How to Make a Home Gym Fun

Position your exercise bike or treadmill in front of a window. Cycling miles to nowhere is not enormously exciting, even if you have a magazine to read, but a view makes it feel more real. Positioning the bike where you can watch television may also work for you. While you're jogging or cycling, watch DVDs of high-energy activities such as mountain biking, racing, extreme sports or even wild animals chasing each other.

Arrange the rest of the gym equipment in a rough circle, to create a circuit. Brief spells of completing one exercise before moving on to another is not only more effective than doing the same thing for an hour, it is also more fun. For example, in a simple gym, have an exercise mat in one spot, then your weights, then a jump rope, then another exercise mat with a ball or cushion, then a box for step exercises and finally equipment for stretches.

Acquire exercise items intended for children, after ensuring that they will take your weight if applicable. A trampoline, hula-hoop or a space hopper is fun even for adults, and provides excellent exercise. Even something as simple as a football provides the focus for a range of effective exercises. Toys also tend to be cheaper than gym equipment and are widely available second-hand. Add the items to your circuit.

Fix a large, preferably digital, clock to the wall in clear sight of all the spots on the circuit. Competing with yourself to improve your times for each exercise may be highly motivating. Add a list of goals with corresponding rewards, such as a hot bath or a new belt, below the clock if you need to bribe yourself.

Play music while you exercise. Fill your MP3 player with high-energy music, set a radio to a suitable station or add a sound system and a stack of CDs to your gym. Suitable music includes rock, punk, dance, pop and folk music. Obviously, slow sounds don’t work quite so well, but if they are your favorite, go ahead. Even sad indie ballads make using a gym less tedious if that is what you love.