We all know that with the New Year comes the inevitability of New Year’s Resolutions. Most people’s lists feature an element of improving their fitness or taking up a new sport; however juggling the demands of a busy working day and family life can often mean sacrificing keeping fit.

If you find going to the gym a drag yet are serious about staying fit and have a garden you would like to get more out of, then perhaps it’s time to turn it into your own Garden Gym. The garden is a valuable asset to any home, yet it is rarely designed to cater for the needs of those who use it and when it is used.

The key to a successful garden gym is a design that incorporates features that not only have a practical use within your fitness training programme, but that don’t compromise the aesthetic design of your garden by providing year round interest, form and colour.

Hard landscaping features, such as steps, paving and timber structures can be used as part of a training circuit that incorporates lunges, squats, press ups and pull ups. Creating features with this in mind means considering paving materials that provide extra grip or building extra strength into the foundations of oak pergolas to support body weight and movement. Low sleeper walls can be used as balance beams looking out over a garden amidst fragrant planting. Installing the very latest lighting technology as part of your garden design means you can work out in your garden whenever you want – day or night.

To allow you to workout in your garden all year round whatever the weather, you could consider an outdoor building with glazed, bi-fold doors that open out onto a hardwood deck. This could house a turbo-trainer linked to a TV monitor or computer so you can cycle all over the world in the comfort of your own home.

Whether it’s creating a complete new garden from a blank canvas or transforming an established garden, we have the experience and resources to create your very own garden gym and bring you one step closer to achieving your health and well-being goals (while maybe even helping to keep those New Year’s Resolutions for a little longer at least!).