Being a parent brings many changes to your life, suddenly your day is ruled by naptimes, feed times and the new experience of a baby sneezing right in your face. It can feel like your pre-dad days of ducking off to the gym several times a week are now a distant dream, but there are ways to still get your strength training in. One of these ways is to create your very own home gym.
Fitting in Training Around a Baby
Interrupted sleep and new routines can mean that your own schedule of visiting the gym simply doesn’t work anymore. Having the ability to workout in your own home or garage means you can be much more flexible and grab half an hour of workout time at short notice, even if it is in the middle of the night. You can still make the gym habit stick, even if your warm-up is now changing a nappy and your early evening arm session is now some blurry-eyed squats at 4am.
Why Strength Training Is Important for Dads
Carrying children, loading pushchairs into cars, pushing toddlers on swings, no one is saying you need to be The Hulk to be a dad, but the physical demands can soon add up. Factor in football in the park and several trips round a soft play area and the need for a good level of fitness becomes more obvious.
So, How Do You Create Your Home Gym?
Start with the space. Which area of your home can accommodate gym equipment? You might be lucky enough to have a garage that you can easily convert, once you managed to rehome several bicycles, old paint tins and half a ton of wood you’ve kept hold of ‘just in case’.
If a garage is not available, then it could be time to look at space within your house. Unused bedrooms, under-utilised conservatories or a dining room that only gets used at Christmas are all possible locations for your home gym.
Once you’ve allocated the space, it is a good idea to start with suitable flooring. Good quality rubber matting will deaden sound and protect equipment, whilst giving you a professional looking exercise area.
With the floor sorted, it is time to add in some wall decorations. Motivational gym flags will keep you going when the lifting gets tough and mirrors are a handy addition to check form. The temptation could be to add more luxuries such as a sofa and a beer fridge but bear in mind this is supposed to be a workout space, not a man cave.
What Kit Will I Need?
Ask any man with a hobby and he will secretly admit that part of the joy comes from the accumulation of more and more kit. Although it is possible to feel your home gym is always one more purchase away from perfection, you don’t have to go overboard with equipment to get started.
A power rack, weight bench, barbell and weight plates are a great place to start, as this will cover you for a huge range of full body exercises. Next on the list would be a set of dumbbells and some form of cardio machine such as a rower.
What Will I Get Out of All This Effort?
The benefits of a home gym are that you get to maximise your workouts whilst minimising the time taken out of your day. The flexibility of having a gym under your own roof means you are likely to have more opportunities to use it. The physical and mental benefits of regular exercise are well documented and keeping fit can help you be the best dad you can.
