Sometimes a small room is the only option you’ve got to build a home gym. While an 8’x8′ space is limiting, you can still create a home gym that’s functional and can help you reach your fitness goals, just with less fluff.
Building a home gym in a very small space, such as an 8′ x 8′ area, can be challenging, but it’s certainly possible. Muscle-building, general fitness, and weight-loss focused gyms are all possible although not all at the same time so you’ll have to make some choices on what your goals are before buying any equipment.
Take a look at the five different plans below to see what’s possible and as inspiration.
Contents
1. 8’x 8′ Home Gym: Dumbbells & Bench
This is the 8′ x 8′ gym setup that is best if you’re looking for cheap and simple. A bench and dumbbells. If you want, you can add some kettlebells and resistance bands since they don’t really take up any space.
You can build a great body with this setup. The dumbbells and resistance bands are good for building muscle and strength. The kettlebells can be used for both growing muscle and cardio/weight loss through HIIT style workouts.
The bench can be pushed to the side to perform bodyweight and kettlebell exercises. There is a vertical rack of dumbbells since a horizontal rack would take up too much space and limit the width of the space too much which is necessary to spread your arms. (Think about chest flies and lateral raises where that is necessary.
The dumbbell rack can be replaced by a good set of adjustable dumbbells like Powerblocks. That saves space and money although they’re a little more vulnerable than normal dumbbells.
What’s In This Setup?
2. 8’x 8′ Home Gym: With a Twist
The second layout shown below is quite similar but with an interesting addition. The rack of dumbbells has been replaced by a set of adjustable dumbbells. This is the better option in this amount of space anyway.
And then a compact, wall-mounted cable pulley machine was added. This increases the exercise variety massively which is always a good thing. Cable machines have a different strength curve than dumbbells so you target your muscles in a different way, resulting in more muscle and strength increases.
If you mount the cable machine off to one side, you’ll still have enough space to spread your arms so it won’t get in the way. When you move the bench out of the way, there will be enough space to use the cable trainer properly.
What’s In This Setup?
3. 64 sq ft Floor Plans: Treadmill+
What if building muscle is not your thing? Don’t worry, there are options for you. In fact, you can pick any cardio machine you like and it will fit into this space. Below you can see a treadmill but since those are quite large, you can also replace it with an exercise bike or elliptical trainer. A rowing machine will be too long to use comfortably though.
As you can see, there is still enough space for a set of dumbbells and a small cable station to add a little but of weight training as well. The weight training will be somewhat limited though since there is not enough space to add a bench.
What’s In This Setup?
4. 8’x 8′ Home Gym: Functional Trainer
This is really pushing the limits of what’s possible but it can ‘just’ be done. You can see a functional trainer and a bench in the floor plans below. You’ll need to find a compact functional trainer that’s built to put into a corner. The Inspire Fitness FTX is a good option. That’s the model I’ve used the dimensions of in the plans below.
A functional trainer can be used to train your whole body, especially in combination with a bench. But as you can see, you can always add a pair of adjustable dumbbells since they barely take up space.
From the front of the functional trainer to the opposite corner is 5′ of free space. That’s enough to perform most exercises although on some your nose might be quite close to that corner.
What’s In This Setup?
5. 8’x 8′ Home Gym: Multi-Gym
Another option in a 64 sq ft space is a compact multi-gym. Multi-gyms are machines that combine as many different exercises into one piece of equipment as possible. They are large but all you really need. These are great for people who prefer to use the machines at a commercial gym but don’t have the space for all those at home.
The dimensions of the multi-gym used in the plans below are from the Body-Solid EXM1LPS. There are other models that will fit though.
What’s In This Setup?
Optional Extras
Even in a small gym like this, there are some things you can add to improve your workouts. I’ve already shown adjustable dumbbells and kettlebells above but there are a few other things:
By adding those three to any of the gyms above, it will improve the looks, functionality and comfort of your home gym.
Problems Of a 64 Square Feet Workout Room
There are some issues with building a home gym in such a small space. While it can be done as you can see above, there are some significant drawbacks. Here are the five biggest problems;
Should You Build a Home Gym In an 8′ x 8′ Space?
That leads to the question, should you build a gym in such a compact space? If you have another space available that’s larger that’s most likely going to be a better option. If this is the only space you’ve got, there is a good case to be made.
If you’re aware of the limitations and that’s still worth it over a commercial gym membership or using another space, then it’s a great idea. However, if you already feel like this might not be for you, it’s better to keep looking for a solution.
