We’ve seen an explosion of home gyms in the last year. If you’re looking to define a workout area in your home there are many options. Today, we’re taking a closer look at one of those options for the best rubber flooring for home gyms.
Rubber flooring is a great solution for your home gym, whether your gym is in your garage, basement, attic, or you need to carve out a little workout space in your apartment.
Let’s bounce!
There are three types of rubber flooring.
Rubber Rolls
Rubber Floor Mats
Rubber Tiles
This is a great question, and we get it a lot.
There is no ‘one size fits all’ for home gym rubber flooring thickness. However, there are few guidelines that you can follow to get the right thickness for your home gym. Here’s how we like to think of it.
No matter which rubber flooring you decide upon; rubber rolls, rubber mats, or rubber tiles, one of the most important factors is thickness.
If you’re going to be using weights on the rubber flooring, be sure that your flooring choice is at least 1 / 4 inch thick. If you’re going to be doing agility training, or high impact training of any kind, the thicker the better. Go as thick as your budget will allow. Your feet and joints will thank you.
Rubber Home Gym Flooring Ideas
You can use rubber flooring under treadmills, as a yoga mat, under weights to protect your floor from drops, and as an agility training surface.
Best Rubber Mats For Home Gyms
If you’ve got a smaller space for your home gym, we love the rubber mat as a potential flooring option. There’s certainly no easier install than simply laying down a mat and creating an instant spot for home workouts.
If you’re lucky enough to have a larger space for your home gym, rubber mats are also great for defining separate workout stations.
And again, be sure to consider thickness. Thicker mats not only feel more comfortable underfoot, but they also can stand up to the abuse of dropped weights.
Our pick for favorite rubber mat is the 3/4 inch 4 ft x 6 ft mat. There’s also a 4 ft x 8 ft version if you’re covering a larger area but for many home gyms the 4 ft version is the right tool for the job. We particularly like the rubber mat option for creating a little space in home gyms in cramped apartments.
Best Rubber Floor Tiles for Home Gym
Our favorite rubber flooring tile for home gyms is the Mega Lock 30 x 30 x 3/4 tile. The thick 3 / 4 inch height gives great support for agility workouts.
The interlocking tabs make installing the floor a breeze, but more importantly, once those tiles are placed together, they stay together.
The 3/4 inch thick tiles also provides protection against dropped weights. (Super important.)
A half inch thick version is available, however, the price increase to upgrade to the 3 / 4 inch tile is pretty insignificant. That’s why we recommend just going with the 3 / 4 inch tile.
These tiles are beefy, and they’re going to be much better than you find in the ‘home depot rubber flooring’ section.
Best Rubber Rolls For Home Gym Flooring
We like rubber rolls for home gym flooring because you can cover a large area fairly quickly, and inexpensively. Rubber rolls are one of the most affordable home gym flooring options available.
Rubber rolls are sold in 4 ft widths and virtually any length, so you may need to do some trimming on site.
We’re a broken record by now, but be sure to find a rubber roll that is no less than a quarter of an inch.
Because they’re easy to roll out over large areas. They’re our favorite home gym flooring over concrete. You can quickly tape them together to give yourself a level surface. A little double sided seaming tape will keep your new gym surface from shifting underfoot.
Our favorite rubber roll for home gym flooring is the Isometric SportFloor. We suggest going with at least 1 / 4 inch, but the 1 / 2 inch is noticeably more comfortable.
Our Favorite Rubber Home Gym Flooring Over Hardwood
All three options will work on hardwood flooring. But our favorite rubber flooring for hardwood floors is the interlocking tiles because of the thicker options available.
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Our Favorite Rubber Home Gym Flooring Over Carpet
Once again all three rubber flooring options will work on carpeted home gyms. However, we really like individual mats for carpeted areas.
Here’s why.
Mats are easy to pick up and throw down. This gives you the ability to easily rotate the location of your home gym. Why is that important? Rotating the location is going to save on the wear and tear of any one carpeted area.
How to choose your fitness/gym flooring
Consider your main use and the level of use
When choosing the correct solution for your fitness space or gym there are a plethora of options available. This quickly becomes a distraction from your goal of selecting the best suited system that meets your specific needs. We advise focusing on your intended use and the level of impact as this determines the format and thickness of rubber you require. Please see a basic guide as follows:-
Activities
From 4mm - Cardio Activities, Spinning, Yoga, Physiotherapy, Subfloor Protection
From 6mm - General Fitness, Aerobics,
From 8mm - General Fitness, Functional Training, Martial Arts
From 10mm - General Fitness, Indoor Golf
From 15mm - Cardio & Strength, Functional Training, Free Weights (Max 110kg)
From 20mm - Cardio & Strength, Functional Training, Free Weights (Max 140kg), Crossfit
From 30mm - Cardio & Strength, Functional Training, Free Weights (Max 200kg), Crossfit
From 40mm - Cardio & Strength, Functional Training, Free Weights (Max 250kg), Crossfit, Weightlifting
From 50mm & 60mm - Cardio & Strength, Functional Training, Free Weights (Max 300kg), Crossfit, Weightlifting
Rolls or Tiles?
This is a common dilemma among our customers as they decide on what is the best option for their specific space. The answer is, they are both suitable for all types of spaces and it is really down to personal preference in terms of aesthetics, method of fitting, time and cost. Rolls are cost-efficient and most suited to larger areas for protecting the subfloor with equipment and machines or for lighter, general fitness. Our tile format tends to come in higher thicknesses to withstand zones where there is heavier weight use and high impact training for increased shock absorption. Both options are simple to install and do not require a specialist fitter.
What is the best for safety and performance?
All of our tiles and rolls hold the deliverables to guarantee safety and maximise performance. The most important characteristics of a rubber gym floor are shock absorption, resilience, resistance to heavy loads, water and slippage, friction, durability and sound insulation. Sprung ® ensures that our HD rubber solutions equally make the grade whether you have a small, low impact exercise studio or a high traffic, multi purpose sports facility.