The Best Dorm Room Essentials that Double as Your Personal Gym

A lot changes when transitioning to college life, especially for those of us moving into dorms. Chances are, the square footage of your private space is going to decrease significantly.

Meanwhile, your free time is going to shrink as you move up in your studies and start to take on more school related responsibilities. All this is tough enough, then add in trying to keep up with your regular workout regimen and you’re in a world of trouble. Or so it seems… see, we don’t think working exercise into your daily schedule should be hard.

In fact, we think you should make it as easy as possible on yourself to stay fit while focusing on your studies. That’s why we’ve put together this list of the three absolute dorm room essentials for a well-functioning dorm and workout room.

With these three basic, stylish pieces in your space, you’ll be well-equipped to make working out in your dorm room so much easier.

Dorm Room Essential #1: Headboard

A headboard with a faux-leather or similar material will allow you the grip and friction necessary for safe and effective workouts in your dorm room. Image courtesy of OCM.

A customary dorm room bed, the kind designed to be easily lofted at various heights, will have only a frame for the mattress and four poles acting as supports.

When your bed is pushed up against a wall, you have an inevitable gap between the edge of your mattress and the wall. This setup puts you at a disadvantage, as many of the best and easiest workouts that happen in your room will use the wall as a support. That’s why you’ll definitely want a headboard for your dorm room bed.

With a sturdy backboard right there behind your pillow, you’ll find so many exercises more convenient to do right from your bed, as we’ll show you below with a few examples. See, usually, you’d need to free up a blank space on your wall to set up shop, using the floor and the wall as a 90-degree angle to achieve a lot of bodyweight exercises.

With a headboard, you have the option to do those exercises from your bed. This is crucial for dorms with cramped living space, making every square foot of wall space incredibly valuable real estate for storage and decor.

Elevated-feet crunches

This elevated-feet crunching position works fine with shoes on a wall, but does just as well in bare feet or socks from the comfort of your bed. Image courtesy of Natalie Jill.

As fitness guru Natalie Jill demonstrates in the image above, a more advanced version of the classic abdominal crunch requires a space on the wall to place your feet.

For this exercise, a headboard makes a ton more sense for your dorm room. As we mentioned earlier, space on the wall is too valuable to leave open for workouts like these.

Even more than that, your headboard will make this exercise more convenient to crank out whenever you have a spare moment. (Because we all know that in college you’re constantly pressed for time. )

While you’re already lying in bed on your phone taking some break time, you’re in a prime position to post up for some crunches with your headboard already set to go. We’re guessing you’re going to find yourself chilling on your bed more often than the floor, and staying fit in college is all about making it as easy as possible for yourself to take care of your body.

Wall plank

Another twist on a classic position is a wall plank, which takes extra strength and endurance to achieve.

This move takes advantage of a feature of the particular headboard shown above which is upholstered with faux-leather. This material can provide friction against bare feet, making it easier and safer to achieve a wall plank.

We’re guessing you won’t want to bring shoes into your bed and dirty your linens, so a faux-leather headboard makes a ton of sense for working out in your room with only bare feet. You can also see some possible alterations to the classic plank in the photo above.

Dorm Room Workout Essential #2: Ottoman/Storage Box

Here pictured is two storage ottomans together. Chances are just one will do the trick for your dorm room storage and workout needs. Image courtesy of The Home Depot.

The next on our list of dorm room essentials is a sturdy ottoman or storage box.

Sturdy really is the keyword here. This particular storage box has a 500 pound weight capacity, meaning you won’t break it while exercising and risk your own safety.

A purchase like this piece is smart on several levels; you’ve bought yourself a chair, a storage unit and a workout bench all rolled into one. As we’ve emphasized before, storage is key. Set yourself up for success in your space management and your healthy lifestyle by investing in a simple, strong storage box.

Tricep dips

This move is a basic workout essential that works great with a sturdy ottoman or storage box.

Many people opt to place their weight in their hands on a desk chair. We do not recommend relying on this approach given that your desk chair in a dorm room will usually be issued by your university. Therefore, you have no way of knowing ahead of time it its construction is comfortable for tricep dips or well-weighted to keep itself from slipping around on the floor while you’re dipping.

When it comes down to it, your standard desk chair wasn’t built for dynamic movement. It’s made to be sat in, stationary and without the center of mass moving around. It’s also worth mentioning that the width of an office chair likely won’t be comfortable for someone with average to wide shoulders. That is, your hands will be forced to be closer together than is comfortable and your shoulder blades will be squeezed together. A wide, heavy-duty storage bench is much better suited to this kind of exercise in almost every way.

Elevated-feet push ups

Once again, this elevated-feet plank position can be performed on equipment at the gym. Yet, there’s no need to make the journey to your gym when you have a storage box that works just as well in your room. Image courtesy of Daily Burn.

If your storage box can hold 500 pounds, we’re betting it’ll be able to support your feet while you do some elevated-feet push ups, especially given that the majority of your weight will be in your arms. For added comfort, we recommend coupling your storage box with the next and final dorm room essential on our list.

Dorm Room Workout Essential #3: Plush Rug

Try a soft, thickly padded plush rug in your room, making rolling out a yoga mat seem silly and impractical. Image courtesy of Overstock.

A plush rug is perfect for any bodyweight exercise or yoga pose you would normally perform on a yoga mat. Instead of bringing a yoga mat with you to school that will take up precious storage space while not in use, a simple area rug can double as a mat and a permanent decoration.

Even if your dorm room is already carpeted, you’ll likely want the added comfort of a soft rug designed to be soft to the touch.

The rough, decades-old carpets customary in many university dorm rooms probably won’t be fun to spend much time on when exercising and a plush rug guarantees both softness and added cushion between you and the hard floor.

A rug is one of the biggest dorm room essentials and absolute must-have for a well-decorated living space. Making this purchase an easy ‘yes’ for all your aesthetic and athletic needs.

Yoga

Having to do your yoga on a hard floor can make working out in your dorm room very unappealing.

A plush rug easily remedies this issue and makes a permanent yoga mat right in the middle of your floor. Now, any time you feel like it, you’ll be ready to stretch out and relax from the comfort of your dorm room.

Sit-ups

A classic sit-up puts your bottom and your spine in contact with the floor. A plush rug will stop you from getting undue discomfort in these areas. Image courtesy of PopSugar Australia.

A favorite of ab-workout junkies and elementary school gym teachers alike, the sit-up. The sit-up is a perfect example of a move that demands cushioning on your floor whether from a rug or mat.

Your spine and tailbone can become sore quickly from sit-ups performed on a hard floor like hardwood or thin carpet. Use a plush rug in place of a yoga mat for a functional, well-decorated dorm room that doubles as your personal gym.

What do all of these great pieces have in common? They make your workout life easier while also making your dorm room look amazing.

Don’t waste time in your day trekking down to the university weight room; everything you need to stay fit in college can be right there in your dorm room.