I just installed a mirror in my muscle training home gym!

Hello. I’m Ietore(@ietore.jp).

I installed a mirror on the wall myself to create a home gym where I can do some serious strength training at home!

From experience, I can tell you that I would recommend starting with one mirror, 60cm wide x 180cm high, and adding more mirrors as the situation demands. I have installed a total of three mirrors.

１．I installed a mirror to create a home gym

When you decide to build a home gym, the ‘mirror’ is always the first thing you think about, along with the power rack and floor. A mirror is a must in a home gym to ensure that you are training your muscles with proper form to prevent injury.

Furthermore, when you’re training alone in a home gym, it’s important to see your body getting tighter and tighter in the mirror to keep you motivated (this is serious).

However, as an amateur, I was worried about installing a mirror for the first time.

As it turns out, I built a home gym in the basement of my house and installing the mirror was easy. I ordered the mirror online and with one screwdriver, it was installed!

Now, let’s get right to it. The place where I installed the mirror is the basement of my home as shown in the next picture. The brick pattern is the wallpaper.

The instructions instructed me to remove the wallpaper before installing the mirror, but I decided that the mirror could be fixed with hooks on the top and bottom, so I installed the mirror directly on the wallpaper without removing the wallpaper.

２．Size of home gym muscle training mirror (180 cm high x 60 cm wide x 3 mirrors)

These are the mirrors I installed in my home gym for muscle building.
I used three mirrors that are 180cm high x 60cm wide (5 mm thick).
Actually, there is a little gap at the bottom of the leftmost and middle mirror, but you can’t see it from the picture.

The reason for the gap is not the mirrors, but the fact that the room is not a square but a diamond shape. However, I wondered if this would not happen if I was a little more careful.

３．How to Install a Home Gym Mirror and Procedures (Amateur Edition)

So let’s take a quick look at the procedure.

(1) The tools for mounting the mirror arrived with the mirror. 1) The tools to install the mirror arrived with the mirror. 2) There are small metal fittings to hold the mirror between the top and bottom, and glue and a plastic mat to attach the mirror to the wall.

It is the one that can be easily purchased at the home center even if it doesn’t buy it with the mirror, but because I didn’t understand it because I was a layman who put up a mirror on the wall for the first time and it was troublesome to go all the way to the home center to buy it, I bought it by the set from the online shopping company of the mirror sales.

Next, I used a simple pencil to mark the wallpaper with a pencil to show the size of the mirror (in my case, 180cm high x 60cm wide) and attached the hardware.

(3) After placing the mirror on the lower hook, slide the upper hook down and it’s done.
I finished installing it in the blink of an eye.
But there was a little gap at the bottom (laughs).

It would have been better if I had installed it with only the hook, but I couldn’t shift the mirror easily because I fixed the back of the mirror and the wallpaper with a bond.

Well, don’t worry about it. Because I am an amateur, it is useless even if I worry about a small point. It is not conspicuous that much. It is super easy to install the mirror to the wall.

Our mirror is a high type, 180 cm high, and weighs about 13 kg.
Since this mirror was designed to be placed on the floor, I think the idea was to make it heavier.

However, our house had a skirting board (a board that hides the joint between the floor and the wall), so strictly speaking, the mirror was placed on the skirting board instead of on the floor, but in effect, the mirror was placed vertically on the floor and held down lightly with a hook to prevent it from falling over. This is why we told you that the mirror is easy to install.

Here are some photos of the mirror’s upper end installation.

４．Large mirror (5 mm thick) for muscle training at home gym

The other thing you’re all wondering about is how the mirror and wall fit together?

This house has become a little high spec due to my lack of knowledge, but we installed a 5mm thick mirror.

The advantage of having a mirror with a certain thickness is that the image is not distorted. However, the thicker the mirror is, the heavier it is and the more expensive it is (our mirror is 60cm x 180cm, 5 mm thick, and weighs 13.5kg. It weighs 13.5 kg, and costs 16,800 yen per piece, excluding tax).

Before spending money on a mirror, I think the main idea is to increase the amount of time you spend on muscle training, but I tend to start with the “look” of the mirror.

By the way, the following mirrors are the ones I bought for my home gym.

In my case, I bought one very cheap large mirror (standard product) first. The reason for this is because one mirror costs 16,800 yen (60cm x 180cm). I think that 16,800 yen for one large mirror is acceptable for an individual purchase, but the price of three mirrors is 50,400 yen.

It was my first time to buy a large mirror and I didn’t want to regret the installation, so I bought one on a trial basis (although the risk of failure is still attached to the mirror…).

In the end, I installed one mirror on the wall and was satisfied with it, so I bought two more.

The mirror I bought from “Mirror Sales.com” is a large mirror of very cheap standard size. I think it’s very reasonable as it was 16,800 yen for a large mirror 60cm x 180cm, 5 mm thick, with little distortion.

Here’s the description from the seller of the 5mm thick mirror I purchased for my home gym⇒ Sale of Mirrors.com（https://www.e-kagami.com/big_m.html)

If you have any questions, email me or Twitter (@ietore.jp) and I’ll explain as much as I can. I hope you can live a full muscle building life in a room with a mirror.

５．Muscle training is so much more motivating when you do it in a home gym with a mirror, even if you’re on your own!

Right now I still have a “blubbery” belly, but I’ve developed a training environment so far that it would be embarrassing if I didn’t see results.

I’m going to work hard on muscle building so that in a year I can show you my well-developed pecs and six-pack abs!

６．Home Gym Comparison of how large mirrors and stand mirrors look

In our house, we took the plunge and got a 180cm x 180cm wall mirror with three large mirrors, with the idea of a gym or dance studio in mind.

However, if you’re building a home gym in a rented apartment, or if you want to spend money on muscle building equipment but don’t want to spend money on mirrors, I think a stand-up mirror will do just fine.

The rationale is as shown in the photo. If you only want to check your style, a stand-up mirror is sufficient and useful. It’s a matter of preference if the surrounding area is also in or out of the mirror.

If your only purpose in setting up the mirror is to upload your muscle training workouts to Instagram, or to check your form, the mirror will do just fine.

I bought the 120cm high and 30cm wide mirror above from Nitori, but the Fujifrade mirror, a similar product and a big bestseller on the internet, is reasonably priced at around 3,500 yen (on Amazon).

The stand can be removed with a single screwdriver, so you can hang it on the wall. With a height of 150cm and a width of 27cm, you can see your entire body in this mirror.

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７．Home gym for muscle training Film mirror that can reflect the entire body’s muscles.

I recently looked into a film mirror that I’ve been curious about while writing this blog.

While the price is higher than the stand-up mirror I mentioned above, it is very light, weighing only 1/6th the weight of a mirror and can be easily moved by a woman.

This mirror is highly regarded by word of mouth as being light and less distorted, and it is also used for professional use on stage and on TV as it is safe and light and easy to use in various places.

We’ve been wanting a mirror on two walls in our house, so we’re going to try a film mirror next.

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８．I’m writing a blog to help spread the word about muscle training home gyms.

Thank you for staying with me until the end.

Today, I’ve installed a mirror in my home gym for muscle building! I wrote an article about this.

For those who want to work hard on their muscle building, I recommend the home gym where there is zero travel time and zero waiting time, unlike the gym.
I’ve also written an article to give you an idea of the layout and size of the equipment in a 3-mat, 4.5-mat and 6-mat room. Muscle training in a home gym is comfortable and stress-free!