If you’re a gym enthusiast like me, then you know that one of the best feelings ever is having your own home gym.
However, there’s a downside to this, since working out in your own gym at home can get a little noisy. I didn’t notice the amount of noise I was making until my neighbors began to complain about the noise level.
I decided to take action by researching the quietest gym equipment and the most effective ways to soundproof a home gym.
After reading this article, you’ll know exactly how to reduce unwanted noise and echoes in your home gym without breaking the bank. Taking the time to reduce the amount of sound coming from your gym is a fairly simple process that you and your neighbors will surely appreciate.
How to Soundproof a Home Gym
1. Get Some Bumper Plates
The first thing I recommend is that you get yourself some rubber bumper plates for barbell, Crossfit and Olympic lifting. One of the main differences between these plates and standard steel plates is that these are made of solid rubber.
The rubber material will help reduce noise, clanging and vibrations as you use the weights. Plus, bumper plates won’t damage your gym floor if you drop them.
2. Use Rubber-Coated Kettlebells
Another effective method of quieting down your home gym is using rubber-coated kettlebells like these ones. Kettlebells can create a lot of noise as they drop, but the rubber coating will cause these ones to make less noise than usual.
3. Invest in Rubber-Coated Dumbbells
I enjoy using full-metal dumbbells, but unfortunately, iron-free weights that aren’t coated with rubber will produce a lot of noise as you lay them down on hard surfaces.
Investing in high-quality rubber-coated dumbbells is the best thing you can do to reduce the amount of noise your dumbbells will make. When you place your dumbbells on a rack, drop them on the floor or hit them together while you’re lifting them, the rubber coatings will help eliminate unwanted noise.
4. Purchase a Heavy-Duty Sandbag
If your goal is to take your workout to the next level, it’s a great idea to invest in a heavy sandbag, as these can help you build muscle while you keep your home gym’s noise level low.
If you don’t have the money to buy kettlebells or dumbbells, you can do almost any exercise with a heavy-duty sandbag. Sandbags are popular among a wide variety of athletes, as using one is a great way to develop your stabilizer muscles and grip strength skills.
5. Cover Your Walls/Floor With Thick Rubber Carpets
Usually, home gyms are located in a garage or in a spare, empty room. Since these spaces are often enclosed, a lot of echoes are typically created by the weights used within them. Therefore, to make your home gym quieter, you’ll need to insulate the walls and the floor with rubber carpeting.
Covering your walls can also help protect them from barbells or dumbbells that might roll into them by accident. If you’re a handyman, then the installation process should be quite easy for you. Admittedly, using carpet to cover a room’s walls and flooring isn’t the most effective way of reducing echoes, but it’s probably the cheapest solution.
6. Install Acoustic Panels
If you don’t mind spending a bit of money, a more effective method for soundproofing a wall involves the installation of acoustic panels. Acoustic panels are a bit pricier than rubber carpeting, but because of their effectiveness, you may feel that they’re worth the price.
These panels are often used in recording studios to reduce both unwanted noise and echoes, but they’ll also work well in a home gym. To complete the installation process, you can simply add foam panels like these to the walls. By covering the walls with their soft but thick material, you’ll notice a huge difference in the prevalence of echoes, and some reduction in the overall noise level, too.
Acoustic foam panels come in a variety of colors, patterns and shapes. If you’d like, you can purchase multiple colors and install them in a variety of patterns. You don’t need to cover every inch of each wall, but the more you cover, the better the result will be.
7. Create Small Sandpits
To dampen the noise level when you’re dropping your weights or banging them around, you can create a couple of small sandpits. Aside from reducing the amount of noise that comes from your weights, the sandpits will also keep your weights from bouncing and rolling around.
You can simply create square frames to hold the sand, and these small pits will the designated areas in which you’ll drop your weights.
8. Implement Suspension Training
It always feels great to change up your routine with a few bodyweight exercises, and if you’re serious about having a quieter home gym, then including suspension training is the right way to go. You can try using a TRX training kit, which will include a handful of highly functional pieces of equipment.
9. Reduce Treadmill Noise
If you have a treadmill, it’s probably the noisiest piece of equipment in your home gym. Some treadmills are louder than others, but they all make noise that can be quite annoying.
To fix this problem, I suggest that you place your treadmill on top of a thick rubber mat, or add an anti-vibration pad to each corner of the treadmill’s base. Doing either one of these things will help you significantly reduce the amount of noise your treadmill makes as you run on it.
Generally, the faster you run on a treadmill, the louder it becomes, but wearing light shoes or running barefoot can make a huge difference. If your treadmill is over a year old, then you may need to lubricate the belts. I recommend that you do so every five to eight months, on average, but you can do it more frequently if you wish.
10. Soundproof the Door
A lot of people forget about sound-dampening their door, although a doorway is one of the biggest culprits when it comes to unwanted noise in a room. However, soundproofing your door doesn’t have to be an expensive task.
The first thing you should do is search for any gaps and cracks in your door, and properly seal them by using an insulating sealant. As for the space between the door and the floor, you can use a door sweep to block out the sound.
Conclusion
Completely soundproofing a home gym is quite impossible, but following the steps above will allow you to significantly dampen the noise level and reduce echo. If you work in an office, you may also want to check out this guide to soundproofing a cubicle.
If you have any questions about soundproofing, feel free to let us know by leaving a comment down below.