Wednesday, February 16, 2011

I've Been a Bad Girl

We've made a pretty big change to our house that I should've let you guys know about.

Like, over 6 months ago.

Ooops.

Remember our lovely Huskers room (back when we bought the house) turned Guest Bedroom?



Well, it's no longer just a Guest Bedroom.

Now it's a Guest Bedroom/Exercise Room!


You see, we are both athletic-type people, and have enjoyed stretching our muscles for years - Tom played football in middle and high school, and I rowed on the crew team in high school and college. And that many years of being physically active has gotten us into a routine where we like need to do it - and personally, I get pretty restless if I go for too long without any physical excercise.

Currently, we both have gym memberships - Tom's is included in his med school tuition, and mine I bought at Costco (great deal if you're in the market for a gym membership, by-the-way - if you've never been a member at 24 Hour Fitness you can buy a 2-year membership through Costco for about $12/month). While our gym memberships suited us just fine for awhile, once the winter kicks in something happens - we.just.don't.want.to.go.

Chalk it up to it being below freezing temps outside (do you really want to workout and get sweaty when it's that cold?), living in a non-run-friendly neighborhood (thanks to it's extremely small size in between 3 large roads), bad weather, and frequently waiting 10-30 minutes just for a parking spot - only to have to wait another 10-30 minutes for a locker followed by another wait for a treadmill, and we decided to invest in our own "home gym".

We still need to tuck those wires away somewhere.

Yup, last summer (I know, I know - forever ago!), we started researching treadmills and went around town on a fun adventure gaining all sorts of knowledge and testing all sorts of machines. Finally, we found one that we love - and is under warranty for life. Now that's my kind of treadmill!

We scored an absolutely fantastic deal on this one (and got a free rowing machine, mat, lube, and water bottle holder with it), and couldn't be happier. But we struggled with one thing:

Where to put it?

We thought about all sorts of arrangements - from having the machine upstairs, to putting it behind the bar, to placing it in the laundry room or guest bedroom.

We finally settled on the guest bedroom. We figured - why not? Guests only stay at our place a handful of days out of the year, and it's a bright room with a ceiling fan and a large closet. It's perfect!

Once we got our treadmill delivered (free, with free setup, too!), we hooked it up and tested it out. We loved it!

Only.... it wasn't very entertaining to stare at a blank wall while we ran. Hmm.

So, then we began our lovely tv adventure, followed by figuring out how to get Netflix, Pandora, and our DTV channels on there (since we don't have cable). Of course that involved buying some new high-tech gadgets and things along with a new router (over the course of 6 months), but hey - we did it!

And LOVE it.

Especially in the dead of winter.

What else do we love? It folds up to save space when guests come over.



And once it's folded up, you can barely tell it's there from outside the room.


What do you think? Do you have to exercise, too? Are you a gym-goer, or have you invested in some home-gym equipment? If you have, do you actually use it as intended or as something else - like a dust collector or clothes hanger?
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7 comments:

  1. Where did you guys find it? Do you mind sharing the details? I would love to get a treadmill when we get a new house.

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  2. Where's the rowing machine at? I use to row at Villanova! It's been a few years, but I can't believe I was about to buy an erg last week!

    BTW - I never heard of the deal at Costco with 24 Hour. I'll have to check that out.

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  3. @Jennifer - We bought the treadmill at Body Basics here in Omaha, after spending some serious time researching and reading reviews of all sorts of treadmills. I'll get back to you with more info on the specific kind it is if you're interested - but it's solid and sturdy and can take alot of abuse! (always a good thing with us, too - we're not very easy on our workout equipment!).

    @NancyO - The rowing machine we got for free is actually, uh, a pretty dated model - I'll have to make a quick post about it later so you can see - but for now (since we weren't expecting another workout machine) it's in the laundry room, but since it folds up and is on wheels we just wheel it out of there if we want to workout in a bigger area (although our laundry room is so large we can workout in there, too!). How cool that you rowed at Villanova! I rowed at Tulsa!

    Thanks for stopping by!
    ~Chelsea

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  4. What is the brand? I am wanting to get a new treadmill. We have a 5 year old nordictrack, and it is really starting to wear out. A new treadmill with a lifetime warranty would be fabulous (ours only had a year warranty).

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  5. That is wonderful! I hate driving to the gym when I just need to run. We actually have a treadmill, but it's not a good one and we just want to get rid of it. Your setup is perfect, I'm so jealous!

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  6. I am not a fan of going to the gym in the winter, either. Now that you mention it, I haven't been in a long time, and I think it has a lot to do with the snowy cold weather. I love the set-up that you guys have in the guest room. That's a great idea.

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  7. Perfect set up! I'm not one to go to the gym ever so I work out at home too. I keep my workout stuff in the basement but the largest piece I have is a Pilates reformer (that folds up in my room).

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