I'm converting a single car garage into a home gym and looking for ideas for design. I'm putting all rubber mats on the floor and thinking about painting the walls chalkboard black. Also thinking about installing 1x6" boards and staining either light or dark walnut.

What do yal think?

What do I think? I think I'm jealous.

What feedback are you looking for? What kind of exercise? Weights, cardio, both, neither?

Generic

I would line the floor solid with thick horse stall mats from TSC. It'll be $400-600 but worth it. I wouldn't want black walls with black flooring. I'd go wood or maybe a gray.

I'd spend my money on equipment rather than interior design, but I'm old school. Agree with the floor. I'd also put down a layer of plywood on top of the mats and then another layer of mats if you are doing oly lifting or deadlifting.

I agree but now is a good time to throw a coat of paint on the walls. I wish I had before I filled mine up. Just a cheap paint with a roller would be good enough for me.

Same.

I think one wall with the chalkboard paint is a good idea for writing down workouts, keeping track of goals, etc. I think every wall would be overkill. But you could probably get away with a large dry erase board for that with less mess (I have a personal disdain for chalk).

Hoose, seen any good DIYs for deadlift platforms? They all seem very large and expensive for what the eye test tells me is a relatively simple concept.

The manly man (or something like that) is a good one to search.

CC09LawAg said:

---

Hoose, seen any good DIYs for deadlift platforms? They all seem very large and expensive for what the eye test tells me is a relatively simple concept.

---

They sell "deadlift platforms"? What exactly is that? As long as you have something to protect your floor, that's all you need. When I first starting lifting ages ago, our high school field house had rubber mats on some of the floor to protect the concrete, and that was our deadlift area. I also spent a lot of time lifting at a tiny, hole in the wall gym that was simply carpet over the concrete. My deadlift platform was putting the bar on the floor in front of the squat rack.

I chose to not build a platform as it would have been a hazard in my garage space and would prevent most of the garage functionality I still want to maintain. I don't typically do oly lifts except for some supplemental work. My wife does a lot of oly lifting but only occasionally works out at the house. I don't think my deadlifts will damage the slab under the 3/4" horse mat, but I guess they could.

If I get into heavy oly lifting I'd probably opt for just using a 3/4" or thicker piece of plywood over the rubber fooor so I can move it when needed.

Are you looking to use bands? If not, just do what I mentioned above. Horesemat, plywood, horesemat. .

Got it started with just a half cage and our peloton. Going to shop for dumbbells and maybe a cable system. Wife made me move the fridges back in so let's see how much they get in the way.

But ya I still want to paint the walls and install baseboards to make it look legit

Honestly the walls and baseboards look pretty clean as it is. Way better than mine.

Well technically there currently are no baseboards, that is concrete. Thanks for the compliment

Also I think I can hang a boxing bag in the middle

Oh yeah I didn't catch that. Still looks good. You're gonna love the flooring! Good job with that.

Don't forget a huge mirror too. We found one for free on FB Marketplace that was one of those builder grade frameless ones from a bathroom demo.

The latest addition was the punching bag to get my cardio in; not a big fan of the peleton. Kids are going crazy with the bag

Horse mats are from Tractor Supply? 3/4 inch?

Correct

CC09LawAg said:

---

Same.

I think one wall with the chalkboard paint is a good idea for writing down workouts, keeping track of goals, etc. I think every wall would be overkill. But you could probably get away with a large dry erase board for that with less mess (I have a personal disdain for chalk).

---

I'm with CC09 on this.

1. I hate any more chalk than absolutely necessary, especially when breathing hard.

2. Black walls will make the space look smaller.

3. Look into the psychology of wall colors for something that is motivational for you. Everyone is different. Some like the dark. I like bright because it brings forth visions of big events and peak performances

Thanks for this

So far I have not painted but will consider later on

Get a big mirror and use dry erase markers to keep track of workouts

We have a bigger garage space but started w/ the horse mats, added a big mirror to one wall.
Originally a few dumbbells and a bike, then added a full cage, free weights, rowing machine, heavy bag.

I like the set up and I'm the type of person that wont go out of my way to drive to a gym

please excuse the mess:

Looking good

I use a dry erase market board to jot down my workout each day. Then I take a photo to document it once I write results.