Making space to work out at home

When we moved to out house almost two years ago from one one-bed London flat, I was really excited to have more space to do some home workouts. Living in a small flat, with a toddler through lockdowns was hard, but we made it work.

It was where I recorded all of my YouTube workouts that have now had many thousands of plays. I would kick my partner and son out of the flat for an hour, move all the toys out the way and roll out my yoga mat to film a 30 minute workout, hopeful that the neighbours opposite weren’t looking.

On days when I wasn’t filming and I was doing my own workout, sometimes I would be rolling out my mat in the tiny hallway between the front door and the bedroom. If it’s big enough to get a yoga mat in, it’s big enough for a workout. And some mornings when my downstairs neighbour was keen, we’d meet in the communal garden with a pair of dumbbells to do a circuits workout.

Creating a home gym space

Two years on from moving house, I’ve been gradually building my collection of home gym equipment. During the summer I took my workouts outside to the garden. I ordered a barbell which has helped with my knee rehab, and could be found outside doing squats and deadlifts a few lunchtimes each week.

As the weather got colder, wetter and windier, my workouts moved back inside. I followed some online workouts in front of the TV for inspiration or rolled out my mat to do pilates in the spare room. But what I’ve really wanted all this time is to use our garage as a workout space – to have somewhere that I didn’t need to roll the mat out and put it away again or tidy my weights away out of reach of my son after every session (if I leave them in the garden he tried to pick up the kettlebell). So this January my project has been to clear a bit of space in the garage.

Now that I have room for it, I’ve chosen a few extra pieces of equipment: a heavier kettlebell, a medicine ball, a step (so that I don’t have to keep using the stairs for my calf raises) and a full set of dumbbells. Next on my wishlist is a big mirror so that I can check on my form.

What equipment do you need for home workouts?

If you’re just starting out with home workouts and strength sessions, you can do so without any equipment at all. Bodyweight exercises can be challenging in themselves. But adding a few pieces will give you more options.

Dumbbells and kettlebells are very versatile and can be used in many different ways to train your upper body and core. You can also use them to add weight when you’re doing lower body exercises such as squats and calf raises. Go for a weight that’s going to challenge you – it’s worth the extra few pounds for a heavier weight because you’ll soon outgrow a lighter option.

While an exercise mat isn’t essential if you have a rug or carpet where you’re going to be doing your workouts, it can help define a space and set you up for a workout. Rolling out my mat was a mental reset. Even when it was in my front room in front of the TV, it signalled that I was now in my workout space.

Thank you to Very for sending me the equipment pictured in this blog.