Introduction

There are many components to consider before designing a locker room for your gym. The most important are the locker room size, showers, mirrors and lighting. Future gym owners neglect to give lighting much importance at first. However, it significantly impacts customers’ experience in your fitness centre. Changing rooms with good lighting can set the right atmosphere and enhance the overall experience, but poorly chosen and set up lighting can cause discomfort and turn the customers off. Nevertheless, how to choose the lighting for a health club locker room?

When choosing the type of light bulb, we recommend LED because it saves a significant amount on energy bills and delivers efficient illumination. To determine the correct light, you have to consider which area you are lighting up; for example, near the shower area, the light has to be bright to provide good visibility to avoid accidents due to a slippery floor. Moreover, you must decide on your locker room’s colour temperature. To create a comforting and relaxing atmosphere, you should opt for 2700K to 3200K because that will provide you with warm and bright light for good visibility.

In this article, we will tell you how to best plan the lighting design in your locker room to effectively use your resources, create a comforting ambience and attract more customers. We will also explain what to avoid when setting up the light, which type of light bulbs to use and why the colour temperature plays an important role when choosing the proper lighting.

Positioning of the light

It is best to set up a brighter light for security measures in the shower area near the mirrors and sinks. The floor near the showers could be slippery, so it’s essential that this area is well-lit. The same goes for areas with mirrors and sinks because customers need better vision.  

Light reflection in the mirrors

You should also take into account how lights will reflect in the mirrors. There are plenty of mirrors in the gym locker room. If positioned poorly, the lights reflect from the mirrors and cause an uncomfortable blinding glare for customers. We recommend that you avoid putting the lights too close to the mirrors and choose LED bulbs for your locker room because they are known to be stable.  

Using LED lights

LED lights are good for many reasons and could serve several purposes. They consume less energy and can save you up to 90% on those bills whilst providing quality lighting and long-lasting capacity.

It is a common misconception that LED lights lack brightness and are blunt. LED bulbs are safer than regular ones because they don’t contain toxic chemicals. They also don’t overheat, making climate control more efficient. They offer a wide variety of options and colour temperatures so that you can find them for your needs. 

Colour temperature

Colour temperature is crucial when choosing lights because it will determine whether your lighting is bright and warm or cold and dim. colour temperature is a metric used to describe the intensity of the light from the source. It is measured in degrees of Kelvin (K) on the scale from 1000K to 10000K. For reference, a light that is 1000-2000K is pretty dim and looks as bright as a candle; 2000-4500K is a warm light, moderately bright, that you can find in most households; a colour temperature of 5500K and above is a very cold light mainly used in hospitals.  

We recommend using different colour temperatures depending on the area of your locker room you are trying to illuminate. A colour temperature from 2700K to 3500K so that the lighting is bright enough and the guests can see adequately and warm enough to maintain a comforting ambience. For instance, in changing rooms, the customers need good vision to change and get dressed comfortably. Dimming the lights in the showers is dangerous because it increases the risk of someone slipping and falling. For that reason, the colour temperature should be at least 3400K. When it comes to lighting up the general area of the locker room, our advice would be to opt for 2000/3200K to create a relaxing and comforting atmosphere so that after the training, the customers can have the best experience possible and want to come back to your fitness centre.  

Conclusion

Planning out the design so that it looks stylish and professional could be a daunting task. You have to consider many elements, and proper lighting is one of the most important. Not only do you have to choose the right light bulbs, but you also have to consider how you position your light, colour temperature, reflections from the mirrors and which areas of the locker room should be lightened up brighter. To execute such a project, you must gather the right materials and contact reliable suppliers. 

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Disclaimer: The opinions and positions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and collaborators and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the professional fitness community.