With the popularity of smaller living spaces and healthier lives, you may find yourself in a bit of a tight spot, literally, should you want to workout from home. Beyond basic free weight dumbbells, good equipment can take up space. Thankfully, whether you need a workout space, have large equipment to store until your housing situation changes, or even want to transform a room into a home gym, self storage can be used to store your gym equipment.
Storage unit features for exercise equipment
The first feature you’ll probably consider is unit size. This can be tricky, but it depends entirely on what equipment you’re looking to store. For instance, should you just be storing a rack of dumbbells, a small 5×5 unit will be enough. However, a full power rack, bench press, push sled and dumbbell rack? You’re going to need a larger 10×10 or even a 10×20 unit.
Another important feature you’ll want when storing exercise equipment is drive-up access. This feature allows you to park your moving vehicle, truck, or car directly up to your storage unit, which will make loading and unloading heavy and large equipment less of a workout. Some facilities, especially in year-round warmer climates, may even allow you to use your unit as a little private gym for yourself, making drive-up key. You can even compliment this with 24 hour access to get your workout in whenever you want.
Lastly, though no less importantly, you’ll want to protect this equipment. Believe it or not, heavy, metal pieces of equipment are still susceptible to weather-related damages. If you live in a region with high humidity or extreme seasonal weather, you’ll want to find a storage facility with climate control. This feature will maintain a constant temperature and humidity level. This will protect these metal pieces of equipment from rust as well as the integrity of any belts or cables involved.
You’ll also want to protect your costly collection of gym equipment with strong security features. Look for a storage facility with electronic gate access, which requires a keycode to enter, as well as onsite management and video surveillance.
How to place gym equipment in a storage unit
When it comes time to placing your equipment and gear inside the unit, there are some key steps to take to storing your gym equipment. Now, if you plan to use the storage unit as your own gym, you trust your own layout and judgement depending on how you like to workout. However, if you’re using it for a short- or long-term storage, here are some simple tips to follow:
- Place heavy weights on the ground. This may seem simple, but weights are just that: weight. Placing them in a spot where they can fall could result in damage to other equipment, other items in storage, or even the storage unit floor itself. Stack plates and set dumbbells on the floor unless you have an established rack. And, always, place the heaviest weight closest to the ground.
- Fold foldable equipment. Many pieces of home-gym equipment are designed to be space savers, and this works in storage units as well.
- Keep things organized. Much like any gym across the country, you need to clean up your own weights. If you have a mix of workout bands or cables, place them on a coat rack. If you have dumbbells, keep them together and not in the middle of the floor. Simple practices like this not only keep your unit clean, but it also keeps it safe.
Self storage can be a great way to get the most use of your space at home, and even if living in less space is growing in popularity, a storage unit allows you the freedom to keep living a healthy lifestyle.
