Bright, inviting home gyms welcome more workouts

By Debra D. Bass
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

There’s probably no such thing as a French country home gym. Any decorating scheme that includes free weights and machinery that plugs into the wall is going to thwart traditional interior design classifications, but that’s no excuse for people to ignore the benefits of a well-designed workout area.

You can’t expect results by just tossing a treadmill and weight bench haphazardly into a room. If you’re not exercising regularly already, proximity to equipment is not your biggest obstacle. Motivation is the problem. And that means you need to create a space that’s convenient, inspiring and inviting.

The biggest reason that home gyms fail is arguably design. Don’t laugh — a home gym is not a build-it-and-you-will-work-out proposition. People have to be careful to choose the right equipment, the right location and the right decorating scheme.

“It’s not just a matter of equipment,” said Rick Viehland of The Fitness Store, in the St. Louis region. “You have to create a comfortable space where you actually want to go and hang out.”

Viehland said lighting is one of the biggest issues people forget about when it comes to making workout spaces appealing. Track lighting and recessed ceiling lights are a workout room’s best friend. This inexpensive fix helps to create a warm atmosphere that will inspire visitors to keep coming back. Drab environments dampen enthusiasm.

An ideal spot for a workout room would involve a window with natural light, but a finished basement with an adequate lighting system is a great alternative.

In her basement, Lynne Talan of Creve Coeur, Mo., has a home gym that is so attractive, friends want her to make it a club.

“The big joke with my friends is that they come over and ask how can they get a membership,” she said.

Her husband, Manne (pronounced man-e), coaches three youth sports teams and uses the gym daily. There’s even an adjacent room lined with Astroturf that’s used for batting practice and a children’s play area.

The gym has a commercial rubber floor and is fully stocked with a barre for ballet, a full contingent of free weights and a nicely appointed minigym of cardio and weight machines. There’s also a television and sound system.

Motivational posters dot the walls, encouraging perseverance, strength and enthusiasm.

“Some days you need all the help you can get,” said Talan, who works out with a friend and enlists a personal trainer who makes house calls.

The Talans had the help of a professional to stock the gym, and Lynne Talan advises that anyone looking to make the investment do the same.

The Sansones have a family gym that would earn them a high-five from a professional athletics team. An atypical grandmother of 38, Mary Anne Sansone came up with the idea of a family gymnasium, and her fitness-obsessed husband, Anthony Sansone, was quick to agree. So the couple built a two-story gym addition onto their home seven years ago. The gym is so fully equipped that a family friend who was once crowned the strongest man in the world comes over to work out.

“We’re a large family, and everyone is really into fitness, so it seemed perfect to give everyone a place to get together and stay healthy,” said Mary Anne Sansone, the mother of eight and grandmother to 19 grandsons and 19 granddaughters. She explains that she’s been exercising regularly for about 60 years and that her husband is equally dedicated to fitness. They lead by example.

Sansone said it’s not unusual to look outside and see a dozen cars, and it thrills her. Because the addition is separated from the main house by a breezeway and has a separate entrance and separate alarm system, visitors to the gym don’t have to worry about disturbing anyone in the house.

There is a small juice bar-style kitchen, a sound system, special flooring for heavy lifting, a neutral wall color, a wall of mirrors for weightlifters and a two-story wall of windows. There are a few art prints of charcoal drawings expressing the human form, as well as the obligatory anatomy charts on the walls.

“We did it for them to enjoy, so they can do whatever they want as long as they take care of it,” Anthony Sansone said.

Getting started

So maybe you think “gym” is too big a word for your home fitness space.

To set the record straight, a home gym can range from a simple rug that resides on the living room floor for yoga workouts to an extravagant Sansone-esque family setup that incorporates enough machinery to satisfy a pro football team.

Bottom line: If you aren’t exercising regularly now, your biggest obstacle is you. So start small.

If space is at a premium, consider a heavy-duty exercise mat, some exercise videos and some free weights that you store in a big basket in the living room. Baskets are wonderful storage tools, because the minute you fill them, the contents look interesting.

If the mat doesn’t roll up easily, tuck it behind the couch or in a closet when it’s not in use. But be careful with arrangements such as this. When you commit to a system that requires setup and cleanup before and after each use, you are adding an obstacle to working out.

Look around first. You may have more room than you think. If your home includes a guest room or sitting room that rarely hosts visitors, you may want to rethink your priorities for that space.

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