Where to put Workout Room

Grace10209

Cathlete
Hi All
I wanted to ask you all your opinion on something. Hubby and I are moving into our new house next month and Im trying to decide where I want to put my workout room.
I do Cathe's kickboxing, MMA, TurboFire, Insanity, and a lot of plyometric, jumping workouts, etc

Option 1 - basement.
now its not finished so there will be no heat in winter and no ac in summer, but its in the basement so i dont have to ever worry about jumping and being too loud. I can put 1000% effort into my workouts and jump as high as i possibly can. BUT its the basement so i worry about "what if it rains a ton and gets water down there" or if we put trash down there will it smell?

Option 2 -
taking one of the xtra bedrooms on the 2nd floor, would be perfect, has heat, has ac, is finished, has carpet, will I be able to do TF on carpet? and its on 2nd floor, will all the jumping with TF and insanity be too loud?

What do you think? what would you do? lol
 
I've always liked working out in a basement because it seems cooler down there. I hate feeling overheated when I work out. My two cents.... :)
 
I prefer the basement b/c you can hear me jumping when I'm on the 2nd floor - sometimes the light fixtures rattle, however, what are you doing for flooring? You will need to cover up the concrete for the hi-impact or your joints will be talking to you:eek:

Also, are your basement ceilings high enough?

What time of day do you w/o? Will you disturb anyone on the 2nd floor if you're an early morning excerciser?
 
My workout room is in the basement also. Agree with it being cooler in the summer. Our basement is heated, but I have the heat in that room turned off even in the winter. We run a dehumidifier in the basement over the summer to keep the dampness out. I can't believe how much water it draws.

I'm attaching a picture to give you some ideas. We put cabinets in which hides all my DVDs and serves as a great base for the TV & DVD player. All credit goes to my wonderful hubby!

Lisa
 

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Currently I am in the garage so I have a good mat on the floor for impact. I will likely use the same type if i go in the basement.
I also workout now afterwork but im hoping once we move that I can transition to working out in the morning before work.

My biggest concern is the noise, im so insecure about being loud and i used to workout in our bedroom which is on the 2nd floor. when i moved to the garage it was HUGE FOR ME. i could jump SO high and i got such a better workout!

Hubby says it wont matter being on 2nd floor cuz its a brand new house but i think it will still bother me and the basement might be the best choice.

Im just worried about the no heat thing for winter and water getting in there? etc.

Im definitly leaning towards basement though - keep your thoughts coming!! thanks everyone!
 
Lisa
I just saw your pic and post, thank you! So your basement is finished I see?
We just built the house so we wont be able to finish the basement until more money comes in. Which im guessing wont be for a while.
Did you finish the entire basement OR just the area for your workout room?

So, if i pick the basement it will be unfinished for a while.
your hubby did a great job with yours??!?!?!
 
We only have this room finished in the basement for now. It doubles as our laundry room and food pantry, but I have plenty of space to workout. We started to finish the rest of the basement, but that is a work in progress. Congrats on the new home!
 
If your basement fills up with water, you have major structural problems. I would address that for reasons other than whether my workout room is down there!

I would definitely put the workout room in the basement if I had a choice. First, the carpet upstairs is a detriment. Also, the fact that you're on the second floor and trying to jump. I had my first workout room in an unheated basement, and it was never a problem. Of course, I'm not sure how cold it gets where you are. It can get pretty cold here, but I would just add layers of clothes and strip them off as I warmed up. In the summer, it was always just cool enough down there.

I am now in the same basement, but it's completely finished with it's own zoned HVAC system, so I have my own temp control for my room. It's tile over concrete, and I use 2 layers of puzzle mats for my floor. Perfect!
 
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Hi JeanneMarie
thanks for the reply. The house is brand new, being built and is to be finished in 3 weeks. we are moving in May 13 and thats why im asking everyone where i should put the room.
I dont know if it will get water in the basement, but i have just heard that this happens to some people so im trying to plan ahead - just incase.
You said you use two layers of puzzle mats.
interesting..........so you just put them rigth ontop of one another?
do they move around?
what type exactly?
do they go wall to wall? or just cover a certain area ?
thanks in advance !
 
I live in a condo now but I sure miss my basement workout area from my old house! My basement wasn't finished either. I bought remnant carpeting, about 12 x 12 feet, and then put puzzle mats from greatmats.com down. This is very important as that concrete will kill you eventually.

It was just out in the open and was just fine. A bit cool in the winter (I'm in Wisconsin) but as a PP said you certainly warm up as you workout. I loved it because there was so much room for all the equipment.

Regarding the water, if you have ANY water in your basement, then the person that said this is a big problem is 100% right. You should never have any water coming into your basement. If you do, tell your builder immediately.

Hope that helps! Have fun and enjoy all that room! I now have to drag everything out for each workout, into the living room. It's one of the trades for having a smaller home and no shoveling lol.
 
Another vote for the basement. I like it cool and its stays that way year round, the winter can be a challenge at times but once I'm working out its not a problem. There are too many advantages to the basement, for one you can expand. If you want to hang a TRX, or a pull up bar, you can do that. My husband has his heavy equipment and leverage gym and I have my bikes and elliptical and then I swing kettlebells, so I'm never thinking about bothering anyone upstairs, nor do I worry when I drop a weight or a kettlebell. And I do drop kettlebells! You need to look into getting a floor system though. I got mine from Great Mats http://www.greatmats.com/ There are plenty of other places you can get flooring, just do some research on what makes the most sense. You'll have a lot of fun on this!
 
Hi
Thank you for the response. So you put the puzzle mats on top of a carpet?
did the pieces stay together ok??
I went to mats.com/// which ones did you get?
also what is remant carpering?

Thanks SOOO MUCH!
 
Another vote for the basement. I like it cool and its stays that way year round, the winter can be a challenge at times but once I'm working out its not a problem. There are too many advantages to the basement, for one you can expand. If you want to hang a TRX, or a pull up bar, you can do that. My husband has his heavy equipment and leverage gym and I have my bikes and elliptical and then I swing kettlebells, so I'm never thinking about bothering anyone upstairs, nor do I worry when I drop a weight or a kettlebell. And I do drop kettlebells! You need to look into getting a floor system though. I got mine from Great Mats http://www.greatmats.com/ There are plenty of other places you can get flooring, just do some research on what makes the most sense. You'll have a lot of fun on this!

Hi
Thank you. would you mind showing me exactly what flooring you got from there? and do you put it directly on the concrete?? thank you!
 
Hi
Thank you. would you mind showing me exactly what flooring you got from there? and do you put it directly on the concrete?? thank you!


http://www.greatmats.com/products/cushion-tile.php

I got these in black. You can place them directly on concrete and if you need to, you can run extension cords through the bottom of the tile. There are pro's and con's to this tile, though. When I bought this type of flooring I wasn't into step or twirly moves as this tile has little bumps on top, for good grip. Also, its uncomfortable if you are kneeling on it, but I rarely do that, so its not an issue. I bought it for a non-slip surface for lifting weights, swinging kettlebells and doing HIIT workouts. My foot never slips on this, especially lunges with a barbell or any of Cathe HIIT programs and Insanity. Its perfect for dropping weights on too. It cleans up incredibly well and even when I'm a sweaty mess, my feet are secure on it. It was easy to put together, you just need a rubber hammer and I highly suggest you get the edging and corners. This is a lower cost flooring system, but its perfect for what I do with it. If you are needing to move your foot around in a dancey way, realize you won't be able to glide on it and I'd look for something else.
 
http://www.greatmats.com/products/cushion-tile.php

I got these in black. You can place them directly on concrete and if you need to, you can run extension cords through the bottom of the tile. There are pro's and con's to this tile, though. When I bought this type of flooring I wasn't into step or twirly moves as this tile has little bumps on top, for good grip. Also, its uncomfortable if you are kneeling on it, but I rarely do that, so its not an issue. I bought it for a non-slip surface for lifting weights, swinging kettlebells and doing HIIT workouts. My foot never slips on this, especially lunges with a barbell or any of Cathe HIIT programs and Insanity. Its perfect for dropping weights on too. It cleans up incredibly well and even when I'm a sweaty mess, my feet are secure on it. It was easy to put together, you just need a rubber hammer and I highly suggest you get the edging and corners. This is a lower cost flooring system, but its perfect for what I do with it. If you are needing to move your foot around in a dancey way, realize you won't be able to glide on it and I'd look for something else.

this is perfect, thank you - i have a mat to put down when i do abs and such so this would be perfect. Thanks again. and I do Insanity, TurboFire and other high impact / plyometric workouts. NO dancing here. :)
 
We have a basement workout room. Temp is great, cool and pleasant. we finished the space ourselves for not too many $$.
we put industrial carpet & pad over concrete floors.... a big mistake. in 6 months it smelled like old socks down there. the sweat, plus some minimal condensation, whatever, it smelled bad! we don't get water in the basement but I would advise against carpet. we ripped it out and put in wood look laminate. It's fine. Not as hard as concrete, easy clean, no stink.
 
Basement! I actually lived in our basement for a while - we finished off part of it. It the summer it was awesome because it stayed nice and cool. In the winter, it was still naturally insulated, so never got overly cold. I had a large, portable space heater we set up for heating purposes however. The bonus to that is that if you're only using the space for working out, you only heat it when you're in it, versus all the time.
If your basement is getting standing water in it, you've got bigger problems than where to put the workout room, so I wouldn't worry about that.
Puzzle mat flooring is a good, inexpensive option, expecially as a starting point. (it's also water resistant, and easily removed should something actually go wrong)
I'd say the basement is the much better choice of the two.
 
Another vote for the basement. I like the fact that it stays cool even in the winter. Five minutes into my workout I am just fine. We put down a snap-together, tongue & groove type of wooden flooring. I have had no issues with impact at all. Sometimes, if there are high impact moves, I will just use a mat. (the black mats that are made for underneath TM, bikes, weigh machines) I suggest you get mirrors too. It def helps with correct form and also shows if I'm gaining a couple pounds or so! :p I LOVE my workout room and Cathe sure makes it more FUN to go down into my basement. :D
 
Hi JeanneMarie
thanks for the reply. The house is brand new, being built and is to be finished in 3 weeks. we are moving in May 13 and thats why im asking everyone where i should put the room.
I dont know if it will get water in the basement, but i have just heard that this happens to some people so im trying to plan ahead - just incase.
You said you use two layers of puzzle mats.
interesting..........so you just put them rigth ontop of one another?
do they move around?
what type exactly?
do they go wall to wall? or just cover a certain area ?
thanks in advance !

Congrats on your new house! It definitely shouldn't have water issues in the basement if it's a new house built to code.

I have my puzzle mats wall to wall. And yes, I just put one layer down over another. They don't move because they have no way to move since they are bounded by walls.

I got my puzzle mats at Lowes. I think they are pretty common at most home improvement stores!
 
I would probably put my workout room in the basement. As far as the garbage issue....
I made a workout area for myself in the garage...I love it! It is my special place! I have the tv, dvd player and all my workout stuff in there. Half of the garage is mine and that is just the way it is! It is my little corner of the world. We keep our garbage can, recycle can, and green can in the garage (Calif.--we have to sort our garbage :confused: ) But anyway, if one of them smells, I just wheel it out quickly and problem solved! Generally, though I don't have too much trouble with this issue.
 

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