Ugly Home Gyms, Be Gone—Designer-Approved Equipment Is Here to Stay

Need to KnowUgly Home Gyms, Be Gone—Designer-Approved Equipment Is Here to StayWith home and hybrid workouts here for the long haul, homeowners are turning to designers to find great equipment they can live with (and love)

By Anne Quito

December 28, 2021

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Picture a musty basement with a treadmill masquerading as a laundry hamper. For a time, this was the sorry state of home gyms. As the craze for at-home workouts petered out around the early aughts, exercise machines became white elephants—constant, clunky reminders of abandoned New Year’s resolutions and six-packs that could have been. The design of fitness rooms, if you can call it that, was largely dictated by these hulking pieces of equipment and a mess of workout paraphernalia. Realtors would often advise home sellers to hide them when staging a home.

Now, that’s all changing. (Even Carrie Bradshaw and Mr. Big didn’t seem to mind having a Peloton in the living room.) That’s largely thanks to a new crop of sleeker, sexier, and often more space-saving home workout machines, many of them shaped by star designers and architects. A growing desire for home gyms has also taken root. In 2020, a survey from the National Association of Home Builders found that 47% of respondents rated an exercise room as essential or desirable—a 20% increase since 2003.

Fysik, a fitness equipment line sold by Ssense, outfits their gear in leather and teak wood for a high-end look. The company is also able to customize sizing, materials, and even add personalization, like logos or initials.

Photo: Courtesy Fysik

Designer-made workout equipment fills out a sunlit lobby in Cesena, Italy HQ of Technogym. The company has collaborated with Antonio Citerrio, Dior, and other power players in the industry.

Photo: Courtesy Technogym

Marijana Radovic and Marco Bonelli, founders of the Milan architecture firm M2 atelier, say that these machines have opened new design possibilities. “Fortunately, gym equipment is now beautifully designed and nice to look at,” they explain in an email to AD PRO. “Because of their chic design and value proposition, we often position these products in very visible areas of a residence.”

Technology has played a big role in expanding the catalog for design-forward gyms. There’s the rage for interactive workout streaming apparatus—like Mirror, Tonal, and Tempo—smart spin bikes from Peloton and SoulCycle, and connected rowing machines made by Hydrow and Ergatta. There are also beautiful status items like Louis Vuitton dumbbells, Elite’s Fuoripista stationary bike, Lumiere’s Home Gym kit, and Hock’s leather hand weights.

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Technogym, the Italian maker of high-end exercise equipment, launched a collection of handsome exercise equipment designed by the Italian modernist architect Antonio Citerrio in 2018. The minimalist mirror-wheel spin bike and the sexy leather-and-steel Kinesis Personal trainer, in particular, are conversation starters that will elevate a home fitness area, but wouldn’t look out of place in the living room, either. For Dior diehards, Technogym also launched a branded treadmill, exercise bench, and balance ball, and all will be available next month. Nerio Alessandri, Technogym’s president, says that the collaboration with the French luxury brand evokes their emphasis on performance and aesthetics.

Beyond making the equipment, the company has also been turning their attention to the spaces that house their machines. They’ve transformed their sprawling headquarters in Italy’s Emilia-Romana region into a kind of idyllic fitness theme park where balance balls and exercise bikes count as seating options in meeting rooms and lobbies. “Our core philosophy is to mesh design, attention to detail, and elegant products to add an extra touch to interior design and create a space that strikes a balance between physical and mental health,” Alessandri says. He also adds that he believes that the right equipment and interiors can lead to more engaged training.

The Technogym and Christian Dior collaboration will be available in January 2022.

Radovic and Bonelli echo his thoughts. For a project in Cannes, for instance, the duo designed a lounge-like home gym where people can gather, read a book, or host a small party. They’ve situated exercise equipment near sources of natural light and propped them up like pieces of sculpture that “call out to be used or a subject of a conversation among friends.”

These innovations have been well timed for the emergence of a $1.5-trillion wellness industry during the pandemic. In a recent McKinsey survey, nearly 80% of respondents reported that wellness is important in their lives, and over 40% rank it as a top priority. And, in a post-Omicron future when people begin flocking to public gyms again, Technogym is betting that the lockdown has instilled a broader understanding of the value of physical activity. “We believe in the hybrid approach,” Alessandri says. “People in the future will work out both in the convenience of their home and at the gym when they want to socialize, meet others, or take part in programs guided by professional trainers.”