Yoga Mat Storage / Treadmill table

I’m in the midst of a home gym makeover for my parents and in doing so I noticed that they were missing an essential piece of “equipment”… something for yoga mat storage and/or a treadmill table.

No, they aren’t yogi’s, but they do “enjoy” walking on the treadmill or riding the stationary bike, so even without yoga mat storage they still needed a treadmill-height table to rest their drinks and sweaty towels on. If you’ve always wanted to get a treadmill to improve your fitness but not sure where to start, check out somewhere like Buyer’s Impact who outline what the best treadmills are to give you some guidance! Adding rungs for barbells, foam rollers and/or yoga mats just seemed like a good way to maximize the use, so I created this simple, space-saving yoga mat storage rack to act as a multi-purpose piece for their home gym.

The legs and frame are made from 2″ x 2″ lumber that I shaved down on the table saw. You don’t have to do this, I just wanted my piece to look a little ‘sleeker’ without the typical rounded edges found on builder’s grade wood. I set my table saw to 1/8″ and shaved the rounded edges off of two opposite sides. This will give you pieces that are 1 ½” by approximately 1″.

Yoga mat storage rack / Treadmill table

4 pieces 1″ x 2″ cut to 43 ¼” long (I used shaved 1×2’s)
4 pieces 1″ x 2″ cut to 20″ long (shaved 1 x 2’s)
4 pieces 1″ x 2″ cut to 8 ¼” long
1 piece 1″ x 12″ cut to 24″ long
1 piece 1″ x 12″ cut to 23″ by ~10 ¼” (this piece will be notched at a later step)

Start by building the frame for your yoga storage rack; I used wood glue and pocket hole screws to hold the 20″ side braces to the legs, but this is up to you. Wood glue and nails, or wood screws drilled in from the outside will work as well. The bottom brace is set 2″ up from the bottom. Repeat for the second side.

Attach the smaller 8 ¼” braces between the two frames, with wood glue and screws/nails, check for square, and your basic frame is done.

Mark the underside of your table top (24 ” x 11 ¼”) in about a half-inch on all sides. This will give your treadmill table a bit of a lip. Glue and nail to the frame with 1 ¼” finishing nails.

Mark your lower shelf by placing the table on top of it and then tracing out where the legs land. Use a jig saw to cut these notches out.

Place your bottom shelf on the bottom braces and glue and nail into place.

Now come your storage shelves; you could easily fit 4 yoga mats on this rack, but for my purposes I only needed two – one for a yoga mat, one for a foam roller and the extra space will be used to hold dumbells.

The rack sections were made from scrap 1″ x 3″ wood I had in the garage, cut to 8 ¼” long. I then traced out a half circle onto each board making sure to leave at least 1″ at the bottom. If you are making this home gym storage rack to hold barbells, you’ll want your boards thicker and with a thicker base to be able to hold the extra weight.

I cut my half circles with a jig saw, sanded smooth and then attached them to the treadmill table frame with wood glue and finishing nails (use screws for dumbells). My shelves are spaced with about 12″ between each.

Sand smooth with 120 grit then 220 grit and prime (or stain).

I painted my yoga mat storage rack black because I wanted it to recede from view. This is just a storage piece and so I didn’t want it to stand out amongst the equipment.

The overall height of 44″ is perfect for setting next to a treadmill or stationary bike because you can easily reach your drink without bending or reaching. The narrow 11 ¼” width means your treadmill table tucks neatly beside your machine and doesn’t use up much of your home gym ‘real estate’.

You can see that there is plenty of room for another yoga mat even with the dumbells stored on the bottom shelf.

This yoga mat storage rack will eventually fit in between the treadmill and bike so that two people working out can share the table top for drinks and remote controls.

When I started photographing my treadmill table / yoga mat storage rack idea for this blog post, my parent’s home gym was burgundy and purple. When I took my last photos, it was beige and white. (I mentioned that I’m in the midst of painting for them)