Determining the Flooring You Need for Your Home Gym So you’ve decided to create your own gym at hom…

[John Spencer Ellis]

Determining the Flooring You Need for Your Home Gym

So you’ve decided to create your own gym at home. Good for you for taking one of the smartest, most proactive steps you can take towards developing and maintaining a healthier lifestyle! There are many benefits to having a gym in your home; there is no commute, its open 24 hours a day and seven days a week, and you don’t have to wait in line for equipment. A home gym allows you to eliminate the number one reason people’s workout intentions fail: Not enough time! A well-designed home gym that has the look and feel of a commercial gym will go a long way toward allowing you and your family to meet your fitness goals.

The first thing that must be considered when piecing your home gym together is a solid foundation, literally. You have to have the proper floor to ensure that your equipment will sit properly and that no damage is done to the existing floor. Whether it’s the concrete floors in your basement the garage or expensive wood or stone floors, the floor always needs protection from heavy free weights strength or cardio equipment.. Drawing on over 40 years of experience manufacturing and developing gym flooring for health clubs, country clubs, and universities worldwide, My Gym Floor has created an innovative line of flooring that’s designed specifically for home gyms. With this much experience, it is no wonder that My Gym Floor is now able to provide a myriad of different options to the general public. There are a wide range of available materials and sizes, grades ranging from Olympic to Health Club to Value, and a variety of unique interlocking systems. Most importantly, My Gym Floor has been designed to provide customers with the knowledge and information they require to make informed decisions.

For free weight areas, rubber flooring is designed to be resistant to slipping not only dry but more importantly wet conditions which all too often occur due when users sweat. You even have the choice between virgin or recycled rubber both of which have their benefits. Virgin rubber is much more upscale, is completely odor-free, offers better fit and finish and comes in a wide range of colors and styles, including seamless interlocks. Recycled rubber is tough, durable, and less expensive flooring that is made from previously used rubber- primarily tires- which gives it its characteristic odor. For this reason, it is better suited for use in garages and basements and similar environments- particularly if you are sensitive to its inherent odor. Virgin rubber tiles are the best choice for bedroom or home office conversions, or any situation where the home gym will be in the main living area. Whichever type of rubber you choose, both types have the capacity easily absorb impact from dropped weights and rebound to its original size without damage to your equipment or the floor underneath. Rubber provides excellent sound deadening properties- especially important if you are sharing a building with others. Rubber also holds up very well under the heaviest weight benches- even over a prolonged period of time. Strength and cardio equipment also requires flooring that is slip resistant that will keep equipment in securely in place and will prevent you from slipping when getting onto and off of your equipment. Installing rubber flooring wall to wall in a home gym provides greater safety, comfort and flexibility than installing lightweight fitness mats under your fitness equipment and is recommended.

Aerobic, Jazzercize, and Dance-style workouts require a type of floor that is not as resilient and provides a firmer surface that can support dance moves. My Gym Floor make innovative, modular vinyl and vinyl laminate flooring to allow better side to side foot sliding motion than rubber. Many vinyl tiles are manufactured to provide similar performance properties to the hardwood flooring that would be found at a gym or studio, but without the cost, maintenance or limitations of hardwood flooring: vinyl and vinyl laminate are water resistant whereas hardwood is not and can be used in areas where hardwood simply cannot be used. Whatever functionality you are seeking in setting up your home gym, My Gym Floor provides a lot of options from which to choose, and price points that will suit your budget.


Choosing the Right Color and Style of Flooring for Your Home Gym

Let’s face it. If you are going to put in the effort to include a gym floor in your home, your number one concern is obviously functionality. This does not, however, mean that you have to throw fashion and style by the wayside. My Gym Floor makes it easy for you to choose colors and styles that will suit your needs for your home gym. It is very important to the long-term success of your fitness program that your home gym is a place that makes you happy to go to. It is easy to find reasons not to exercise; however if your gym is designed to reflect your style and interests and tastes, you will be far more likely to use it and succeed.

There are a number of different options for material but the most popular are rubber and vinyl. You can choose either virgin or recycled rubber, both of which have many benefits. Virgin rubber is considerably more expensive, odor-free, easy to clean, and available in a much larger range of styles and colors. Many virgin rubber tiles are available with seamless tongue and groove- style interlocks that provide crisp, straight edges that are ideal for multi color layouts and provide a more upscale look than traditional jig-saw- style interlocks. Recycled rubber is available in either solid black or black with color flecks, only. The jig saw style interlocks work best in single color layouts. If a wide choice in colors is not an important consideration, recycled rubber tiles provide a less expensive alternative to have the benefits of rubber flooring in your home gym. Rubber is recommended for free weight, strength, and cardio equipment areas. Vinyl option it is not quite as resilient as rubber and is recommended for court-like floors for dance and aerobic-type activities. They even come in several wood finish options for a true court-like appearance such as what you would find in a gym or health club. Some vinyl tiles are available with attractive carpet surfaces, allowing you to maintain a soft carpeted look in a home office, while still providing the comfort and stability of modular vinyl tiles. The newest trend in upscale home gyms is commercial grade vinyl laminate flooring which provides exceptional heavy duty performance in today’s hottest flooring styles, ranging from cork, to bamboo, to hardwoods, to slate. These beautiful modular tiles provide a seamless appearance and can used in the most demanding conditions.

My Gym Floor provides several different grades from Olympic to Health Club to Value as well as a range of different interlocking systems for the tiles and numerous color options. You have free reign over going monotone or mixing and matching as much as you want. Some customers have even chosen two colors to represent their favorite college or professional sports team!

If you are a novice to not only gym flooring but interior design as well, My Gym Floor’s website has an incredible online tool called My Floor Planner. This easy to use tool helps you choose the right materials and custom design your floor in any style, pattern or colors you choose to create! All you have to do is enter the dimensions of your room and it will determine how many tiles are needed. It’s never been easier to design a gym floor that not only meets your fitness needs, but allows you to create a space that reflects your unique sense of style. Try it and you’ll see why My Gym Floor is the web’s best resource of home gym flooring.