minimum mat/home gym size

[HEAVY GRAPPLER]

I am thinking of building a home gym and am wondering if it is possible to do this in
a shed - approx 14' X 14' (4.26 M X 4.26 M) interior space.

The reason is - I don't have room in my housed, and this is the biggest shed you can build in my municipality without a building permit. Max size for a shed without permit here is 215 square feet.

Do you think that's enough mat space for BJJ rolling (likely from knees,) yoga and general fitness work? I figure I'd have to put mats along the walls. I would not be placing any other apparatus (heavy bags, weights etc,) in this space.

I have my second kid coming and I figure getting to the gym will be more difficult than ever. This way I could do more BJ and stay closer to home. Selling my wife on this idea is going to be the hardest part.

This is not a pre-existing shed. I'd have to buy it or build it. Anyone tried this?

 

[Yewt]

I would sincerely try to use 14'x14' mat space. I currently own 2 zebra home mats covering up to 10x10 and sometime we need to move back in the middle because we're too close from the wall.

Personal opinion tho.

 

[ASEGSEA]

Yeah, I agree on the "space maximization" idea. I have 100 sq feet of mat, which is 10x10 and it's enough to practice on and yoga out on, but intense rolling will get a little farther out on my garage floor. Which hurts, btw.

 

[JKDEastNashvill]

Yes.

Just pad all the walls and make the Door open "Out" so you can use the Whole Floor.
Its going to cost you a good bit of money.
Air Conditioning, Ceiling Fans are a good idea. Will have to be well insulated.
The Mats alone will be a few thousand dollars.

 

[Rocked]

Yes.

Just pad all the walls and make the Door open "Out" so you can use the Whole Floor.
Its going to cost you a good bit of money.
Air Conditioning, Ceiling Fans are a good idea. Will have to be well insulated.
The Mats alone will be a few thousand dollars.

Well if he starts to run AC and power to the building he needs a permit to do that, so then I would build a bigger shed. Unless its all ran by generator.

 

[JKDEastNashvill]

An electrician can put a Sub-panel in for electricity.
You would then need heavy gauge wire to run from your main breaker box the sub panel.
It adds up!

I built a 1,700 squ ft building in my back yard...I remember writing lots of checks

 

[ASEGSEA]

Mats don't need to be a few grand.

I bought 100 sq ftt for $225 shipped. Install a judo flooring system for under $100, and you have yourself a great set of mats for crashing on!

 

[laohu69]

Well if he starts to run AC and power to the building he needs a permit to do that, so then I would build a bigger shed. Unless its all ran by generator.

Wouldn't need to run power to the building in a conventional sense. A window unit uses standard 110V (& would be more than adequate for such a small space) & could be plugged into an extension cord when in use- no electrician or permit needed.

Also the mats won't necessarily cost a few grand. I recently bought a 10' x 21' x 1.6" Dollamur Flexi-Roll mat from their ebay store for $800, this would be enough square footage to pad the entire floor of his shed. They also recently had two 4' x 6' x 1.5" (6' x 8' total) on sale for $118 (I bought some for my granddaughter for her 2nd birthday next month).
I agree that wall pads would be needed (I also purchased 20' x 5' x 1.25" wall pads from the Dollamur ebay store for $200).

Edit: He could also build it with double doors (or a garage door) on oposite sides so that when open there was, in effect, no walls that would need padding. I built a carpenters shop similar to that on a dam project on the Arkansas River, the shop was fairly small to house all the equipment but when opened up you could fit long lengths of wood into it without the limitations imposed by walls.

 

[Rado]

Yeah, I would try going with 14x14 as well. I have 20x14 and honestly it is barely enough. You really need to watch when rolling.

 

[Nickynoneck]

My judo buddy has a smaller size surface in his basement maybe 8 x 15 we rolled for a good 10 min round and we had to stop and reset maybe 3 or 4 times it was resonable but annoying , 14 x 14 i think wouldnt be bad like someone else said make it so the door opens reversed to maximize the space ,

http://common1.csnimages.com/lf/1/hash/654/1786100/1/Vinyl+Murryhill+Shed+14'+x+21'.jpg this si what came up in a 14 x 14 google search

This style with maybe a garage door would be the best bet as you can get the most anmount of space and it would be cooler in the summer maybe even put to sliding doors on both sides to get the best air flow.

the winter would be a bitch to train in though , But for the summer the perfect thing to do would be to make a giant 20 x 20 concrete slab that would double as a bbq/party area and then have roll out mats .

 

[Joshu]

The Mats alone will be a few thousand dollars.

Don't know about that . . . I bought four Dollamur roll-up mats off Ebay; very reasonably priced (about six months ago, at least; haven't looked lately, but still probably the case), and I have no complaints.

 

[black koala]

Has any progress been made on your project? It's been a few months ..