Creating My Perfect Pain Cave

When Neil and I were house hunting one of my key requirements was a space in the house that I could spin and set up a workout room.  In our old house I would spin in the garage.  Our living room was the only place I could do strength and core, but it required moving furniture around and was cramped.  When we found our new home I was thrilled with the basement space because I could set up the perfect pain cave!

There was enough room to set up my bike on the trainer, a mat for doing stretching and core and space for doing weights.

I have my bike set up in the corner of the room.  Thanks to a bulkhead running across the room I’m a bit limited for bike placement as I don’t want to hit my head if I stand on the bike.  Being able to stare at my medals is good motivation.  I have a little table nearby to hold a speaker, my workout, a water bottle or snacks.  Peat also has a bed nearby in case he wants to hang out with me while I’m downstairs.

Sometimes Peat likes to have a choice of beds to sleep in.

Comparing the old to the new space.  So much better than squeezing in beside our dirty car in our messy garage.

 

Behind my bike is a good space for doing weights.  I picked up three MINDE mirrors from IKEA for only $14.99 each here in Canada.

Peat got a kick out of the mirrors when we were installing them.  He was wondering who that handsome guy was!

I found a rack to hold my dumbbells from Canadian Tire for $48.99.  I picked up the dumbbells themselves from Walmart and Target.  I had to visit several different stores because not one store had all of the weights I was looking for.  The medicine ball came from Walmart.

I purchased my BOSU used from a friend, however I have seen them at Costco from time to time and kijiji is another good option if you don’t want to pay full price.  My step is from an old workout program I used to have on VHS called The Firm.  I think they called it the Fanny Lifter?

I have a mat from lululemon that I use for my core work, along with a collection of torture implements from Trigger Point Therapy.

I love my Grid foam roller and I find the FootBaller works really great for problem areas if my calves are really tight.

On the wall is a signed poster from Jesse Thomas, Lauren Fleshman and Stephanie Rothstein Bruce, the founders of Picky Bars.  I backed their Runner’s High fundraising project on Indigogo and got a signed poster as part of the deal.  Runner’s High now retails as Blueberry Boomdizzle…and it is delicious!

I also have two SPONTAN magnetic boards from IKEA to display my race bibs.  I haven’t managed to find all of my old race bibs yet though.  I think I stuffed them in a book that got packed into a box that hasn’t been unpacked yet.  Hopefully they will show up!

And finally, to keep the ideas for exercises flowing during core work I’ve got a chalkboard wall with a bunch of my favourite exercises written on it.

I can’t take too much credit for the chalkboard wall as the previous owners painted it.  I like to do an exercise for a minute, then move on to a different exercise until I’ve completed 10 minutes of core work.  This gives me plenty of ideas for exercises.

Do you have a pain cave in your house?  What is your favourite thing about it?  And as you can see, I still have tons of room on the chalkboard wall to write more core exercise ideas down so please share your favourite core burning exercise!