Disclosure: This post contains Amazon affiliate links (because why not?). If you buy through them, we may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Links are for the exact products we bought unless otherwise noted.
Everything in the shed, in one place. This is the full rundown of what we bought, why we picked it, and what we’d buy again. If you’re building your own gym shed, start here.
Cardio
Peloton Tread+
The big one. We run on it constantly — it’s the workhorse of the gym, and the slat belt feels great underfoot. (Note: this link is to the standard Peloton Tread; we bought the Tread+.)
Peloton Bike
We’ve had this one for years, so it made the move to the shed without a second thought. Still the best low-impact cardio day option we own.
Concept2 RowErg
The rower. Full-body cardio that never gets easy, and it splits in two for storage when we need the floor space
Strength
French Fitness MAB30 Multi Adjustable Bench
Flat, incline, decline — it does everything and it’s rock solid. The single most-used piece of strength equipment in here.
CAP Rubber-Coated Hex Dumbbells (full set)
Bought the whole set on Amazon. They’re very sturdy, the rubber coating is easy on the floors, and you can drop them on the rubber mats without a second thought.
French Fitness 3-Tier Hex Dumbbell Rack
Keeps the full dumbbell set organized and off the floor. Worth it for the space savings alone.
Rogue P-3 Pull-up System
Wall-mounted pull-up bar from Rogue. Simple and strong and exactly what you want bolted to a stud wall. It can take a bit of effort to figure out the height and where you want it, but just visualize and test out where you would stand…and make sure you have a good Ryobi power drill with drill bits. Bonus is you get to attach stuff to it like bands, trx, rings etc! It creates a lot of gym movement variety.
Wooden Gymnastics Rings
They hang off the pull-up bar — good for dips, rows, and all kinds of bodyweight work. Simple, sturdy, and endlessly versatile.
TRX XMount
Grey suspension anchor mount from TRX that the suspension straps hang from, mounted off the pull-up bar setup. Solid, simple, and out of the way. Make sure to put this in a stud. I find the TRX to be great for warm ups or burn out sets.
Rogue Bolt-Together Bumper Stacker (with wheels)
Plate storage that rolls. Keeps bumpers organized and out of the way, and the wheels mean we can move it when we rearrange.
Rogue Echo Bar 2.0 + HG 2.0 Bumper Plates
Our barbell setup from Rogue: the 28.5mm Echo Bar, HG 2.0 bumper plates (10s, 25s, 45s), and OSO collars. The bar lives on a JNIHEEP (random Amazon brand) wall-mounted hanger, which gets it completely out of the way when we’re not lifting — great for space.
Flooring
French Fitness Rubber Square Gym Flooring (39.37″ tiles, 35 of them)
Thick and heavy rubber tiles across the whole floor. They take dropped dumbbells, deaden sound, and make the whole space feel like a real gym instead of a shed.
Climate Control
DREO Smart Wall-Mounted Heater
We turn it on from the main house 20–30 minutes before a workout, so the shed is warm when we walk in. App-controlled, quiet, and it actually heats the space.
DREO Smart Fan
Same idea in reverse — kick it on from the house before a summer session. Oscillating, quiet, and moves a lot of air for the size of the room.
LG 14,000 BTU Dual Inverter Portable Air Conditioner
For the real heat waves. It’s a portable unit, so no window installation headaches, and the dual inverter keeps it reasonably quiet while it cools the whole shed down.
TempPro TempAir Digital Hygrometer/Thermometer
A little temperature and humidity reader so we can keep an eye on how well the heating and cooling are actually working.
Wall Clock (temperature, timers, date & time)
I couldn’t find the exact model we bought, but there are lots of options — the key features are a temperature readout, timers, and a date/time display large enough to read across the room.
Lighting
Govee 16.4ft COB LED Strip Light Pro
Ran the strip along the top of the walls. It’s soft enough on the eyes that it never glares, but very bright when you want it — and the whole vibe of the gym at night comes from this thing.
Mirrors
Latitude Run Full-Length Wall Mirror Set
Full-length mirrors along the wall — they make the 16’x20′ space feel twice as big, and you need them to check your form when you’re lifting alone. Non-negotiable for a lifting space. (We bought ours from Wayfair; this link is to a similar one on Amazon.)
Smart Home & Safety
ULTRALOQ Bolt SE Wi-Fi Smart Lock
Fingerprint and code entry on the shed door — no keys to lose, and we can let someone in remotely if we need to. Works with Apple Home and Alexa.
Kidde Smart Smoke Detector (Ring-enabled)
A detached gym needs a smoke detector, and this one ties into our Ring system so the alarm sounds in the main house too. Peace of mind, done.
Cleaning
eufy 11S MAX Robot Vacuum
Rubber mats collect chalk dust and dirt. We turn the vacuum on when we leave, it does its thing, and docks itself. The gym is clean when we come back.
The Personal Touches
Music: Sonos Era 100 + Amazon Echo Dot
The Sonos Era 100 sounds great in the space. The Echo Dot handles voice control of the lights and other smart features — ideally you’d have both, or get the Sonos voice control set up for it, but I’ve found that challenging.
upsimples 11×14 Picture Frames
Framed some favorite muscle and sports magazine covers for the walls. Cheap, and it makes the space feel like ours instead of a showroom.
Frigidaire 102-Can Beverage Cooler (3.3 cu ft, glass door)
Waking up at 5am to hit the Tread? You’re going to want an ice cold Celsius. Holds 102 cans behind a glass door — cold water and drinks steps from the treadmill. One of those things you don’t think you need until you have it.
That’s everything. Questions about any of it — or building your own gym shed — ask away in the comments.
