Stephanie Zambra Stephanie Zambra

From International Footballer to Home Gym Owner From International Footballer to Home Gym Owner

What You Need to Know When Building Your Own Home Gym

From an international football career to coaching, and soon to motherhood, Stephanie Zambra wanted a home gym that could keep up with her. In a 7m x 4m room, Stephanie and her husband Dean - both football coaches - put together a considered and complete strength setup anchored around a power rack and dumbbell station, so that training never has to compete with a busy schedule again.

Stephanie's Experience with McSport

The Overview

Location: Co. Wicklow

Seomra size: 7m x 4m

Key items:

F200 Power Rack
Hit Fitness Hex Dumbbells - 12 Pairs | 5kg to 25kg
Hit Fitness SB30 Home Weight Bench
Hit Fitness G7 PRO Indoor Exercise Bike

The Background

Sport and fitness has been part of Stephanie's life for 20 - 25 years. She's a former international professional footballer, retiring from playing in 2024.

Since retiring, Stephanie went straight into coaching alongside her husband Dean, also a football coach. Wanting to stay as fit as possible without a season to train for, she found it could be difficult to stay motivated - which is what set her on the path to building a home gym.

The Challenge

Without a team programme to train for, Stephanie needed a home gym that gave her no excuses. To build a space that worked for her, Stephanie needed to:

Source a good range of equipment rather than a single focus area
Prioritise the key items - a squat rack and dumbbells with rack setup - that both she and Dean would use in their daily training
Build a gym that would fit around two busy schedules, including Dean's full-time job.

The Solution

Having trained specifically for football throughout her career, Stephanie and Dean already had a clear sense of the equipment that would serve them best, so they went online and ordered it themselves:

Easy to find and order the specific equipment they wanted online
Clear communication when contacted about items out of stock
Fast turnaround once everything was back in stock.

The Result

The investment paid off immediately for Stephanie and Dean's busy lifestyle:

Having it on the doorstep, with no excuses - for a coaching couple with a full-time job and busy schedules between them, that's made all the difference in staying consistent
A gym built for range rather than one sport, supporting her shift from football-specific training to general fitness and wellbeing
A space Stephanie can return to quickly to retrain postpartum, once she's ready.

Stephanies’s Philosophy Stephanies’s Philosophy

"Control the controllable". Something Stephanie carried through her football career — there's so much in sport that's out of your control, so she focuses on doing the right things and preparing the right way, and leaves the rest to fate. "Control the controllable". Something Stephanie carried through her football career — there's so much in sport that's out of your control, so she focuses on doing the right things and preparing the right way, and leaves the rest to fate.

Advice For Home Gym Builders

Stephanie's advice for anyone fitting out a home gym:

You don't need a huge space to get a complete setup
Prioritise the right core equipment - a rack, a bench, dumbbells - compliment the room with accessories like resistance bands.

Q: What equipment do I need for a home gym?

Choose equipment based on the type of training you enjoy and the space you have available. Stephanie built her home gym around a power rack, bench and dumbbells, adding an exercise bike for cardio. The result is a versatile setup that supports both strength and conditioning around the way she trains.

Q: How much space do I need for a home gym?

The space you need depends on how you train and the equipment you want to include. A simple setup with dumbbells and a bench needs much less room than a power rack or treadmill, so start by measuring your available space and allowing enough room to use each piece safely.

Think about how you’ll move through the space too. Stephanie and Dean built their 7m x 4m gym around key strength and cardio equipment, while wall-mounted storage helped keep equipment organised and floor space clear.

Q: How should I plan a home gym layout?

Think about the flow of your workouts as well as where each piece of equipment will fit. Position larger items such as racks, benches and cardio machines with enough space around them to train safely, and consider vertical or wall-mounted storage to keep weights and accessories organised.

In their gym, Stephanie and Dean used wall-mounted storage to keep equipment off the floor, creating a more open and practical training area.

Planning a home gym of your own?

Explore the full home gym range, visit our showroom in Robinhood, Dublin 22, or speak to our team on 📞 (01) 293 0005 for advice on choosing the right equipment for your space and training goals.