Many of us have a home gym set up. It’s a great way to stay fit in your house or in an apartment, and you can work out whenever you want. There’s no busyness of local gyms and you can make your own schedule. It’s a win-win situation. However, when the day comes to move out of your current home, you need to take your equipment with you. And that can bring some problems with it. As we all know, gym equipment is listed among specialty items for relocating, so moving it can be expensive. However, it doesn’t have to be. You can do lots of work by yourself if you know what you’re doing. Also, there are some things that you should pay special attention to when moving gym equipment. Here’s what you should know.

How to prepare your gym equipment for moving

Before you start packing your gym equipment in boxes for the move, there are a few things that you need to do. These are here to ease up the whole process and make it safe.

Decide what you’ll take

Something that people often forget when moving gym equipment is that they don’t have to take all the pieces with them. Maybe you’re moving into a smaller home, or maybe you don’t really use everything you have. Think about that. There’s no point in paying transport for something that you take in your hands once every few months. If something is in bad condition, leaving it behind is advisable.

Be as critical as you can about your equipment as all those things are heavy. And heavy items cost more money to relocate. Sometimes, you can even buy new gear for not much more money than you would spend on transport. However, that’s not the case that often. What you need to do is sit down and calculate everything. Once you know the numbers, you’ll be able to decide for yourself.

Take photos

Photos are your best friends when relocating specialty items like these are. Our friends from Dubai Personal Trainers gave the advice to take a photo of each piece you disassemble so you can put it together more easily after the move. Be sure to shoot everything from multiple angles. Even if you’re keeping all the instruction manuals this is more than a useful thing to do.

Sanitize everything

To prevent the possibility of bringing germs and bacteria to your new residence clean and sanitize all the equipment that you’re transporting. Use the best quality wet wipes in combination with all-purpose cleaners to remove all the filth that may be stacked on there. Do this for weights, treadmill, stationary bike, or any other piece of gear that you have. Also, don’t forget your yoga mats and accessories. You may want to check out the guide on disinfecting home during a pandemic, as the principles are pretty much the same.

Moving different pieces of gym equipment

Now, to help you realize what are the things you need to pay special attention to, we’ll divide this next chapter by the commonly used equipment.

Moving weights

Weights are something that almost every home gym has. As expected, a few sets of those will weigh a lot. However, if you’re moving gym equipment with you, you’re definitely going to bring them. So, when transporting them there are a few tricks that you can use to make your life easier. 

• Spread the weights across multiple boxes to distribute the weight evenly among them. This will make the boxes much easier to carry and you can be sure that they’ll stay in one piece.
• As kettlebells need to be used correctly, you need to use correct boxes for moving them.  And the same goes for dumbbells, barbells, and hand weights. If you can, get your hands on some plastic bins that can handle more weight than your regular cardboard boxes. On the other hand, if you can’t find them, use as many small cardboard ones as you can.
• If you’re using regular boxes reinforce the bottom with strong packing tape.
• Wrap individual weights in packing paper, and then in moving blanket. You should do this to protect them from crashing into each other during transport.
• Fill the empty nooks and crannies in boxes with newspaper or packing peanuts. This is yet another layer of protection for which you’ll thank yourself later.

Moving a treadmill

There are a few ways to move this piece of gym equipment. Which road you will take depends on how large and heavy your treadmill is. If it’s heavier than 100 pounds, we would strongly recommend getting a moving dolly as it will be extremely difficult to carry that thing anywhere. Even with a helping set of hands. Here’s what you can do.

• Set the incline of the treadmill on zero and remove the safety key. Be sure not to lose it in the whole madness of moving.
• Fold the treadmill following the instructions from the manual. Depending on the mark and model, you may need to fold the standing segment or the belt section.
• Lock it in place once it’s folded so it doesn’t open during the transport. That wouldn’t be good for anyone.
• To protect it from any damage on its way, wrap it in heavy-duty blankets and stretch wrap.
• Once you load it into the moving truck, be sure to secure it with ropes or straps so it doesn’t slide around. Forgetting to do this is one of the most common mistakes when moving gym equipment.

Moving stationary bike

Stationary bikes are probably the most popular home gym equipment item. What this means is that they’re pretty much perfected so moving them isn’t that difficult. However, that doesn’t mean that you can’t prepare like a pro for relocating them.

• If you own an electric stationary bike be sure to unplug it from the power source.
• Disassemble the handles, pedals, and seat to make it easier and safer to move. All the parts that you took of, put in one dedicated box.
• Wrap everything in moving blankets and stretch wrap to protect it from accidental damage. If there are some extra fragile parts, like speedometer, wrap them in bubble wrap.
• These bikes aren’t that heavy so you shouldn’t have any problems with lifting them and placing them into a moving truck.
• If possible, secure the bike to the side of the truck. This way, it will stay stationary during transport, and that’s how it should be.

As you can see, moving gym equipment isn’t particularly complicated, but it will ask for a bit of your time. Be sure to do everything by the book and try to protect your beloved items as well as you can. If you’re paying for the transport, make it worthwhile.