How to Create a Sustainable Home Gym
This past year Conrad and I made exercise a priority to aid with our mental health. We were not focused on losing weight but rather on our wellbeing. I honestly feel I would not be the same person today after this last past year if I didn’t schedule time for exercise. That’s just me! Has it been easy to motivate ourselves all the time, NO, do we have help, YES! We decided to hire a personal trainer to come to our home. We both agreed to make it a priority in our budget and that we would make changes elsewhere like fewer dinners out, and careful spending on groceries, drinks and other items.
Whether you’re thinking about revamping your home gym, creating one in your garage or a room in your house or even building a home with a gym, we wanted to share our experience and the products we chose to make it as eco-conscious as possible. Again, we had to carefully think about which products we were purchasing. Like any sustainable journey, we did our best. We even had to use Amazon (yikes! we said the “A word”). In this blog we will share the flooring, equipment, yoga mats and activewear we chose to create a healthy space.
Flooring
Your options are plastic, foam, rubber or cork flooring. Finding something both sustainable and durable was hard. We researched and researched and opted for these Rubber King Interlocking Tiles made from recycled rubber on Amazon. No local companies had eco-friendly flooring so we went onto Amazon and spent the time looking for the best option. These floors are non-toxic, low order, durable and high quality. The only thing I will get from Amazon HAS to be high quality to last a long time. We have been using them for a couple months now and love them.
Equipment
Choosing the equipment for our fitness space was a challenging task. Currently there is a three- to eight-month wait for most exercise equipment locally and internationally. Our space is approximately 12 x 12 so we couldn’t have huge machines. We decided to make it functional and versatile with smaller equipment. We could not find any eco-friendly heavy duty equipment products on the market so we invested in quality. We hope these are one-time purchases. We added a chin up bar and heavy duty hooks for the wall to add bands at different heights. We purchased a TRX (go for the ones over $150 as we had to re-purchase this one). We borrow our trainer's bands for the legs which she purchased from Fitness Depot in Victoria, B.C. We had a set of dumbbells we received as gifts ages ago that we dusted off and began using again.
We have had cheap bands before and they don’t work for long. We also tried the “middle of the road” products to save a little money and they just didn’t work either. My biggest takeaway lesson I wanted to share is to save up to purchase quality equipment even if that means adding a little bit at a time, because that is the most sustainable way to ensure your products don’t end up in the landfill.
Yoga Mats
Having a soft, comfortable mat to stretch and do yoga on will make the experience more enjoyable and hence, you will do it more often. We wanted to stay away from mats made from plastic. We were kindly introduced by a friend to a local yoga mat company called Cork Mats. I had the pleasure of meeting one of the owners and learning about the sustainability of cork, where it is manufactured and how the product works. Cork does not kill the tree when it is harvested, and its anti-microbial properties come from a substance called suberin. You should only use water to clean the mat to keep the cork healthy. Cork Mats makes unisex yoga mats and large yoga cork mats for those over 6 feet tall. These long mats will ensure you won't have a foot or a forehead on the cold floor! You can also purchase travel bags. Cork mats feel good on the hand and get grippier with a little bit of sweat. Learn more here.
Ethical active wear
Ethical active wear is hitting the market and there are some amazing companies in Canada that are making more sustainable products. We found a local company called Seaa Athletics founded by a Vancouver Island resident. I love the Onyx Capri Legging in black made using 86% post-consumer recycled plastic.
A one-stop shop that brings all the sustainable active wear in one place is Sweat Society. Founded in Calgary by Stephanie (pictured above), the company has locations in Calgary and Vancouver — and of course a large online store. I purchased a pair of the Daub + Design Riley Legging in Flamingo (made in Vancouver, B.C.) and was kindly gifted one of their Sweat Society shirts. Check out their Black Friday sales here.
That sums up a few of the elements to make your gym as sustainable as possible. Additional items you might want are a good reusable water bottle and non-toxic cleaner. Making a healthier space where you will spend time exercising takes a little bit of research but it’s worth it! We hope you found this blog helpful and if you use eco-conscious products in your gym that aren’t on this list, please let us know in the comment section below.
* Note: Some companies gifted items in exchange for this blog post. No affiliate links.