Home gyms are a relatively new phenomenon — and these days, they’re essential.
Searches for home gyms have more than doubled, according to the 2023 Houzz US Emerging Summer Trends Report. But creating your own DIY Planet Fitness can be a costly endeavor, especially if you have money to burn.
Blame Mark Wahlberg for setting the barbell for home gyms sky high. When the actor was training for his role as Mickey Ward in 2010’s “The Fighter,” he added a $2 million home gym to his 14,000-square-foot Beverly Hills abode. The movie star has since moved to Las Vegas, but for $27 million you can practice those uppercuts in the comfort of his old stomping grounds.
“It’s like having a 3,000-square-foot Equinox right at your house replete with a full complement of weights, machines, cardio equipment, heavy bags and even a full-size boxing ring,” Myles Lewis, the Compass agent who has the listing for that property, told The Post. “Mark Wahlberg built this for himself so no expense was spared. It’s the best home gym in Beverly Hills.”
The seven-bedroom, 12-bathroom home recently listed, having been on the market for 64 days.
(Meanwhile, Wahlberg more recently sold another Beverly Hills mansion earlier this year, which — yes — also came with a large home gym.)
He’s not the only A-lister getting physical at home.
Madonna also dropped a pretty penny so she could have a private place in her Upper East Side mansion to practice her signature pelvic thrusts. But since she was in the Big Apple she had to build up, not out. The cost of keeping up with the Wahlbergs and adding another level? Reportedly $2 million.
If you’re on a tighter budget, take notes from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. He only spent $300,000 on his home gym in Broward County, Florida. That said, it’s only one of his home gyms.
Johnson has what he calls an “iron paradise” in all of the properties in his portfolio. All of them have American flags, kitchens and music blasting, but none have mirrors. “There ain’t no chilled lemon water, fancy spa towels, TV’s or mirrors on the walls waiting for you when you walk into my gym. Just the opportunity to eat dirt, pay your dues and see progress,” he wrote in a 2017 Facebook post.
When the wrestler-turned-actor is on the road filming, he even travels with a trailer hauling 50,000 pounds of gym equipment.
It’s not just A-listers investing in home gyms. Average Joes and Janes want to work out at home, too. And they want options.
“Clients seem to be more interested in home gyms, which provide more flexibility as well as smart subscription integration so that they can work out with an online class and instructor,” Kevin Chan, co-founder of Nivek Remas, a luxury interior design firm in Toronto, said. He’s seeing clients move away from machines and more toward free weights, pulleys and racks.
He’s also noticing a greater emphasis on overall wellness. His latest project is a 2,800-square-foot home featuring a $1.5 million dollar gym boasting a lounge, a studio and an outdoor yoga area.
If you don’t have the indoor space, al fresco may be the way to go.
One $24.9 million-dollar compound that’s for sale in Malibu has a backyard gym, complete with an infrared sauna, made out of a repurposed shipping container.
“The sellers call this outdoor gym space ‘The Beach’ because they brought in sand from the adjacent beach to fill it in,” a spokesperson for Hilton & Hyland, which has the listing, told The Post. “It has a cool factor.”
But perhaps the hippest home gym one can have is a climbing wall. Sasha DiGiulian, a world champion climber and author of “Take the Lead: Hanging On, Letting Go, and Conquering Life’s Hardest Climbs,” spent $65,000 to turn the tiny attic above her garage in Boulder, Colorado into a mini mountain. When the weather outside isn’t cooperating, she can spend hours indoors on her rotating Treadwall motorized wall. It allows her to climb thousands of feet in a space Yao Ming couldn’t even stand up in.
If you’re able to use your home gym for your job like DiGuilian, it’s easier to justify sparing no expense. Simply write it off on your taxes.
OnlyFans creator Bryce Adams spent three years and $200,000 converting a 2,500-square-foot pole barn on her property in Florida into a home gym so she could keep her physique on fleek.
When she’s not filming X-rated videos for her hundreds of thousands of followers, she can be found working out on her Booty Builder.
This high-end hip thruster costs so much the price is only available upon request. She also has a $20,000 wall of Watson dumbbells, a $6,200 Functional Trainer and the entire line-up of Atlantis machines. The shoulder press alone costs nearly $4,000.
But her favorite thing in her home gym isn’t a pricey piece of equipment. It’s her cat, Lily who she rescued. Her only investment in Lily? $50 in a spay and shots.
“I highly recommend getting an animal for your gym,” Adams said. “Every gym needs a mascot or an emotional support animal for in between those really hard sets.”