If you are looking to build your home gym, or already have the home gym built you are probably in one of two categories. The first is that you have converted your a room in your house (maybe your office) into your workout area, or either your garage, but have not decided on flooring yet. The other is that you have not set up anything yet, and are looking for options of flooring to put in. You could work out in your garage or room with just the concrete slab or wood sub-floor showing, but this is both dangerous to your home, as well as your exercise equipment. It is not comfortable, and is cold. Lets take a look at the best home gym flooring for almost anywhere in your house!
The BEST Home Gym Flooring Available
When it comes down to it, the best flooring for any gym is going to be the one you see at a commercial gym in your area. You know the type. They are usually very hard, do not have any pieces that fit together, and is made out of some sort of rubber. This is hands down the best flooring option if you want it to look great, and hold up for a long time without breaking down. Keep in mind that you will need to have a bit of money to spend on this and it is in no way cheap. After I go over the commercial option, I will also mention some flooring for your gym that is a cheaper alternative, although not as durable.
Flooring Options For Your Gym
Heavy Duty Commercial
The first type I want to talk about is the commercial flooring that are typically found in big gyms across the world. These are expensive, extremely durable, and are a hard rubber. They also look amazing.
Elephant Bark Flooring
This option is really in the middle of the road when it comes to pricing but is one of the nicest looking and most sturdy flooring options available. You can get it in 6 different colors and it comes in a 3/8 inch which is almost double the thickness of other floors you could be putting down to protect your house. Keep in mind that the Elephant Bark is sold in rolls and not tiles. This means you can easily roll it out onto your floor and then cut to your desired dimensions.
If you want to get someone to install this for you, it will cost even more than what you have to pay to get the elephant bark. I would highly suggest doing it yourself. This is fairly easy because it comes with commercial double sided carpet tape on the backside. Simply remove the layer protecting the tape, and stick it on the floor! Remember to remove any flooring such as carpet you may already have down.
This is probably my favorite gym flooring because it is not some of those flimsy tiles you have probably seen.
You can find Elephant Bark flooring right here.
Stall Mats
The best home gym flooring is going to be the flooring that you can afford on your budget to protect your precious home. The next best alternative to commercial flooring are going to be the stall mats. These are probably almost as good and a ton of people I know with home gyms use these.
What these are generally used for are horses! They are placed in trailers so the horses do not ruin them. You know if a thousand pound animal tramples all over these, they are going to be great in your garage. They are also a lot less money!
Stall mats are a very easy gym flooring to install. Simply place them on the ground anywhere you need to protect, and you are done. If you use more than 1 mat to cover your entire area, you can easily cut them to fit anywhere, or where equipment touches the floor. If you do need to cut the mats, I would suggest a jigsaw or scroll saw to ensure you make even cuts.
You can get an excellent stall mat here.
Know that this option is about as durable as they come. If you go to some big gyms, you may see that they are using these stall mats around their facilities. Why are they not using the more expensive commercial flooring? Probably because these are just as good and for less money, they work!
The final thing to keep in mind when it comes to stall mats is they are made of hard rubber and are VERY heavy. Do not think you can just move these around with easy if you are not moderately strong. Each mat can weigh up to 100 or more pounds depending on what size you get.
Rubber/Foam Tiles
This is the final option and is the best for people who are really on a small budget but still need some type of protective flooring for their gym. These are generally made out of foam, are are square tiles that fit together like a puzzle. The best place I have found to get these is on amazon and they are very cheap. In fact, I would suggestion if you go this way, just purchase a few extra than you need so you have a few extra tiles to replace the old ones when they wear out.
If you like to lift big, you may want to stay away from these as they can be damaged when dropping heavy dumbbells or barbells on them. Some reviews on Amazon say to avoid them, but if you have a budget, you will need to make due.
These are easy to cut, but since they fit together like a puzzle, rarely will you be able to align them properly. Also know that some of the people that reviewed these products on amazon said that if you are doing exercises such as burpees, they may come apart. These are a very popular flooring option, but in my opinion, they are a terrible product and should be avoided.
You can find rubber tiles at a killer price here.
Final Thoughts
If you are going for a floor under equipment such as a treadmill or elliptical, you are perfectly fine going with some foam/rubber tiles that fit together like a puzzle. If you really do not want the floor to be moving when you are lifting heavy weight, then you should go with a heavy duty mat such as the stall mats, or even go all out on commercial flooring. The best gym home flooring you can put in is commercial, and after all, fitness should be a priority in your life!
Let us know what kind of flooring you went with in the comments below!
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