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My Transformation

This post is not about anyone's body being transformed. It's about my ugly garage being transformed in to a kettlebell / training studio. I have been extremely busy the past several weeks trying to make this happen. It was a lot of work but the outcome is worth all the headache. For the past 8 months I have been training everyone in my backyard, which has worked out great. But when it rains or it's dark it isn't the best place to be. So looking at my horrible garage I thought it would be a good investment to use it wisely.

The most challenging part was forcing us to get rid of lots and lots of crap! Which is probably one of the best parts about this. The next best part is I now have a home kettlebell gym that is fully insulated. I wasn't able to convince Ben to get a shed for some of our storage so we settled on getting nice cabinets. We still have room for storage AND a nice little desk for the online training and nutrition consultations I do. Here are the before pictures. I couldn't even walk in the garage. We had an old garage door, holes all over the wall, and old shelves that were built in the wall.









This is what I did to re do everything. Had the old shelves demolished, put new cabinets and a desk in. Updated the garage door so I can have a roll up one with windows. Had nice lights put in on the ceiling. Rubber flooring and mirrors. Lots of drywall repair with energizing colors of paint. This painter was amazing and very reasonable. If you are looking for a good painter this guy is your man. He did more than he needed to with his part. http://www.myspace.com/wcpaint
Well here is the almost final pictures. There is a couple more little touches that will be added. Areas to place my exercise and medicine balls. Places to hang my ropes. And I will be adding a pull up bar to the beam. That way I can also hang my gymnastic rings from the pull up bar.





Yay for being done with the transformation!

Comments

Brandon said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Brandon said…
Your gym looks great... congratulations
Lauren Brooks said…
Thank you Brandon! How have you been?
ldm said…
Beautiful garage, looks very professional!
Looks very nice Lauren. Well done. An interesting concept because we don't/can't do that in Chicago. Try to put a gym in a garage here especially in winter and you'd burn the house down from all the space heaters. Folks skin would be so dry they'd crack. Although, as soon as my kids grow out of their playroom I figure I'll put a gym in there, as long as the floor can hold it.
Wet bar. Got to have a wet bar. These people need some incentive. Post workout daquiris. Makes it more social and keeps them off Craig's List.
Howie B said…
Holy cow that looks awesome! Although my garage is about half that size, I'm ashamed to say it looks even worse than your before pics!! But we do have a little room for working out, so I can't complain (for now). Awesome job. I bet your clients are lovin' it.
Franz Snideman said…
WOW! Very nice Lauren! We'll have to come by sometime and drop in on a workout :)
Lauren Brooks said…
David,

Thank you. I never thought I would have a beautiful garage.
Lauren Brooks said…
Scott,

Here in So Cal people don't use their garage to park their cars as much. Also space is very limited. I have been seeing more and more people convert their garage in to a more usable room. Interesting about the wet bar. 8-)
Lauren Brooks said…
Howie,

It's definitely hard to believe that your garage could be worse. I'm glad you are able to use it to work out in though.
And Thank you. My clients seem to really like it. Although they enjoyed the outside as well. Nothing beats fresh air. It's pouring rain right now, so I am very glad I didn't have to cancel with anyone!
Lauren Brooks said…
Franz,

You and Yoana are always welcome to come over. And get a little workout in as well! I'm sure you can give me some tips of what more I could use here.
Tracy Reifkind said…
OMG, you can see our "garage gym" in the video, now I'll have to do some clean up and painting!

Actually part of the "charm" of our gym...also known as "Stones Gym" is the testosterone themed atmosphere, LOL

Yours is lovely!
Lauren Brooks said…
Tracy,

Your garage gym colors are great. I love the energetic yellow you have. It's very powerful. The manly look is good. I should probably get some testosterone looking pictures up. Don't want it to look to "girlie". Although, my girl clients tend to be the toughest!
Roland Denzel said…
Nice work. Your garage looks more professional than a lot of the rented studios that I've seen.
Anonymous said…
Lauren..that is AWESOME WORK! Your gym looks great, have you named it!!

I hope one day to visit it.

Thanks so much for sharing it. Lyla is getting so big now :)
Lauren Brooks said…
Roland,

Thanks so much! I'm very happy to hear that.
Lauren Brooks said…
Regina,

I haven't named my gym. But I call my business, On The Edge Fitness. So I guess you can say that is what it's called. Thanks again.

And yes Lyla is getting very big. She is 10 months now!
Joe Sarti said…
Well Done! Looks like a great place to train. Continued Success
fawn said…
Wow! Lauren, your gym looks awesome! It almost makes me want to fly out to California to attend one of your classes!
Mark Reifkind said…
excellent lauren, it looks great! a real studio!When you base the training on kbs you really dont need much eh?
My garage is a serious dungeon but I dont have clients there so it's cool. well done and good luck.
Lauren Brooks said…
Hey Fawn,

Thanks! You are welcome out here anytime. But I'm sure I'll be flying out to your neck of the woods first in June
Lauren Brooks said…
Mark,

Thanks! You are absolutely right! That is definitely a huge plus about kettlebells. I'm just waiting on my pull up bar now so I can mount it to the beam along with my rings.

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