We’ve never really thought to disguise the fact that we have weights in our space before. But we came across this product on Gaiam’s website: a Balance Ball Cover. We admit, it’s kind of cute, and it’s an interesting idea for those who don’t want to keep a balance ball in their room because it’s big and noticeable. We’ve seen people use sturdy ottomans and coffee tables as weight benches. Some use baskets to store their weights. And there’s even this product called XFIT that is a exercise room in a modern-looking armoire. We’ve even seen something called a “Murphy Gym,” like the concept of a Murphy bed, only with workout equipment instead. Clearly there are those who go to great lengths to disguise their workout equipment.
Do you? If you've got exercise gear in your home, is it proudly on display? Kind of hidden in a corner? Or deftly disguised in plain view? We'd love to hear your ideas and tips!
Images: 1. batiskafo kotur, 2. Gaiam’s Balance Ball Cover, 3 & 4. XFIT
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I disguise my exercise bike by hanging drip-dry clothes on it in the laundry room. Sometimes I disguise it with dust.
My power rack and olympic weight set is one of the first things you see when you enter my house. It's not pretty, but I use it several times a week and I love having it at home rather than having to go to the gym.
Funny, mjs7640! My friend used to hang stuff on her elliptical. It also doubled as her Christmas tree. My brother's roommate uses his Bowflex as a "closet".
I don't exercise much at home, as I'm more of a gym person. I have to do some home exercising because I finished physical therapy a few months ago and there are some simple exercises I have to do daily to prevent further injury. I have some light weights, exercise bands, DVDs, and a yoga mat. I hide the weights and bands in a storage box I got from ikea. I couldn't find the exact product online, but it looks like the Inbyn. It looks good, is pretty big, and also functions as a small coffee table. My DVDs go with the rest of my DVDs in a box that looks like a steamer trunk that I got at Home Goods. The yoga mat is hidden behind a chair.
The Gaiam balance ball cover could be a great idea -- if it weren't an outrageous $300!
I don't have a ton of indoor fitness equipment. Though what I do have is all stored in our little back office next to the cat food.
I do keep my roller blades and running shoes out in our entry, as those get used a lot more often. The most widely used indoor equipment is our iron gym... but that still gets put away next to the cat food when I'm done with it.
Yes! A nice set of dumbells on my living room floor, out in plain view to remind myself to pick them up on occasion and use them! :)
My husband has a big weight set and weight bench that I had our contractor design the storage space specifically to fit. I HATE looking at things that are solely useful - even in my husband's "dungeon" - the weights come out when he's working out and hide when he's done. THe last pic on this post shows his weights and weight bench hidden behind folding doors: http://www.twobedroomsandababy.com/2011/07/sunset-district-garage-room-remodel.html
I use my exercise ball as a desk chair. Since I got rid of the actual chair I have much less back trouble. A cover of some sort would be lovely, and this gives me something to think about DIYing sometime. Already percolating some ideas in fact.
Our exercise bike lives permanently in our bedroom closet--I even ride it in there! We have two small sets of weights that also stay in the closet when I'm not using them.
I have a big flower pot (ikea) with small weights, a yoga strap and a medicine ball. It's right on top of my bedroom dresserc(http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50173734). The exercise ball is my desk chair, and the yoga mat lives in the corner in a tidy roll.
This stuff gets used daily, so easy access makes me more likely to keep motivated.
absolutely in love with the exercise ball cover. But $300? Come on gaiam, dont be like that!
Our bigger equipment is in the garage (because I have a TV and DVD player in there so I can watch Netflix movies while I exercise). My yoga mat and weights are in a corner of my sewing room; I don't mind looking at them, but I just need them a bit out of the way so that I don't trip on the weights and so the cats don't take naps on the mat.
My exercise mat and weight set hide in my coffee table with the tv remotes. When the tv remotes get pulled out, so do the weights and mat!
@STH I also like to do Netflix while exercise. I find that two episodes of Monty Python or one episode of Murder, She Wrote works perfectly.
My TV remote is right out in plain view.
Just kidding. I swim a few times a week, but it is kinda hard keeping an olympic pool in your living room. And I use my feet for transportation, which is something that you Yanks are unfamiliar with.
My yoga mat lives behind the floor length living room curtains next to a bookshelf. Good thing it doesn't have feet otherwise it would look very suspicious. ;o)
If anyone finds a cover that is as cute as the one posted but not $300 (!!!) I'd buy it in a heartbeat. My husband won't let me get rid of the exercise ball but it's really cramping our (my) style.
Love the ball cover and that it is fair trade, but that is kuh-ray-zee.
Camouflage? No. Store out of sight? Yes.
The dumbbells and yoga mat hide under and behind the couch. I used to love sitting on the medicine ball while watching tv, the bouncing is quite soothing. We haven't replaced it since the old one sprung a leak due to the storage issue.
@Nanushka, yeah us yanks just sit in our SUVs all day --oh wait, I walk several km every day as part of my commute (the other part is a bus, as I live downtown but my company is located in the suburbs).
My home exercise stuff is out in the open, because when the room of your studio is not quite 300 square feet, there's no place to hide. I have a pull up bar hanging in the only doorway I have, the one to the washroom. Obviously that comes up and down throughout the day as needed. I have a set of dumbbells sitting just out of view underneath my bed, some ergonomic devices for push-ups at the bottom of an enclosed bookcase, and a deflated balance ball in a box somewhere that I have yet to unpack. For anything else, there's a "gym" in my building. I put that in quotes because it's about 200 square feet and contains a set of weights and a bench, a treadmill, an elliptical, and a recumbent exercise bike.. oh and 6 TVs, even though it's too cramped with just two people in there.
Is that a mirror shaped like a person on the left, next to the cabinet?
Hidden under the couch! I hate to see stuff like that laying around.
Like suburban_war, I live in a place too small to effectively hide my stuff.
I have a treadmill up against one of the kitchen walls, and nowhere else to put it.
I'm sure my guests don't mind the sight of it (and I rarely have guests over), but I get tired of the only question they ever ask: "Do you use it?"
5lb - 20lb weights, yoga mat, and other misc. on a side table in the corner of the living room, pull-up bar in the hall doorway, weight bench leaned up against the wall in the bedroom. I'd rather they were less visible, but haven't found a way to hide them and still have them easily accessible.
Check out Etsy for lower cost exercise ball covers - http://www.etsy.com/search?q=exercise%20ball%20cover&order=most_relevant&view_type=gallery&ship_to=ZZ