The Electrical Needs in the Gym...

One of the reasons that so many builders and designers work with us again and again in gym design has to do with the electrical requirements of a fitness room. And this is important whether it's a commercial space, or a residential space, though these two have very different demands.

 

And to jump ahead a little bit, the newer connected pieces of equipment are definitely changing the rules as well. It used to be with the older, more simple screens that a lot of fitness equipment actually could be self-powered.  But with more and more equipment being ''connected" with their own screens they have to power, that's increasing the amount of power necessary. And let's not even talk about bandwidth, that's a project for another day.

 

Now the first rule of electricity in a fitness space is that you normally want to plan for the next 10 to 15 years. So you have to look ahead. And if you're ever, ever going to have a treadmill, well, the treadmill is the power hog of the fitness equipment world. With a belt moving over a deck and creating friction, and two motors, a drive motor and an elevation motor, treadmills can pull a lot of power. And contrary to what a lot of people think, cheaper treadmills pull a lot of power and a lot faster. Because they've got lower-quality belt and deck systems, and smaller motors that work a lot harder to generate the necessary power. All commercial treadmills require a 5-20 NEMA plug. Which is just a dedicated 20 amp circuit, really. We recommend that plug/outlet for all treadmills because the more power a treadmill has available to use, the longer it lasts. The commercial treadmills are set up to need them, but it's always best to plan for a dedicated circuit for a treadmill in any fitness space.

 

Now where this often gets tricky is most fitness equipment cords are six or eight feet long, and you really can't put a treadmill on an extension. For most companies, it's literally in the warranty paperwork that using an extension voids the warranty. And also people who are designing a fitness room don't want cords running all over the place normally. So, no matter how much it drives builders crazy, it's often planned from the beginning to have a 'floor circuit' for the treadmill and normally the other card you around it. The other cardio equipment normally only needs a regular outlet, a regular shared outlet. There are a few specialty pieces that pull a lot more power, but for 99% of the gym, you worry about the treadmill first, then you worry about where the television is going to go across from the treadmill, and the rest falls into place.  
(and our flooring installers are used to floor circuits in Gym Flooring)

 

 

As I said before, now we're planning on the possibility of electrical power going to any type of fitness equipment, because more and more of it is coming with a connected screen now. I also always tell my clients to make sure they've got enough space to plug in their chargers, and if they're planning the room from scratch, we like to plan a dedicated charging station if possible. That way tablets and phones are always charged, especially if they're being used on the equipment or being used to track the workouts or work with a trainer remotely.

 

This is one of the reasons we like to work with builders from the inception point.  I can't tell you how often we get brought into a fitness room that's been recently constructed in a new house, and there's not enough power for the treadmill and the placement of the heavy screens or the electrical won't work. So have ConnectFit design the gym from the get-go, and everyone is happier that way.