Since my last knee injury, I’ve lost a lot of weight, mainly because of my loss of movement. This has turned me from a kind of athletic guy with a VERY active and occupied life, to a sedentary guy. The result is that I, being at 1.73m (5.66ft) have gone from 72Kg (158.7lbs) to 65Kg (143.3lbs), meaning that I’ve already lost about 7Kg (15.5lbs) mainly of lean body mass, that is, muscle. As I had a long-time project of building a home GYM, this is the opportunity to do it.

To start, I have some spare rooms in my parents’ home (which I’m also living), I have some friends willing to help and the materials to get the construction/preparation works are either cheap, free or I already have them. So… what was in fact holding me from getting the home gym started? First, to be able to get and stand on my feet! (Don’t you think this is in fact a crucial point?) And second, to be able to stand on my feet for some time without feeling a lot of pain. As I am now capable to do this for a moderate period of time, my friends came over, and with the help of my father, gave me a very big helping hand, as I almost watched them work to get this done for me.

My Home GYM project:

Mainly, I’m going to use this GYM to workout my legs (to help me with my knee problems), to correct some joint and posture stabilization problems and to work my upper body, because as I work my legs a lot, I have a lot more muscle on my legs than on my torso, arms and the rest of the upper body. I also have a sedentary work, as I almost remain on a chair for the whole day, in front of a computer, and with the GYM, I can make some cardio workout to stay fit and healthy.

What I’m planning to put inside the room:

• A cheap MP3 Stereo and a Cambridge four point surround system;
• A small piece of furniture, to put the stereo, punching gloves, speed rope and some magazines;
• A punching bag, hanging from the ceiling;
• Adjustable Bench with included Rack, barbell, dumbbells and disk weights;
• Exercise Bike;
• A Multi GYM Machine with 80kg (176.37lbs) total weight capacity;
• Short and wide straight cable bars and a one-hand cable handle;
• An 85cm Swiss Ball;

The Construction of the Room:

We’re talking about a room with an estimate size of 4m (13,12ft) x 6m (19.69ft). At first, we started to work on one of the walls, which had some serious cracks, so we had to break the superficial cement and cover it up again. Also, there was an all-around edge made in plaster that was stuck between the walls and the ceiling. It had to be removed, as it was falling apart, and then flatten the wall, because removing the plaster also removed some of the superficial cement. After that, we passed sandpaper on the walls and installed a hook to hang the punching bag. Next, we had to paint it all, with one of the walls in a different color (I chose a nice blue tone), to add some sense of depth, as the room is not very big, but enough for what I need. After the painting was all done, we proceeded to the clean up process. Also, we installed the lighting on the ceiling, because the existing lamp was purely a light bulb hanging from the cap.

I’m excited about the project, as it is going pretty well. Next step will be installing the sound speakers and verifying the electrical installation. Later, it will be to cover the floor with some kind of shock resistant material, organize the layout where the GYM equipment is going, and put it on its place.  I’ll update the info as I have some more development!

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Daniel Pereira is an E-Marketer, Web Developer, Blogger and Web Artist, taking a Degree in Marketing, Advertising and Public Relationships and specializing in CRM and SEO. If you liked the article, you can follow the updates by RSS, E-Mail or Twitter and share it in your favorite places.