How do you fit a treadmill in a small apartment? This is one of the most frequent questions prospective renters ask me. Space, especially storage space, is at a premium for many people looking for an urban sanctuary to live and raise families.
Exercising in place or living with bigger items like treadmills can help reclaim lost space taken up by bulky appliances, home offices, or shelves full of knick-knacks. The trick is to make your workout equipment blend in so it doesn’t completely take over all your available real estate…
Read More: Top 10 Picks for the Best Treadmill for Small Spaces
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An Extra Room for a Home Gym
If you have the luxury of an extra room for a home gym, then yes, you could fit a treadmill in there, but unless that were the only thing you were doing in that room, you would likely get very bored. So then the answer is to make it part of your living space so that it’s easily accessible from multiple rooms and not just a closed-off room or hallway.
I have set up a treadmill, yoga mat, an iPod docking station, and speaker in my own apartment, all in the same basic area, which could easily be used for watching TV while running on the treadmill. The great thing about having this stuff out in the open and as close to me as possible is that I can use them even when no one else is home or if I’m just out of shape, the company walks by, they can walk with me.
It also makes it easier for my wife because she has found some time alone to use it. If you really wanted to get a great workout in, the key would be finding a place where you could put all this stuff in one area and on wheels so it could move around…
The Trick
The trick is to have everything out of sight or hidden. Having said that, I find having the treadmill under my couch works pretty well because it’s not noticeable but also doesn’t take up any extra room, and with a larger couch (like this ), it doesn’t matter if it sticks out anyway because you likely won’t ever look under there. Or maybe instead of putting your iPod docking station on top of your entertainment center just set it inside and add a small piece of fabric to hide it from view.
A Small Cabinet or Wall Shelf
My next idea to make it work is to maybe create a small cabinet or wall shelf for the items I need most often. A lot of people are using this already, but if you look at where they put their newspaper on the wall to open it up for display, that same idea could work with a smaller shelf mounted higher up so that you can keep your keys, wallet, and iPod on it.
The Direction the Treadmill is Facing
Another key factor and I realize that it sounds counter-intuitive, but you shouldn’t have your treadmill facing the main entrance of the room either because after a while people will get used to seeing you run into it all day every day. So instead, try turning it 90 degrees so it’s not as noticeable unless someone decides to watch TV while running on it, which can be fun too!
The Biggest Challenge
The biggest challenge with treadmills is that they take up a lot of room, so your best bet is to really plan out the space and see if it will fit in your apartment. Then the second most important thing to remember is that a treadmill needs some sort of cushion or mat underneath it and perhaps even extra padding between the floor and it…
If you are going to live in a small apartment building, having something big like this might be a deal killer. In those cases, I would physically cut down my treadmill into 3 pieces so it’s thin enough to slide under the door frame or through narrow hallways. You could also just try to find an elevator but if there isn’t one know that it can be broken easily by this equipment.
The Perfect Home Gym
In my last apartment, I had to store my treadmill in the hallway right outside my apartment door and it was easy enough to slide it sideways into place at night but each of us lost a bit of closet space. Another option would be to find an empty bedroom or common area that you can use for this purpose…
The trick is to set up something on your wall where you can hang your gym clothes, so people don’t have to see them unless they want to. Something like this might work because then you wouldn’t even need any hangers and everything could just hang from wires on a board behind some fabric or a curtain or something. Or just use hooks… You’ll also need somewhere to put shoes, which are also pretty big, maybe this would be one of the better ways to hide them.
The Other Option
Another option is to get used to living in small spaces and realize you can’t have everything or even want it in your house. For example, I never use my TV and could easily sell it, but then I would lose something that goes along with having a big-screen computer monitor so sometimes it’s worth it to compromise what you don’t need as much for more important items.
This seems like an obvious idea, and most people do this already, but if your stuff is out of sight, it will feel smaller because you won’t be able to see all the things you own anymore… Just remember that before deciding against buying something because of where you live.
You should regularly purge items you don’t use because the more stuff you have, the bigger your home will seem to be, and when you run out of room it’s easy to get stressed out about it. I know everyone has different tastes and budgets, but too much stuff is an epidemic in America these days so focus on quality over quantity or at least try to keep things in perspective.
Final Words on How Do You Fit a Treadmill in a Small Apartment
How Do You Fit a Treadmill in a Small Apartment if your neighbors or landlord are getting upset with you? Just remember that they don’t really care much as long as they get paid on time. And if all else fails, make some extra cash by becoming a personal trainer while living there!
Another way to show off this nice look is to put mirrors in places where people won’t normally see them, which could help someone trying to stay motivated. Plus, a mirror might help you to see your form better if that’s important to you.
To improve my overhead press, squats, and bench I spent some time in the summer doing these same exercises on an incline or flat incline because it caused me to use more muscles than before… But now that my house is full of junk, this is no longer an option, so it’s back to plan B, which involves stupid things like rope climbing. You could probably find some cheap ropes online, but then you’ll have to figure out how to attach them too.
What do you think? Does anyone have any other suggestions for parking a treadmill in small spaces? Also, feel free to comment with your favorite tips.
