your bedroom, you won’t have the excuse of telling yourself that you don’t feel like going out today.
Building a home gym is clearly the more cost efficient choice in the long run and is one of those things I do to stay frugal!
I have a rec room 750 sq ft, equip with a bar and a half bath. 😛 I’ve just finished out my garage and I made the upstairs as entertainment space.
I put a ping pong table. I found lifting weight and running is unproductive. I took exercise physiology in grad school, one of the thing we learn is if we, humans, don’t do thing that is productive, or with a purpose like having a sports, then it’s hard to keep it up in the long run. Playing a physical sport like ping pong, basketball, badminton, soccer, etc flare up my competitive nature and I want to win. So, I’ll come back for more. Plus having teammates, the socialize make it fun. But that’s just me.