, Home gym location
. If possible, choose a place that has good ventilation. You may need a fan in
the summer, if you live in a warm climate, and some form of heating to take
the chill off the room during the winter. If the lighting is poor, e.g., in a base-
ment, then invest in some good lighting for practicality and safety. Whatever
space you use, work on it to make it really look like a small gym. Fix the floor,
walls and ceiling. You will come to love the little place, so fix it up right from
the start.. A room of its own is best, and more space is better than less. But a home
gym does not have to have a room entirely for itself. As noted earlier, pro-
ductive training quarters can occupy as little as -foot × -foot.. If the floor is wooden, pay attention to where you put your heavy gear. Away
from the center of the room and next to walls will be best, and a smaller
room will be an advantage as far as the strength of the wooden floor is con-
cerned.Horizontal training area
. Hardly anyone checks to see that they are training on a horizontal surface.
Go to the trouble of checking it. While a concrete floor should be horizon-
tal, a wooden floor or lifting platform may not be. If you are squatting or
deadlifting on a floor or platform that is slightly higher on one side than the
other, you are going to be applying skewed stress on you body. It could be
enough to throw your form and cause an injury if you are used to a perfectly
horizontal surface. Over the long term it could even cause a chronic condi-
tion.. If you use a machine, e.g., a leg press, then its base needs to be positioned
perfectly horizontally; otherwise, you will distort the stresses of the move-
ment and invite trouble.Surface to train on
. It is very important you stand on a non-slip surface that “gives” while you
train, especially for exercises where you have weights overhead or over your
shoulders. is spares your joints from having to do all the giving. Do not
train directly on concrete.. If you plan to train on a carpeted and/or wooden floor, or a concrete one,
cover at least part of it with a sturdy shallow wooden platform (or thick