Until quite recently anyone doing regular workouts was dubbed a fitness fanatic or health freak. Not so today: we’re all much more aware of the need to take care of our bodies. There’s been a boom in health clubs which offer everything from pampering steam – rooms to punishing circuit training. But regular visits can be expensive and involve quite a commitment – and not everyone wants to pump iron in public!
An alternative is to install your own health centre at home. The preliminary cost may be substantial: if you want anything but the simplest equipment, there’s bound to be quite a lot of structural investigation, if not actual alteration, to be done. However, you’ll have the benefit of taking exercise when you want with equipment to suit your needs.
Space for fitness
lf you’re really keen and can find the space, you’ll want the whole works – a mini gymnasium with workbench, wall bars, fitness machines, whirlpool bath, perhaps a sauna. On this scale, you may need specialist advice, as you’ll almost certainly have to adapt a spare room, take over the second bathroom or even abandon the bathroom completely and convert space at the back of the garage. More modest schemes could include exercise equipment that folds away: some quite sophisticated systems stack flat against a wall.
Take a long look at your bathroom and surrounding area. Would high-level storage release floor space? Maybe there’s a landing area you can draw into use by moving a wall. lf space is tight considered replacing a bath with a power shower, and fitness equipment that folds for easy storage.
Health combination
Installing a shower rather than a bath in a second bathroom may give enough space for exercise equipment. You can end your workout with an invigorating shower- this cubicle comes packed flat for home assembly.