Moving a Home Gym: Day 5 Progress and Lessons Learned
Moving a home gym is no small feat, especially when it's located in a basement. After five days of grueling work, significant progress has been made in relocating an extensive basement gym setup.
The basement space is starting to clear out. All benches, including the incline bench, have been removed. The weight rack, dumbbells, and some rubber mats have all been relocated to the garage staging area, ready for transport to storage.
The Unexpected Challenges
One of the most valuable lessons learned during this move is that equipment that easily goes down basement stairs doesn't necessarily come up with the same ease. As the homeowner's wife wisely advised, “Never get a home gym in the basement once you have a walk out.”
Rubber Mats: The Unexpected Nemesis
Among the most challenging items to move were the rubber gym mats. These heavy, unwieldy pieces require a specific technique to manage:
- Begin rolling by folding one end about three-quarters across the mat
- Lay on top of the mat while tucking the folded end underneath
- Continue rolling while maintaining pressure on the mat
- Secure with string (though be aware the pressure may cause strings to break)
Once in storage, laying the mats flat saves space and prevents them from trying to unroll.
Dealing with Awkwardly Shaped Equipment
The incline bench presented a unique challenge due to its awkward shape. Too wide to fit through doorways normally, it required creative problem-solving – turning it upside down and moving it up one step at a time.
Other challenging items included the Titan log press, which was too tall to easily navigate up the stairwell without hitting the ceiling.
Essential Moving Tools
Several tools proved invaluable during the moving process:
- Multiple hand trucks (three were used in this move)
- A collapsible 4-in-1 dolly
- Small four-wheel wooden dollies
Having moving equipment available at both the home and storage location saved significant time and effort.
Lessons for Home Gym Owners
This move highlights an important consideration for anyone setting up a basement gym: what goes down must eventually come up. It's easy to accumulate equipment piece by piece over time, but the eventual task of removing it all can be daunting.
With an estimated two to three more days of work remaining to disassemble and move the final machines, the end is in sight for this massive undertaking.
