Budgeting for gym flooring is one of the most crucial factors for commercial gym owners. After all, the initial costs of installing high-quality gym flooring in a commercial fitness facility are notoriously expensive. And, without appropriate flooring for gym zones, weights rooms, cardio areas, and other high-traffic areas, your gym floor will underperform, impacting your business and membership base.
The good news is that investing in new gym flooring is possible without breaking the bank. The right budgeting strategies can get the best bang for your buck without compromising quality.
How can you budget for new gym flooring to match the needs of your gym? What are the best cost-effective flooring solutions for your requirements without sacrificing durability or performance? This article discusses how you can maximize your budget and make the most of your investment in gym flooring.
Budgeting for gym flooring requires understanding the actual costs of installing, maintaining, and repairing the floor.
The costs of installing gym flooring encompass material choice, square footage, installation labor, underlayment, and any specialized flooring materials. Additionally, local labor rates and supplier choices also impact initial costs.
However, gym flooring costs go beyond the initial upfront cost. It’s vital to factor in maintenance, cleaning, and repairs to protect the floor’s lifespan. Therefore, it’s vital to consider all factors to determine the most accurate cost for your gym floor project.
Choosing durable materials at the outset significantly impacts the floor’s lifespan. For example, durable options like high-quality hardwood or rubber gym flooring have higher upfront costs. However, these durable materials last many years, reducing repairs and long-term expenses.
Conversely, cheaper options, like foam mats or vinyl in a workout space, are cheaper to install. However, their poor durability means the floor surface gets damaged faster. Therefore, they are costlier over time due to the need for replacements and repairs.
Maintaining gym flooring on a limited budget is possible by prioritizing the most important zones. For instance, areas with heavy cardio equipment, rowing machines, or weight benches need a robust underlying floor and high-quality rubber flooring. However, in less important areas, you may be able to install cheaper flooring materials.
First, identify areas needing immediate attention. Look for areas where rubber tiles are worn or torn, or floorboards are loose. Timely repairs or replacements in worn or damaged areas ensure safer workouts, prevent accidents, and maintain the gym’s functionality. Ultimately, it extends the flooring’s lifespan, reducing long-term maintenance costs.
When prioritizing zones for gym flooring on a budget, consider the following order:
Gym floor surfaces must be appropriate to the activities. For example, bodyweight training areas should have shock-absorbent surfaces to protect the underlying floor from damage. However, solid flooring is necessary to withstand the weight of equipment in a fitness facility.
Here is a brief overview of the range of materials popular for specific gym zones:
Consider multi-purpose flooring to get the best bang for your buck. This type of flooring is highly versatile, accommodating various workout activities. You cut costs because you don’t need separate flooring for different zones. It also allows you to buy in bulk, resulting in huge savings.
Why not consider ways to install a new gym floor but make smart savings at the same time? Here are a few ways to save on initial costs without compromising quality.
It makes sense to consider long-term factors of gym floor maintenance. This strategy ensures the initial investment pays off over time. It allows you to minimize the risk of frequent repairs or replacements. Therefore, it saves you time and money while maintaining a safe and appealing gym environment.
Here are two money-saving strategies for long-term gym floor care:
Budgeting for gym flooring is a long-term investment. Crucial factors in a budget must include materials, installation, and maintenance costs. Remember—choosing quality materials can help you avoid costly repairs in the future.
Having the best gym flooring you can afford boosts the reputation of your fitness facility. It boosts member satisfaction, increases revenues, and offers tremendous returns in the long run. If you’re looking for options for installing a commercial gym floor, contact J&J Gym Floors today. Our experienced team of professionals can help you find the best solution to fit your budget and maximize the return on your investment.
We test and review fitness products based on an independent, multi-point methodology. If you use our links to purchase something, we may earn a commission. Read our disclosures.
The foundation of every home gym is quite literally what’s on the floor. Our team bought and tested some of the best home gym flooring options (as well as some obscure mats) to determine what works best for most people. We used an in-depth equipment methodology to assess factors such as:
We have competitive weightlifters, CrossFitters, and many home gym owners on our team. We know that no two home gyms are alike. Some people lift weights in the garage, some do yoga in the living room, and some turn an upstairs bedroom into a high-intensity cardio studio.
We found the best soundproof exercise mats, tiles, and even vinyl planks so you can determine what works best for your workout space. You might be utilizing a yoga mat or whatever flooring you have in your home right now, depending on your setup. However, if you truly want to improve your at-home gym area, investing in a new gym floor can significantly improve your training results.
Good for: People willing to spend a little more money on the best garage gym flooring
Best Rubber Gym Flooring Rolls
GGR Score: 4.7
Check PriceMade in USA
If you want flooring that is consistent, comes with more options, and often less smell than stall mats for your home gym, then Rubber Flooring Inc Rubber Rolls around 8mm or thicker is a great choice.
If you want flooring that is consistent, comes with more options, and often less smell than stall mats for your home gym, then Rubber Flooring Inc Rubber Rolls around 8mm or thicker is a great choice. This is actually the flooring that I have in my latest garage gym build. Although it’s not going to provide any further shock protection over stall mats, it does move less, has less off-gas, and overall has a more premium look and feel.
Relative to other rubber mats, this flooring is 8 millimeters. That’s slightly less than the horse stall mats and interlocking tiles. However, after using them for almost a year in my personal garage gym, I’ve become a fan. They hold up against all my gym and cardio equipment and have enough cushioning to protect my floor. Also, these are the same mats most often used in commercial gym applications.
With a number of fleck color options, the Rubber Flooring Inc rolls have a very clean and professional look. That said, they are expensive, and the installation is pretty labor-intensive. They run between $2.25 and $3 a square foot and come in at least 15-foot rolls, which you’ll clearly need to cut. For the install, you’ll need to use carpet tape to hold the mat in place. In my opinion, it’s worth the work because of the eventual look and feel.
Good for: Home gym users who want interlocking mats to prevent shifting while lifting
Best Interlocking Tile Flooring
GGR Score: 4.1
Check PriceHeavy-duty black rubber
1m x 1m squares (40” x 40”)
10mm thickness (0.4”)
Interlocking edges
Spike resistance
With interlocking pieces and free shipping, Living Fit Gym Mats are an excellent choice for gym flooring. Made of a heavy-duty black rubber, the mat is spike resistant and durable enough to last, backed by a three-year warranty.
We tend to not recommend puzzle-piece gym mats, as they are often made with a high-density EVA foam, and those foam tiles don’t stay locked well and also get dirty easily. That’s not the case with Living.Fit Gym Mats. Made with a heavy-duty rubber, these square stall mats have jigsaw edges that stay locked together even through heavy lifting.
Garage Gym Review’s Head of Content, Kate Meier, tried these mats at her gym and was immediately impressed: “I didn’t expect such high-quality mats. They have a great thickness and the rubber is fantastic. It has a great grip to it—three of us walked on it and were shocked.” At almost a half-inch thick, these mats will give a good amount of cushioning for your flooring underneath.
At just under $50 for a 40-inch-by-40-inch mat, this is an inexpensive option for your gym space, whether for storing exercise equipment or for dropping heavy deadlifts. It can handle a solid drop from an Olympic barbell; it’s actually spike-resistant, meaning it can hold up against most damage you’d expect in a home gym.
Kate does warn that the gym mats arrive rolled up, so it’d be wise to let them lay out to settle, perhaps with some weight plates on top to speed it along. With the mats flat, they’ll be easier to interlock. They aren’t the lightest gym mats, but shouldn’t be a problem if you are okay with moving weight. If you can be prepared for the fresh rubber smell, then these interlocking tiles can be a great addition to your home gym.
Good for: Those who want to reduce noise in their home gym or for their downstairs neighbors
Best Soundproof Home Gym Flooring
4’ x 6’ dimensions
Black recycled rubber
Sound isolation floor mats
0.25” or 0.5” thickness
R-value per square inch: 2.0
The Second Skin Stomp Mat is a great choice for gym flooring, especially for those who need the ability to soundproof their gym. Coming in two different thickness options, these mats can provide noise reduction for home gyms, as well as for drum sets and laundry machines. Although a bit pricey, its noise reduction might well be worth the price.
If you’re tired of the sound of clanging barbells or don’t want to upset your downstairs neighbor, the appropriately-named SecondSkin Stomp Mat is a perfect choice. These mats have even been trusted by laundromats for silencing machines that tend to cause a lot of noise—so they can work for your loaded barbell, too.
We haven’t personally tested this home gym flooring, yet, but we’re so enticed by the specs that I’m actually installing it in my mother’s home gym (shhh, don’t tell her — it’s a secret). Here’s why we’re confident in recommending them: both the 1/4-inch and 1/2-inch thickness options have an R-value of 2.0 per square inch. (R-value is how thermal temperature insulation is measured).
Each mat is 4 feet by 6 feet, which is more than enough to cover a weightlifting platform, that wobbly exercise bike, or anything else where you want the best soundproofing.
Good for: Athletes looking to minimize pressure on the joints
Best Artificial Turf for Gyms
GGR Score: 4.8
CHECK PRICEThe Performance Turf Rolls are a great choice because of their versatility. They work well inside and outside, and if you choose the non-cushioned back option, there are holes for drainage.
Artificial turf definitely has its place in home gyms, under the right circumstances of course. Rubber Flooring Inc has several gym-specific turf options. The Performance Turf Rolls are a great choice because of their versatility. They work well inside and outside, and if you choose the non-cushioned back option, there are holes for drainage.
Unlike some other options, the Performance Turf Rolls aren’t nylon; they are polyethylene, which makes them softer and a better choice for floor-based movements (though turf is still fairly abrasive to lie on). I have turf in my gym and love it for really high-impact exercise. Turf is well-known for its ability to minimize the joint shock effect of activities like box jumps and bounding jumps. I also love turf for sled drags.
Turf is pretty easy to install, especially if you can just roll it out. Carpet tape easily secures it in place and keeps it from moving while you’re doing sled drags or pushes.
The downside to turf is that it tends to be expensive. I don’t recommend outfitting your entire gym space in turf, either, because it isn’t designed for weightlifting. However, a small turf area looks great, is easy to maintain, and is useful to protect your joints.
Good for: Any home gym in a basement, garage or even outdoors
Best Budget Stall Mats
GGR Score: 4.3
Community Score: 4.1
Check PriceThese horse stall mats from Tractor Supply use recycled rubber, are 3/4" thick, 4 'x 6' in size, and weigh upwards of 100 pounds. You can find horse stall mats at other farm supply stores, and they will be similar in dimensions. The thickness makes this flooring sound-absorbent.
The absolute staple for most home gym floors and especially garage gyms the world over is the horse stall mat. For most people, the easiest and cheapest place to buy these is from Tractor Supply. You can order online or simply go to the store to pick them up (as long as your vehicle is big enough to transport them).
These horse stall mats from Tractor Supply use recycled rubber, are 3/4″ thick, 4 ‘x 6’ in size, and weigh upwards of 100 pounds. You can find horse stall mats at other farm supply stores, and they will be similar in dimensions. The thickness makes this flooring sound absorbent.
These mats withstand literally any exercise: If you’re into powerlifting or CrossFit, using powerlifting barbells or CrossFit barbells for deadlifts, squats, bench press, clean and jerk, situps, etc these mats withstand literally any exercise.
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At around 100 pounds each, the mats themselves can be moved, but it may require more than one person, just depending on your strength. A hundred pounds doesn’t seem like a lot, but it’s an odd object, so it can get a little clunky. However, these are relatively easy to cut to accommodate odd dimensions and small sizes.
It’s important to note that these do not have a smooth surface. That can be great for grip, but some people find it harder to clean. Also, horse stall mats are notorious for the, um, funky rubber smell. I, personally, don’t mind it because that’s what a garage gym smells like to me, but keep that in mind when choosing this option.
Best Heavy-Duty Home Gym Flooring
GGR Score: 4.8
Check PriceA high-performance gym flooring option that provides grip, noise and shock absorption, and protection for your floors.
If you’re looking for a gym flooring option that can withstand continuous high-performance training, we recommend the Forge rubber flooring by PLAE. We actually installed this at our Garage Gym Reviews headquarters, along with their Achieve flooring in an 18mm thickness (the Forge is a more affordable version of the Achieve).
This flooring has held up beautifully despite our reviewers sweating on it, dragging heavy treadmills and exercise bikes across it, and slamming heavy barbells on it. The 12-millimeter thickness also provides excellent shock and sound absorption, not to mention the fact that you feel secure on it thanks to its super-grip technology.
To be clear, these aren’t removable mats but actual flooring that will be installed on top of whatever’s currently in your garage gym. The good news is it works with just about any type of subflooring (such as wood, plywood, or concrete).
PLAE typically works with fitness studio owners, but that doesn’t mean you can’t install this in a home gym (just make sure you’re going to be there for a while). In fact, their white glove design and installation service sets them apart. Expect to get royal treatment with Plae.
If you own a gym of any kind and want to go for extra protection, opt for Achieve. But for home gym owners looking for high-caliber flooring, the Forge is our pick.
Good for: Home gym owners on a budget who need to protect their floors under heavy equipment
Best Cheap Home Gym Flooring
GGR Score: 4.6
Community Score: 4.6
Check PriceThese are best for low-impact home workouts because heavyweights will cause them to break down easily.
If you’re on a bare-bones budget and need something quick to protect your floor, you can opt for AmazonBasics Foam Interlocking Exercise Floor Mats. These are best for low-impact home workouts because heavyweights will cause them to break down easily. (Amazon has many high-density EVA foam flooring options, like IncStores, as well.)
RELATED: Building a Budget Home Gym on Amazon
For example, if you want to have something softer under you while doing yoga or lightweight dumbbell exercises, foam might be okay. They are also great under heavy equipment like a treadmill or rower because they can provide some protection for your floor.
We do not recommend foam mats for high-impact activity, like CrossFit, plyometrics, or heavy lifting.
RELATED: Best CrossFit Equipment for a Home Gym
Keep in mind that in socks, you might slip easier on a foam mat. Sometimes, foam mats even slip on the concrete itself and would definitely slide around on the hardwood. If you need a non-slip surface, rubber would be the way to go. However, foam mats can get the job done for certain exercises and certain workout spaces.
Good for: Very low-impact workout spaces featuring high cardio and lightweights
Best Carpet Tile for Gyms
GGR Score: 4
CHECK PRICEFeather Peel and Stick carpet tiles are a budget-friendly and easy-to-install home gym flooring option that feels like carpet.
Not all home gyms are in garages. Living rooms, spare bedrooms, and basement areas also double as workout spaces. Depending on your activity, the carpet may be just right. Feather Peel and Stick Carpet Tiles are great because they are easy to install, look great, and are fairly easy to maintain.
Carpet tiles may be a good option for you if you tend to do lower-weight exercises, cardio, stretching, yoga, and pilates, for example. The peel-and-stick carpet tiles give you the ability to mix and match colors to create a cool-looking space.
Where I wouldn’t use carpet tiles is in a home gym where you’re using heavy weights and barbells. The carpet is just too thin and will not provide the shock absorption necessary to protect your floors or foundation.
RELATED: 10 Most Important Budget Home Gym Tips
Good for: People who want their home gym to be aesthetically pleasing
Best Vinyl Gym Flooring
GGR Score: 4.1
CHECK PRICEThis is a good option if you want nice-looking flooring in your home gym and you don't drop weights or do high-impact activities.
Not all home gyms are in garages and basements. If your space is in an area where you need it to look a little less dungeon-y and a little more presentable, Rubber Flooring Inc Modular Grid-Loc Tile could work. It has a vinyl top and gives you the look of hardwood or even tile without the porous and breakable nature of either material. It’s often water-resistant and staves off issues like mold and mildew.
RELATED: 10 Best Budget Home Gym Setups
Now, if you’re doing heavy deadlifts or dropping weights from overhead, steer clear of vinyl. That’s a recipe for disaster. But if you want a good-looking workout room to do some cardio, dance, HIIT training, yoga, or pilates, vinyl suffices. Some basketball and sports courts also use vinyl planks.
Generally speaking, vinyl flooring can be affordable when you’re looking for something that looks nice. It’s definitely cheaper than hardwood, for example, but it’s going to run you more than simply throwing down some horse stall mats. Rubber Flooring Inc Modular Grid-Loc Tile costs about $6.50/square foot.
RELATED: Best Budget Home Equipment
ProsourceFit Puzzle Exercise Mat: This flooring option has countless positive reviews on Amazon, with people using it for home gyms and even bars. Customers warn, however, that you should order all the flooring you need at once, as the company sometimes changes the interlocking mechanisms that result in new flooring not connecting properly with previously ordered installments.
IncStores Tough Rubber Roll: Good for easy cleaning, though customer reviews state the initial rubber smell is strong (but goes away with time).
Stamina Gym Flooring: In our Stamina Gym Flooring review, we gave high marks to this eco-friendly rubber flooring.
Before investing in some high-quality gym flooring, take into account a few considerations:
There are a few basic types of material to choose from:
Are you going to be dropping weights like adjustable dumbbells or kettlebells? Are you worried about the flooring underneath the gym floor? If you said yes to either of these, then finding a durable material, like rubber flooring, is a must. Rubber and turf are among the most shock absorbent, whereas vinyl and carpet won’t do much.
For intensive activities like jumping rope or weight training, use rubber or foam flooring—it will absorb impact better than carpet, vinyl, or grass. These materials are more suitable for yoga or serve as a foundation for exercise bikes or treadmills.
If you’ve ever dropped a barbell from overhead, you know the kind of noise it makes. Putting in a thick rubber floor can dampen that sound. Some people even pad deadlift areas with extra mats to absorb the sound.
Foam is easily the cheapest home gym flooring you can find, and turf tends to be on the more expensive end. Within the world of rubber flooring, there is variance in price. And be aware that companies and e-sellers like Amazon all list the price differently: per foot, per roll, per 4×6 piece, etc. Figure out what each cost per square foot for a good comparison.
If you have a perfectly square or rectangle space, then your options are wide open. However, most garage gyms have uneven walls, water heaters, and other items to work around. If that’s your space, find a material that you can easily cut and move around, like rubber flooring.
The biggest benefit of home gym flooring is that it protects the foundation of the garage, room, or wherever else you may be working out. It should go without saying that a loaded barbell is a heavy object and when dropped (whether intentional or not) can cause significant damage to concrete, wood, and other surfaces.
Other than that, home gym flooring can also reduce the noise a barbell makes when it hits the ground.
Home gym flooring is relatively simple, at least when compared to finding the best Olympic barbell or best trap bar. There are really only a few different materials used as flooring for a home gym: rubber floor, vinyl flooring, foam mats, carpet tiles, and artificial turf.
To begin my search for the best flooring for a home gym, I ran out to the garage gym to see all of the samples I had on hand. What I’ve done in the past in building different home gyms was order samples from most manufacturers to feel and see the difference between all of the options they make.
What becomes clear rather quickly is the fact that most rubber flooring varies primarily on aesthetics and thickness, unless you go with a really high-end option like Plae Flooring that uses multiple laminated layers to suppress sound and vibration.
After training on all the different types of mats, I weighed the thickness versus the price of rubber matting. Thicker is almost always better. It will suppress sound, protect your foundation, and protect your equipment better than thinner matting. However, it requires more material, often uses special molds, and is, therefore, more expensive.
Here are the specifications we judged the matting on to decide how to rank the various options:
There is a wide range of materials used for home gym flooring, but, by and large, the best is rubber. Not all rubber is the same. Some are recycled while others use virgin rubber. In most cases, avoid foam and plastic, go with rubber.
The thicker the flooring, the better (to a degree.) Thicker flooring will suppress sound, protect your foundation and protect your equipment.
Suppressing sound in a home gym is an often-requested feature of flooring. However, most flooring that is designed specifically for sound suppression is very expensive. They use unique molds and a lot of material.
Potentially slipping during a deadlift is something that simply should not ever happen. You should feel secure on the floor during all movements with both shoes on and off.
The ideal gym flooring should not compress underfoot. Compression leads to instability and is the same reason it’s not recommended to wear thick-soled running shoes while squatting.
Although flooring shouldn’t compress greatly while underfoot, it should compress under a heavy load. Compressing under a barbell and plates will protect your equipment.
The features and quality should be reflected by the price. What we’re looking for is the best value, not just the best without considering the cost.
The best method to clean horse stall mats is with a Simple Green cleaner and a deck brush. Both can be found at your local grocery or hardware store for less than $10. If the smell lingers, you can try baking soda or essential oils (tried and tested).
In addition to that, I suggest getting a leaf blower and blowing the mats off periodically. If you’re not in a garage gym, a vacuum can work well too, although it will take longer. Personally, I use both a battery-powered leaf blower and vacuum so I don’t have to deal with cords.
A lot of people immediately think of foam home gym flooring when weighing their options. It may be a cheaper alternative to most commercial grade flooring choices, however, it is not ideal.
When choosing gym flooring, you want something that will last for years to come, protect the floor or foundation of your home (garage, basement, bedroom, etc.), and be easy to clean/disinfect.
Imagine deadlifting or dropping a weight onto the foam. That foam will decompress over time, which may result in damaging the floor underneath. The cracks in between can also cause smaller items to become lost. Unfortunately, I learned this too late and now have some small cracks in my basement floor from heavy deadlifts.
Next, even if you’re the only person lifting in your gym, the foam tiles are porous. They absorb any type of liquid, whether it’s an all-purpose cleaner, sweat, a sports drink, or that whey protein shake you made minutes before it fell to the ground. As you move quickly to mop up the excess liquid, it will be too late.
Foam tiles are even more of a potential injury nightmare when they become wet because they become super slick. When I reinstalled my tiles, I thought most of them were dry and began to install and walk on them, which was a huge mistake. I nearly wiped out some of the tiles still holding on to water, even after hours of drying time outside.
Foam flooring may be cost-effective, but the potential risks outweigh the price. You don’t want to be liable if someone slips or falls due to faulty flooring. Your best bet is to spend the money on our top pick and install the correct flooring the first time.
I recommend using a 10:1 ratio of Simple Green cleaner and water. So, about 1 cup of water for every cup of cleaner. If that doesn’t reduce the smell, you can try baking soda, white vinegar (10:1), or essential oils (you only need a few drops).
I also recommend using a leaf blower to rapidly clean and then dry them, this will help to remove some of the larger materials like leaves, mud clots, or chalk. This will save time on deep cleaning.
The cleaning frequency depends on two variables: how often you use your gym and how many people use your gym. Typically, with sweat and dirt from outside creeping in, it may be a good rule of thumb to clean your floor at least once a week.
I do recommend using a leaf blower or shop vac after every training session to remove chalk, leaves, dirt, etc. Having a clean space makes you want to use that space, plus you will save time on deep cleans at a later date.
This is a fine idea to save some money. The main issue to look for is how dirty they are. You should also ask the seller how often they were cleaned and what they were used for (a gym or a horse facility, for example). These mats are made from recycled rubber, so they last a long time and don’t really compress; however, if they have been used often, they can crack over time.
If you’re really focused on looking to buy used horse stall mats, make sure that you’re getting a good deal on them, and that they have been used for a gym previously. You can get horse stall mats inexpensively (around $39 for 4 x 6 mats).
If you can wait, the best time to buy horse stall mats is during Black Friday. Typically Tractor Supply will have them for $35 a mat. Tractor Supply will also have deals throughout the year. If time is a concern, what we suggest is going to your local feed store and asking if they have volume pricing, (let’s say 10-15 mats) and asking if they will lower the price for buying multiple mats. I’ve done this many times and I’ve always saved money and future trips by asking.
Rubber rolls don’t really provide a functional advantage other than staying in place more often, but some typical reasons you would buy them are: they look more professional, come in a variety of colors, and they don’t give off that typical “gassy” smell.
Some areas of the world may not have a Tractor Supply or feed store, so you may be better off buying them from local sports or hardware stores. You can buy rubber rolls that are thinner than 8mm, which could potentially save you money.
There are a few good options:
Carpet Tape: you can secure mats (and strips of a rubber roll) by putting a piece of tape on the hard floor itself and the mat, creating a double-sided tape strip. The mat will then be incredibly stable/secure and will not move.
Gorilla Tape: you can secure the mats by placing strips of tape on the top. However, the look itself isn’t very appealing/professional (it will leave lines). However, it is functional, creates stability, and it prevents small items (like a car key or wireless earbud) from falling between the cracks.
Mending Plates: This idea came from Alan Thrall (Untamed Strength). Mending plates are typically used in construction work to hold pieces of wood together, and this method will secure your mats together for a stable workout. However, we must note that this method leaves a small “bump” at the seams, which may annoy you. If you can get past that, then this method may be for you.
Personally, I have turf in my home gym because it was leftover from Intentional Fitness (my personal training gym). Turf is especially useful for sled drags, warming up, box jumps, lunges, bounding jumps, and other mobile workouts. However, most people will be deterred from the installation cost ($1.47 a square foot, plus the cost of the glue).
I definitely do not recommend using leftover football field turf. This is a different turf than what is used in most gyms. It is very uncomfortable, wear and tear over time makes it look incredibly patchy, and it throws rubber everywhere, causing a mess to clean up later.
In my first couple of garage gyms, I used horse stall mats. In my latest garage gym, I have rubber roll flooring that was leftover from my gym. The remainder is filled with turf. I like the rubber rolls because they look cleaner and more professional, however, they aren’t functionally better than horse stall mats, so it’s more about aesthetics at this point.
Home gym floors should always be sturdy enough to withstand strenuous exercises and the use of weights or equipment. Increased cushioning will also be gentler on joints and will protect an existing floor below. Shock-absorbing foam is ideal for home gyms with weight machines and cardio equipment. To offer floor protection and traction, this puzzle-like material should be 0.32 inches thick or thicker.
The most common thickness for home gym flooring is 8mm. CrossFit exercises and Olympic lifting, on the other hand, require at least 3/8”. If you intend to drop very heavy dumbbells and/or kettlebells on a regular basis, we recommend going with the 12” just to be cautious.
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Kate has nearly two decades of experience working in both the fitness and content industries. On the fitness side, she has worked in a number of settings: youth athletics, owned a CrossFit affiliate, personal training, weightlifting coach, CrossFit coach, and fitness floor consultant at a YMCA. Personally, Kate enjoys competing in weightlifting and stores her barbell in her bedroom.On the content side, Kate’s background is in newspaper journalism. She branched into public relations for the American Red Cross for about five years and then moving into content marketing.Today, her work at Garage Gym Reviews blends her excitement for fitness and love of writing. If she isn’t reviewing fitness equipment, you can find her working out or spending time with her two children.Certifications:NASM Certified Personal Trainer CrossFit Level 1 Trainer USA Weightlifting Level 1 Trainer