Our Masterpiece Is Complete

Well okay, the title is a little strong ... our new home gym is anything from a "masterpiece", but we worked really hard on it, and I thought I'd share a few photos.  Yeah, it's basically just the unfinished half of our basement, but we had about 10 years worth of clutter that we eliminated, and it opened up a lot of space for our peripheral workouts.  There are few more things I'll do later like build some stackable boxes for stepping and jumping, and probably update the weights and bench situation, but for now ... it's perfect for us and Michael and I are really excited about it!

Panoramic shot with my iPhone, which (side note) is a feature I just learned how to use this week, and I love!  The unfinished side of our basement has about 500 sq. ft. of unfinished space, which allows for some basic equipment and a lot of movement. 

One thing we saved & "splurged" on was a new wall mounted LED TV for this area.  We mounted it in front of the treadmill and Michael's bike trainer to make those workouts not quite as boring.  The mounting bracket is adjustable up and down and side to side.  Plus, I added some cheap wood paneling to this wall to cover the exposed batt insulation.

I'm a little bit (okay A LOT) of an organizational nut, and it's important to me to keep everything neat, orderly, and easy to access for workouts.  So I installed this rack for our hanging straps and bands.  My son, Gage, made the KC sign in 7th grade shop class several years ago.

One of my favorite new tools for supplemental and core workouts is the TRX Straps.  I've mounted them to one of the floor joists with a 3/4" Eye Bolt. 

We do a lot of floor exercises so we put down these rubber mats to avoid the cold and dirty concrete floor.  They also really help with traction and secure footing for some of our plyometric work.  You can also see the wood box I built around our sump pump so we don't accidentally step in the hole or damage the pump.

Another thing we're really excited about is the Pull Up Bar I installed by mounting to the floor joist as well.  We don't only use it for Pull Ups (good thing, because I can't do very many), we also use it for securing straps for many other exercises.  It probably seems like a small thing, but it's really versatile and helps with a ton of different exercises.

One of the things I love most about the space is all of the posters and art we able to hang on the walls.  We hung some of the stuff that was important to us over the years.  Upper left - Boston Globe front page the day after I ran the 2011 Boston Marathon with story of the fastest marathon in history at that point, a piece of my Mylar blanket from the 2011 Boston Marathon, and the race poster from the 2009 Little Rock Marathon, my first marathon. Upper right - sign my daughter, Madison, made for Michael and me at the 2009 Kansas City Marathon.  Bottom left - our new Human Muscle System poster I can't stop studying.  Bottom right - poster from the 2013 Chicago Marathon that Michael and I ran.

Heavy bag hanging from the floor joists with one of the mirrors we've installed in the background.  The heavy bag is a great workout - and I would've been a decent boxer if I didn't have to get hit.  The mirrors really make the room appear much larger, and really help us focus form.

Our weights and dumbbell situation is not great.  We have a small weight bench and a hodgepodge of weights we've accumulated over the years. But they aren't that important to me.  It would be embarrassing if you knew how little of free weight I actually use in my workouts - but at 46 years old, I have ABSOLUTELY NO INTEREST in bulky muscles.  I just want to try to stay lean for running, so I use mostly body weight movements.  We'll probably update them in the future.

And finally, a few of the steps for jumping and plyometric work.  The storage box is full of tools.  It's the perfect height for me and doesn't move around because of the weight.  I'm planning on building a few 6" stackable wood boxes that will replace both of these.

So there it is, our awesome new workout space. We literally use it everyday and it's given us so much more flexibility in our workouts.  Have a great week!
... Be Great Today!