Most commercial gyms have mirrors all around the place. But do you need mirrors in a home gym or are they just for taking Instagram pictures? Here’s what you need to know.
The most important reason to put mirrors in your home gym is to check your exercise form. On heavy lifts, this is very important to prevent injuries and get the most efficient workout. However, it’s not necessary to cover all the walls in mirrors, one large mirror is enough.
Let’s get into the details of why you need mirrors in your home gym.
Why Do You Need Mirrors In Your Home Gym?
Gym mirrors are one of the most important pieces of equipment that you’ll never touch. Maybe you’ll touch them to clean them but otherwise, it’s better to leave them alone. But why do you need them?
No, gym mirrors aren’t just there to satisfy the gym bro who has to check out his own arms in self-adoration everywhere. Mirrors are also not for the gym girls who have to take suggestive Instagram pictures. Yes, that happens but is not the main purpose of mirrors in a gym. Gym mirrors are just there to reflect what you’re doing.
Serious bodybuilders use the mirrors to practice posing for a competition but that’s also a relatively small part of the population of a normal gym. 98% of people who go to a gym will never join a bodybuilding competition. The vast majority of people just want to get into shape. So why are there so many mirrors in the average gym?
Also, are gym mirrors different than normal mirrors? There are some key differences between regular and workout mirrors.
Mirrors are meant to be used to check your exercise form. For beginners this might not be immediately obvious since frankly, most beginners don’t really know what their exercise form is supposed to look like. When you’re starting out you don’t really know what to look for so mirrors are not as useful as a trainer.
Once you get to the level where you understand what a lift should look like, you don’t need the trainer as much and you can discover a lot of what’s going on just by looking in the mirror. Doing a lift with bad form can cause injuries pretty quickly. Doing a heavy deadlift with a rounded back is likely going to leave you with a painful back in the future. When you’ve got a mirror you get direct visual feedback so you can see if what you’re doing is right.
It’s not necessary to look at yourself 100% of the time but checking your form regularly is important.
Seeing yourself transform and improve over time is an added benefit that can help with finding the motivation to keep going to the gym. Get motivated, however, you can. Consistency and drive will give you the success you’re looking for in the gym. And in a home gym, nobody cares how you do that.
When you’re stretching, it can also be really useful to check yourself in the mirror. You can see if one side is tighter than the other and if you make any movements you shouldn’t be.
Mirrors are important in a home gym to check your form and progress so you can stay safe, prevent injuries, and stay motivated by your progress. Picking the right workout mirror is crucial to tick all those boxes though.
Or just click here if you want to find the best home or garage gym mirror. That recommendation takes size, material, quality, cost, and aesthetics into account.
Can You Build a Home Gym Without Mirrors?
While having a mirror to check your exercise form is a good idea, it’s not absolutely necessary.
If you lift lighter weights and are comfortable with your exercise form, you can skip the mirror. It’s possible to use a workout buddy to check your form for you (probably even better than a mirror if your buddy knows what lifts are supposed to look like.)
It’s also possible to video yourself and check after you’re done. This means you need a little stand or clamp for your phone to be able to aim it in the right spot.
I’ve written a post going into if you can build a home gym without a mirror. You can find it by clicking the link.
