A garden shed could be a perfect solution to maintain your fitness and build muscles during the winter time. Right now it is easy to get some training. Running, biking, trekking or playing badminton in the garden. Summer is a good time for outdoor fitness activities, but what will you do once winter has arrived?

With gym memberships having increased by up to 50% in recent times, buying a garden shed, and making it into your private home gym for you and your friends is a viable option.

There are even some serious advantages to training at such a garden room compared to training at a public place.

• No commute to the gym. No traffic, no searching a parking spot, no risk of accidents. Instead, you take a quiet walk through your own garden
• No opening hours to comply to. Your own home gym is open at any time, day and night. If you didn’t get off your backside all day long, but you feel the drive at one o’clock before going to bed: Why not? Your private gym will be there for you.
• No fees. Considering this plus cost of commute to and from the public gym, the costs for a garden shed plus some equipment might amortize after just a few years
• No curious glances. You are yet not very slim and muscular? You look kind of clumsy on the bench? No problem! No one will laugh at you or even look at you in your private home gym.
• No dress code. That also involves the fancy shirts and all the stuff to show off at public places. If you train in your pyjamas, no one cares. If your neighbours can’t peep in you could even train naked or in your swimming trunks. No one cares.
• No queuing. No need to draw numbers for the most popular training devices at the public gym. You design your own training scheme and execute it in your own rhythm on your own choosen most popular devices.
• No public showers. Public showers are not for everybody. So choosing between taking a shower at the gym or driving home sweaty is a choice between the devil and the deep blue sea for some. If you want to make the effort you could fit a shower into the garden shed. Otherwise, you just walk back into the house and take the shower in the familiar surroundings of your own home.
• No packing bags. Everything you need could be right there in your private home gym in the garden shed. You could even install a little fridge for cool drinks during the breaks.

What kind of training would fit best into a garden shed?

The size of a garden shed to fit your home gym into of course depends on what and how many machines you plan to use. In order not to let the available space become the main problem, we would recommend on focusing mainly on training without machines like bodyweight training. There are extensive training plans to be found on the internet with exercises training all muscle groups using nothing else than your own body. That way you would need nothing than a mat of maybe 2x2m and maybe a rack for pull-ups. A bench with weights could be there maybe with a foldable power rack that would allow you to both squat and bench without the risk of pinning yourself under a weight

If you think a machine should be there then probably a multi-purpose machine would be a good idea. There are also machines that can be stored while not in use like foldable rowing machines.

What requirements are there for a garden shed to serve as a home gym?

• Size: A garden shed of about 10 to 12 square meters should be sufficient to serve as a gym if you follow the suggestions above. Of course, 20m² might be better.
• Headroom: We recommend choosing a model with a sufficient headroom. Maybe a garden shed with a gabled roof would be best because you might want to do some exercises with your hands over your head. Also, if you plan a treadmill it would be good to keep an eye on a suitable internal height of the garden room.
• Floor: especially if you plan to work out with heavy weights a solid, sturdy floor is a must. So, here are some ways to get one:
• You could contact your manufacturer and talk the problem over. Often-times custom-made variations to the standard models are possible with only a small
• You could order a standard model and reinforce the floor by yourself. Just simply fix an extra layer of, for example, 40mm floorboards onto the standard floor.
• You could order a garden shed without floor and make a solid concrete foundation before erecting it. In this case, a few rows of engineering bricks as a low brick wall to put the wooden structure on would provide for an increased headroom as well.
• Insulation: Even though working out creates your own source of heat you might consider insulating the garden shed in order to make it heatable. In this case, we have some instructions how to insulate a garden shed for you.
• Plan electrical thoroughly, so you have the sockets where you need them. Loose cables are not only an unpleasant sight, but also dangerous in a gym.
• Choose a model with opening windows for ventilation, and while you’re at it: Double glazing is widely available for the models with better quality.
• If you plan to use your gym in the garden shed also during the summer you might consider installing an air conditioning. Working out at a temperature that pleases you and makes you feel comfortable could be one motivating factor for your training plan.

With these considerations, a garden shed could be just the right investment as a reinforcement for the fight against these excess pounds and for a more active and healthy lifestyle.