Apartment and Condo Gym Equipment: 7 Pieces for a Fitness Suite

It might not be the first thing you think about as the owner of an apartment complex, but offering a fitness suite will boost the value of your property and lead to a higher retention rate. Fitness is big these days. You would be surprised how many of your tenants or prospective buyers will benefit from having non-stop access to commercial gym equipment.

If you can offer an all-in-one solution for their needs and cater to fitness fans, then they are going to put some serious consideration into the fact that they will not have to shell out extra money for a gym membership.

Moreover, a fitness suite is a seriously powerful unique selling point that most other properties in your area may not be offering. That makes gym equipment a worthwhile investment in its own right. Depending on how much space you have, you can provide either a modest-sized but still wholly effective fit out or a full blown gym space to cater to every need imaginable.

If you are outfitting a facility for the first time, it is worth reading our commercial gym equipment checklist alongside this list, because the buying decisions behind a resident fitness suite follow the same logic as any other light-commercial room.

Remember: the aim of the game with a condo fitness outfit is to offer an array of equipment that can suit the needs of any age range first and foremost. You can upscale your offerings gradually according to your available space.

Are you ready to see a list of the best items to equip your condo fitness suite? Let us take a look.

#1. A High Quality Multi Gym

No matter how much space you have available, you need to maximize what you do have. The goal is to cover as many fitness needs as possible without overcrowding your suite.

This is where multi-gyms come into play. There is no area of the body you cannot effectively target with an expertly crafted array of several machines like this, all perfectly woven together into one seamless unit.

They typically feature everything from a chest press, lat pull-down, and leg press to a leg curl and cable array, and those are only a few of the stations on offer with the best multi gyms.

These units represent the best all-in-one resistance combination a condo owner can buy. You could get away with putting one of these into a smaller space with a treadmill, and you would technically have covered every prospective need of a casual fitness enthusiast.

Before you commit to a layout, work out how much room a multi-station gym really needs, including the pull-out space around the stack and the walkway a second user requires.

Equally, these machines are fantastic for boosting an existing array and doubling up your resistance offerings in one fell swoop. For instance, if you had an array of dumbbells and adjustable benches, this would be the perfect addition for those needing a machine-only workout.

It has to be said that these stacks will not necessarily cater to the needs of hard-core resistance-training enthusiasts. For the casual gym goer, though, you would be hard pressed to find a better all-encompassing product than a multi gym.

View this item as a crowd pleaser. If you have the space to focus on the niche needs of seasoned trainers, that is great, but a multi-gym will certainly provide most people who want to perform casual resistance training with what they are looking for.

#2 Rubber Coated Dumbbells Going Up To At Least 50 lbs.

Shopping for dumbbells is hard work. You have got to consider how they are designed and who your target audience is.

For this reason, we recommend a rubber-coated dumbbell set, as this will offer a wide array of resistances to suit the needs of most gym users whilst also being safe to use within your fitness suite.

The construction of these dumbbell types makes them a great choice for the scenario we are working with: rubber does not typically leave dents in your floor, because it bounces on impact. You will not have to purchase insanely thick gym matting to accommodate them.

Another bonus is that the dumbbells in a set like this go up to a medium-weight range. You will find that most trainees who perform resistance training with the appropriate technique rarely need to use more than 50 lbs. worth of resistance at once.

Also, the less weight, the less prospective damage to your property. A set of this type is not going to cater to a hard-core bodybuilder, but it will cater to the needs of most of your tenants and property owners.

If budget is not much of an object and you do not mind investing in high-quality matting, you can purchase a set that goes up to 100 lbs. within the same rubber-coated range. That range pleases everyone, from the most casual to the most hard-core gym goers.

We would recommend a 50 lbs. max set to outfit most apartments, as they are the safest bet.

#3 A Few Three-Way Adjustable Benches

You should look at integrating at least a couple of these bench types into your fitness suite, as this will allow at least two users to function within the same workspace without any unnecessary waiting.

What makes a multi bench like this such a brilliant choice is, first and foremost, that it offers all three of the major positions for performing resistance exercises: incline, decline, and flat.

In conjunction with these positions, the best versions also offer the user a wide and comfortable back pad attached to a sturdy metal frame, fully supporting the body and providing maximum stability regardless of the body position.

There is no point in buying a fixed position bench, flat or incline only, when you are trying to optimize space. It can massively limit the array of exercises your users can perform. Instead, a multi bench serves as the perfect one-stop solution for any typical gym goer's dumbbell exercises.

You have got comfort, diversity, and great build quality as standard with high-quality variants of these benches. They are simply an inarguably versatile solution for the needs of an apartment-based fitness suite.

#4 A Combined Power Rack And Bench Combo

Even though dumbbells cater to the needs of most gym users, barbell exercises are equally as important. Barbell exercises come in many different forms, so it can be seriously hard to provide an all-in-one solution to perform them all with complete safety.

Luckily, a bench and rack combo does just that. Whether the user is squatting, performing a bench press, or any other barbell exercise, they can cover any body part with a package like this.

The rack component features safety catches so that the user can re-rack their bar safely, standing or lying down, and they are wide enough to accommodate anyone from a novice to a seasoned user.

Look out for the sets that contain a rack and bench rated up to a total resistance of 1,000 lbs. You will not have gym users lifting heavier loads than that within the setting we are discussing.

In fact, 1,000 lbs. is pretty much the maximum you would encounter at a commercial gym, too, and even then it is unlikely you would ever see anyone come close to that figure on any lift.

Keep your eyes out for a set that includes a fully adjustable bench set to either the flat, decline, or incline position. With such a set, there is no limit to the array of exercises your users can perform.

A combination set featuring these two products can simultaneously cater to the needs of a casual gym goer and a hard-core training enthusiast.

#5 A Rubber Coated Weight Plate And Olympic Bar Set

To go with your rack and bench combo, you will also need a decent barbell and weight set. As with the dumbbells, you need to make sure you get the right set.

A rubber grip plate set is great for several reasons. The first is that the plates all have a rubber coating, which means less damage to your property and less outlay on fitness suite matting.

Another huge positive is that the best quality sets come loaded with up to 300 lbs. of weight. Whilst that may sound like a fairly small number compared to the maximum capacity of the rack and bench set you select, it is not.

It is very unlikely that the vast majority of people who plan to use your fitness suite will ever squat or bench above 300 lbs.

The beauty with any of this equipment is that if you are in doubt and have the space, you can double up to accommodate the handful of stronger users.

A good quality Olympic bar should be rated for a payload of 660 lbs., meaning there is never going to be any worry about it warping under stress, even when using maximal loads.

Both the plates and bar should be made out of the sturdiest iron, meaning they will last for years and years.

This is incredibly important because lesser-quality bars and plates may cost a little less initially but will need to be replaced regularly due to their inferior build quality. If you are weighing that trade-off, our guide on whether to buy new or used equipment walks through where a lower up-front cost tends to catch up with you.

#6 A High Quality Treadmill (or two!)

Treadmills are an incredibly vital piece of equipment for any fitness suite owing to their immense popularity, but you have got to ensure you get something that can stand the test of time.

You need to ensure that you get your hands on a superbly constructed commercial-quality treadmill containing a variety of fitness programs and an inbuilt heart rate monitor.

By paying for an item with a high-quality standard, you will not have to worry about constant maintenance or replacing it after a few years, no matter how much use it gets.

Opting for a cheaper model would likely lead to frequent outlays on service costs, which is why it is always better to think about the bigger picture.

A cheaper outlay initially often means more expenditure over time. What you lack in quantity, you can more than make up for in substance when you integrate a treadmill of this caliber into your equipment array.

#7 A Premium Grade Elliptical Trainer

Not everyone is suited to the high-octane training format provided by treadmills, and that is why it is always good to provide a low-impact option for those who are either less able-bodied or want to reduce the stress placed on their joints.

An elliptical trainer is even more versatile than a treadmill in regards to its broader appeal, partly for the reasons above and partly because the older generation finds them easier to use.

As with the treadmills you purchase, ensure you get a model rated for, at the very least, light-commercial use.

Since your users are likely going to either be total novices or at an intermediate level, you have got a little peace of mind when they are using the fitness suite on their own, thanks to the safety provided by the build quality of this grade.

You will find an array of effective pre-determined programs on the best elliptical machines that allow users to stride towards any goal of their choosing, thus negating the need for external assistance.

Again, you are not likely to have many elliptical machines or treadmills, so it is important that the few you have are the best quality possible for safety and financial reasons.

Liability, Space and the Unsupervised Room

A resident fitness suite is almost always an unsupervised room. Nobody is on the floor to spot a heavy set or correct a lift, and that single fact should drive most of your equipment choices.

Guided and stack-loaded machines are the safer default here. A user cannot get pinned under a weight stack the way they can under a loose barbell, and a fixed movement path keeps a novice roughly in the right groove without a coach standing next to them.

Prioritize equipment that cannot be adjusted into an unsafe position over equipment with the highest possible load rating. A bench that locks positively into each angle and a rack with safety catches you cannot set too high are worth more in this room than another few hundred pounds of capacity nobody will ever use.

Post a clear instruction placard at every station and keep walkways open. Aim for a clean path from the door to each machine so a user is never stepping over a dumbbell or squeezing behind someone mid-set.

In a small room, one multi-station unit usually beats several loose pieces. It concentrates the moving parts in one place, keeps the floor clear, and gives you a single item to inspect and service. The same tight-footprint logic drives the equipment mix in hotel and resort fitness suites, which face exactly this problem.

Finally, talk to your own insurance carrier and check your local code before you commit to free weights. Coverage terms and building requirements vary, and it is far easier to confirm what is allowed before the freight truck arrives than after.

The Unit Count Rule: Sizing a Fitness Suite by Doors, Not by Spare Square Feet

Most resident gyms get sized by accident. The room that did not lease becomes the fitness suite, and the building either fills expensive square footage with three machines that look lost in it or crams a full circuit into a space where two residents cannot pass each other.

A better starting point is the door count, because unit count is the one input a property already knows with certainty. Here is the calculation, in plain text.

weekly resident visits = units x residents per unit x share who use the gym x visits per week
average hourly visits = weekly resident visits / open hours per week
peak concurrent users = average hourly visits x peak concentration factor x average session length in hours
stations = peak concurrent users, rounded up to the next whole station
floor area = stations x square feet per station, with operating clearance already carried inside that per station figure

Every input above is an assumption, and we want to say that out loud. These are WorkoutHealthy planning inputs, drawn from how we size light-commercial rooms, and they are not measured multifamily occupancy data, not property management survey results, and not an industry standard. We hold no dataset on how the residents of any particular building behave, and we are not going to pretend we do. Replace each number below with your own before you commit to a floor plan.

Here is one worked example on a round 200 unit building. Assumption one, 1.8 residents per unit, which gives 360 residents. Assumption two, a quarter of them use the gym at all, which gives 90 users. Assumption three, each of those users visits twice a week, which gives 180 visits per week. Assumption four, the room is open 18 hours a day and seven days a week, so 126 open hours, and average hourly visits works out at roughly 1.4. Assumption five, a peak concentration factor of 3, meaning the busiest hour of the week runs at three times the average hour. Assumption six, an average session of 45 minutes, or 0.75 hours. Multiply those out and you get about 3.2 peak concurrent users, so four stations once you round up. Assumption seven, 55 square feet per station with operating clearance included, which puts the working floor at roughly 220 square feet.

Four stations for 200 doors reads low to most owners, and that reaction is exactly why the math is worth running, because the instinct is usually to buy more machines and give each of them less room than a user actually needs.

The answer moves hard when the assumptions move. Raise the participation share to 45 percent and the visits to three a week, which is the profile of a luxury building where the amenity package is part of why residents signed, and those same 200 units call for roughly nine stations and something closer to 500 square feet. Drop the share to 12 percent and the visits to one and a half a week, the profile of a building whose residents mostly hold memberships at an outside gym, and the honest answer is two stations and a small room done properly.

Treat the output as a WorkoutHealthy planning estimate and nothing more. It is a way to argue with your own floor plan before the freight is booked, it is not an industry standard, and it will not tell you what your local code or your insurance carrier requires of the room.

Putting Your Fitness Suite Together

This list of equipment is truly ideal for outfitting a condo or series of apartments, and every item here can be sourced directly from workouthealthy.com.

It is totally up to you how many items you choose to use, depending on how much space you have at your disposal.

Integrating every single item here would cater to the needs of any gym user. A smaller space would only require a high-quality multi-gym and an elliptical machine or treadmill.

Ready to set up your fitness suite? The above equipment is the best bet for your condo suite.