Hauling large, heavy exercise equipment in and out of a home and on and off a truck requires a lot of strength and patience. Packing and moving your expensive gym equipment is a careful process. Since everyone's gym is different, these steps are more generalized, but they can be applied to any piece of equipment.
To learn how to pack and move your gym equipment, follow this guide.
How To Pack Gym Equipment
Packing your home gym equipment is not necessarily an easy task, but the benefits from them are significant. So, to pack your fitness equipment, follow these steps:
Clean and Sanitize the Equipment
Before you start packing your gym equipment, make sure to clean it properly and thoroughly to avoid bacteria and viruses at your new place. Properly clean the surfaces and other parts of your treadmill, elliptical, and all other fitness equipment. To clean the gear, you can use wet wipes or homemade solutions.
Tip: Mix a solution of white vinegar and water in a spray bottle for best results. It's great for cleaning smaller fitness items.
Packing Dumbbells, Hand Weights, and Other Free Weights
When packing free weights such as dumbbells, and hand weights, make sure that your moving boxes are strong enough to handle their weights. So, use small boxes instead of using the larger ones, since small boxes can carry heavy things without bending or breaking. You can also use small plastic bags to handle the weight. Here are some more tips for packing free weights:
- Wrap the weights in bubble wrap or packing paper to protect them during the move.
- Pack them in multiple boxes so that one box is not too heavy to lift.
- Make sure to secure the weights tightly since a falling dumbbell could do some serious damage.
Packing an Elliptical
The unique shape of an elliptical makes the packing very difficult. The easiest way to pack an elliptical is to disassemble and take it apart.
Start by removing the moving legs and pedals from the main body by unscrewing the nuts and bolts. Make sure all the nuts and bolts of the elliptical are kept safe after you have removed them. You can keep them in a Ziploc bag or even in a Mason jar.
After that, wrap all the parts separately with moving blankets and then use packing tape to secure them.
Packing a Treadmill
Treadmills are much more fun to exercise on than to pack. However, if you want to keep that bodacious body, you must relocate the equipment safely. Here are some general instructions to follow to pack your treadmill.
- Before packing a treadmill, make sure you properly clean it and disconnect all the wires from the wall.
- Now, fold your treadmill up, keep it in the upright position and lock it in its place.
- When the treadmill is folded, use moving blankets to wrap it and tape it around to secure the packing.
Remember: Treadmills are extremely heavy. When loading on and off the truck, employ at least three people to lift and let down the treadmill. Also, be careful when handling the electronic segments on a treadmill since damaging them during a move could cause the expensive parts to break.
Tip: When lifted, a treadmill should be carried by its sturdiest sections only and not by the lightweight parts of the gear.
How To Move Gym Equipment
When moving anything heavy, it is important to be as safe as possible. Here are some tips that you can follow:
Move Lighter Things First
There are things that you can pack up and move first, such as yoga mats, gym towels, and even blankets or anything else light that you might have in your home gym. To move these, pack them up in a box (for yoga mats, roll them up and secure them with a strap to keep them rolled and put them at the bottom of the box). The boxes can then be loaded onto your moving truck to move to your new home.
Moving Dumbbells, Hand Weights, and Barbells
If you do not have any boxes that man support your weights, you can also use plastic totes to carry the weights in. After you get them packed up, they can be loaded up in your moving truck. We recommend placing the weights towards or on the floor of the truck since you don’t want the weights shifting during the move.
Moving an Elliptical
After you have disassembled your elliptical, you should be able to carry the parts of the elliptical by yourself into the rental truck. Before loading the parts, make sure that you wrap them up in moving blankets so they are protected. Once you get the pieces in the truck make sure they cannot shift too much.
Moving a Treadmill
Moving a treadmill is quite difficult. The easiest way to move your treadmill is to place it on a furniture dolly after getting it folded up with the moving blanket on it. When placing the treadmill on the furniture dolly (make sure it is centered well) you will need two people to properly maneuver it. Now all you will need to do is load it up into the moving truck (most have ramps to make it easy). When you get it into the truck, take the dolly out and make sure that the treadmill won't shift by tying it down with straps.
Closing Thoughts
Another option you have is to hire professional movers who can move your gym equipment for you. This option is more expensive, but it will take the stress and strain off of you. If you are moving these items yourself, make sure you strap them down properly so they don’t move around in your truck. They are big and bulky and you don’t want them sliding around and damaging anything.