Hey there, fitness enthusiasts! Let’s talk about one of the unsung heroes of home and garage gyms: gym flooring. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “Flooring? Really?” But trust me, my friends, gym flooring is an absolute game-changer. It’s like having a trusty sidekick that protects your flooring from the perils of heavy weights, heavy equipment, and intense workouts. It’s not just about protection, though. Gym flooring offers a plethora of benefits that make it an essential addition to any home gym.
Gym flooring is necessary for home or garage gyms due to the numerous benefits it provides. It offers protection for both the equipment and the floor, reduces noise, enhances grip during exercises, is hygienic with easy cleaning, provides comfort and cushioning for high-impact movements, and more.
Gym flooring offers a wealth of benefits that make it an essential addition to any home gym. From safeguarding your equipment and reducing noise to enhancing grip, promoting hygiene, and providing comfort during high-impact movements, gym flooring truly elevates your workout experience. Let’s dive deeper into the reasons why gym flooring is a necessary investment for your home or garage gym.
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Why Gym Flooring Is Necessary In Home Gyms
Whether you’re building a gym in your garage, basement, or spare bedroom, gym flooring is always a good idea. And you should lay it before putting any other equipment in since that makes it much easier.
Gym flooring does quite a few things for a home workout room that are hard to go without;
- Protection
- Added safety
- Noise reduction
- Grip
- Hygiene
- Comfort
- Temperature and moisture resistance
- Aesthetics
- Impact and vibration reduction
You can see proper gym flooring does a lot that isn’t only useful in commercial gyms but also very welcome in any kind of home gym. Let’s dive a little deeper into what these benefits exactly are.
Or click here to find the best gym flooring for home and garage gyms.
Protection
Gym flooring provides protection for both your exercise equipment and the underlying floor surface. It can help prevent damage to the floor from heavy weights, exercise machines, or other equipment. Additionally, gym flooring can act as a cushioning layer, reducing the impact and potential for damage caused by dropping weights.
Carpet, hardwood, tiles, and concrete floors can easily get damaged by heavy equipment and dropped weights. Putting a layer of gym flooring on top helps preserve the floor underneath. That way you can just remove the gym flooring when it’s not necessary anymore and you’ll have good flooring underneath.
In some cases, flooring that’s too hard can also damage your gym equipment. Think about the rubber covers of weight plates and dumbbells.
Safety
Gym flooring can improve safety by providing a non-slip surface, reducing the risk of falls and injuries during workouts. It can also help absorb impact and reduce strain on joints and muscles, making exercises more comfortable and less prone to injuries.
The damping also helps prevent the weights from rolling away after you drop them to some degree.
Here are 6 ways proper gym flooring makes a home gym safer.
Noise reduction
If you live in an apartment building or have neighbors close by, gym flooring can help dampen noise produced by workouts. It can reduce the sound of weights being dropped or heavy footsteps, making your exercise space more considerate to those around you.
Read more about how to use gym flooring to reduce noise in this article.
Grip
Gym flooring can provide extra grip during workouts. The materials commonly used for gym flooring, such as rubber or textured surfaces, offer improved traction compared to many other types of flooring. This enhanced grip helps to prevent slipping or sliding, providing stability and safety while performing exercises.
Rubber flooring, in particular, is known for its excellent grip properties. It has a naturally high coefficient of friction, which means it provides a secure footing and helps prevent accidents caused by sudden movements or loss of balance.
You don’t want to lose your footing with a heavy barbell on your back. Especially tiles and concrete can be very slippery so putting an extra layer on top is much better.
Hygiene
Gym flooring is typically easy to clean and maintain, especially if you choose materials designed for that purpose. Sweating during workouts is common, and gym flooring can make it easier to wipe away or clean up any moisture or spills.
Rubber for example can just be swept and mopped like a normal floor. That makes cleaning up a whole lot easier. And since a gym is usually a pretty sweaty place, it’s important to clean regularly to prevent mold and other nasty things from growing.
Comfort
Gym flooring provides an extra layer of cushioning, making your workouts more comfortable, especially for exercises that involve jumping or high-impact movements. The shock-absorbing properties of materials like rubber or foam reduce the strain on your joints, allowing you to perform exercises with reduced risk of discomfort or injury.
On the flip side, you don’t want it to be so soft that it becomes harder to balance yourself with heavy weights. For that reason, soft foam is not a great flooring material for gyms where heavy weights are lifted.
Temperature and moisture resistance
Depending on your location or the specific area where your gym is set up, temperature and moisture can be factors to consider. Gym flooring made from materials like rubber is resistant to temperature fluctuations and can handle exposure to moisture or humidity without warping or deteriorating.
This makes it suitable for garage and basement gyms or other areas where temperature and humidity levels may vary.
Wondering if gym flooring is waterproof? I’ve written an in-depth article about that topic. Click the link if you’re interested.
Aesthetics
If you want to create an appealing and visually cohesive workout space, gym flooring can contribute to the overall aesthetics. With various color options and designs available, you can choose flooring that complements your personal style or matches the theme of your gym. This can help create an inviting and motivating atmosphere for your workouts.
Impact and vibration reduction
Gym flooring can help reduce the impact and vibrations caused by heavy exercise equipment, such as treadmills or weightlifting machines. This not only protects the floor but also minimizes the transmission of vibrations to other parts of your home or adjacent rooms, reducing the potential for disturbance or annoyance to others.
When You Don’t Need Gym Flooring
While gym flooring can offer numerous benefits, there are situations where it may not be necessary to have gym flooring in a home gym. Here are a few instances where you may not need dedicated gym flooring:
- Existing suitable flooring: If your gym already has some kind of suitable flooring, it’s not always necessary to use special gym flooring on top of that. The flooring should be resilient, impact resistant, and easy to clean. It depends on the exact type of workout you’re going to do what is necessary.
- Low-impact workouts: If your workout routine primarily involves low-impact exercises such as yoga, Pilates, stretching, or bodyweight exercises, the need for gym flooring may be minimal. These activities typically don’t involve heavy weights or require extensive movement that may cause damage to the floor or necessitate extra cushioning. A yoga mat is usually enough. You do want something that’s easy to clean though. Sweating a lot on carpet is not hygienic and hard to clean.
- Light equipment usage: If you’re using lightweight exercise equipment like resistance bands, small dumbbells, or a yoga mat, the impact on the floor is generally minimal. In such cases, the flooring surface may be able to handle the load without the need for additional protection. Light dumbbells with a rubber casing are also unlikely to damage the floor, even when dropped.
- Temporary or portable setup: If you have a temporary or portable home gym setup, such as using foldable equipment or exercising in a versatile space like a living room, you may not need dedicated gym flooring. In these situations, you can use exercise mats or rugs to provide a non-slip surface and protect the underlying floor temporarily.
- Budget constraints: Gym flooring can be an additional expense, especially if you’re on a tight budget. If your flooring is in good condition, and you’re comfortable with the level of protection and safety it offers, investing in gym flooring may not be a priority. However, you can choose to just put flooring in a small part of the gym that sees the heaviest usage. That way you spend less but still get most of the benefits.
