Luxury Living

The appeal of going to the gym and being able to get a full workout whenever it’s convenient was powerful, rolando says. Now, he, Bety and their two teenagers have ready access to whatever they might need to stay in shape. In addition to using the gym by himself, rolando also has a personal trainer who drops by three times a week, and having a personal trainer in the home is much more convenient than having to meet one at an outside gym, he says.

Pieces of equipment in the de Aguiar house include a frame housing both a heavy bag and a speed bag, a standard weight bench, a cross weight station, a treadmill, an elliptical, a racing bike on stationary frames, an inversion table, a floor bar setup for push-ups, a BoSU Ball (“my most hated piece of equipment,” r olando says) and a comprehensive, 27-position weight station.

The room is filled out by stability balls, shelves holding a variety of hand weights and posters on the walls depicting exercise options. A weight-shaped clock ensures no one loses track of time. And to keep gym users entertained, a very important aspect of the gym is affixed on the wall opposite the door: a flat-screen TV on which family members can watch DVDs or anything DVred on one of the house’s other TVs.

“Basically, I have everything here that I could find at any gym,” rolando says.

Though much of the equipment is packed closely together, nothing gets in the way – it’s all been arranged very carefully to avoid that problem. It helps that the four members of the household tend to use the gym at different times – Bety in the mornings, rolando in the evenings and the kids primarily on weekends, when their workouts won’t interfere with their extracurricular activities at school.

The only thing missing is a mirror, which rolando says he does not want –though Bety suggests it may be the next thing on her list, as it’s unlikely any more exercise equipment will be added.

“I don’t think that we can fit anything else in here, unfortunately,” she says.

rolando isn’t intimidated by the numbers game – he uses every piece of equipment in the basement, he says, with the exception of the inversion table, which makes him sick to his stomach. And he has some exercises, like his twice-weekly yoga, that don’t even require equipment.