Measuring the Home Gym

If you’re considering a dedicated home gym, or even an upgrade to a home gym, you should also consider a method to track your results. 

Tracking your body fat, weight and measurements is going to help keep you on track to meet your fitness goals.

While your home gym equipment is an important part of your fitness routine, so is setting goals and tracking results.

Body Fat Monitor

Body fat monitors beat the old scale when it comes to measuring your body fitness. From manual calipers to hand-held electric analyzers, body fat monitors are cheap and effective for getting a complete picture of your body composition.  The cost ranges from $30 to $150 and is well worth the investment.  Body fat percentages to be aware of:

Women

Essential Fat: 10-12%
Athletes: 14-20%
Fitness: 21-24%
Acceptable: 25-31%
Obese: 32% and up

Men

Essential Fat:  2-4%
Athletes:  6-13%
Fitness:  14-17%
Acceptable:  18-25%
Obese: 26% and up

Scale

A good balance scale  is a good investment for your home gym.  There’s nothing more motivating to keep you on the treadmill for that last mile than to see the scale looming on the sidelines.  While scales don’t tell the true tale of fitness, the body fat monitor does a better job, they do give you measurable goals to reach.

Tape Measure

And speaking of measuring, there’s nothing more gratifying than to see the inches melt away.  A tape measure is less than a few dollars and can help you track your results.  They can also motivate you focus on certain areas that tend to be problem areas, such as the hips.

Mirrors

When you look in the mirror, are you happy?  When you’re jogging on the treadmill, seeing that jiggle can be quite motivating.  Mirrors also help you use correct posture and form while exorcising.  Consider investing in mirrored wall tiles to not only help you reach fitness goals, but help the home gym décor – it will make the room look larger and brighter.

Reaching fitness goals is an important part of putting your home gym to good use.  Sure the décor and equipment is important, but the results and good health are the most important aspect of having a dedicated home gym.