Adapting a Room in Your Home for Exercise

If you don't have much time or are in a situation where it's difficult to leave your house, why not adapt a room in your home for exercise?
Adapting a Room in Your Home for Exercise

Last update: 01 February, 2022

Who said that exercise can only be done outdoors or in gyms? We think it’s time to consider adapting a room in your home for exercise.

People who don’t have much time or find themselves in a situation that makes it difficult to leave the house, have the opportunity to do cardio exercises at home.

The main requirement is having enough space to organize and dedicate a specific room to this activity. This doesn’t mean that this room should only be used for exercise or that it should be completely transformed, it can have a dual purpose.

Adapt a room in your home for exercise

Room of the house for sports

First of all, you must decide which room in your home is the most appropriate. The vast majority of us may have furniture that can’t be moved to accommodate exercise equipment and space or, maybe our rooms are too small. In this case, if you have access to a garage or storage room, these will offer the greatest space.

Ideally, you should choose the largest room in your home to adapt. If you live in a city apartment, it’s likely that the largest room will be your bedroom or living room.

To carry out exercises correctly, you’ll need a room of at least two and a half square meters. If you don’t have this space available, then you may experience some difficulty and discomfort. The objective is that you can move freely and without anything that may hinder you.

How to adapt a room for exercise

Home gym furniture.

Once you’ve chosen a room that suits your needs, it’s time to adapt it for exercise. As we’ve mentioned before, it’s not a question of building an entire gym, but rather of designating a dual-purpose room for exercise. Here are four steps that you can follow:

  1. If your furniture can be moved (including lamps and ornaments) you should do this to gain more space. You’ll also need to move rugs from the floor to prevent and avoid tripping hazards.
  2. The exercise that we mainly carry out at home is cardio. Consider what type of exercise you’ll perform at home and the type of flooring that your exercise room has. If necessary, invest in an exercise mat to prevent wear and tear. 
  3. To improve the quality of exercise and motivate yourself even more, it’s advisable to face a window so you can benefit from natural light. If this isn’t possible, make sure the room is brightly lit to help activate your brain. 
  4. Always have your training accessories such as your weights, balls, or bands at hand. They can be stored in a box under a cabinet, cupboard, or under a bed. This helps ensure that your preparation time is functional and fast.

Complete room adaptation

Garage Gym

If you have a room available solely for exercise, why not turn it into a small gym? The most important thing in this situation is to not overload it with furniture. Equally, make sure that your gym doesn’t become a storage facility.  

It’s essential that the floor is comfortable. As such, you’ll need to consider purchasing removable rubber tiles in order to prevent scratching the floor and hurting yourself. There are some interesting designs and patterns on the market that’ll match your decor.

Consider installing hooks on the walls to store your resistance bands or bars. You can use metal shelving for your weights, ropes and exercise balls. In addition, it’s always good to have a bench or seat where you can rest.

Home exercise will ultimately save you time and money

Throughout life, we often find ourselves in complicated situations. Work, illness, a pandemic or any event that forces us to stay at home means that we can’t carry out our usual activities outside of the home.

By using your imagination, you can make your home work harder to suit your needs. In fact, when you think about it, a second or dual purpose use can be applied to all of your rooms, especially when it comes to exercise. Equally, you can make savings in time and money that, in the long term, will be really noticeable.


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


  • Jones, María; Pace, Adele: Cómo estar en forma: guía para personas muy ocupadas, Barcelona, Amat, 2001.