Rubber gym exercise mats offer long-lasting floor protection thanks to rubber’s durable properties. Depending on the rigor of your workout and the equipment used, rubber gym matting is available in a wide selection of gauges to ensure durable floor protection in the face of abrasive gym settings. Rubber will efficiently absorb the force of impacts and vibrations to provide a protective covering over expensive home flooring options. Rubber flooring for gyms is offered in the form of interlocking tiles and flooring rolls, allowing you to find a padded gym mat that fits the size of the gym space in your home. Rubber gym exercise mats are reliable and long-lasting flooring option for home gyms due to rubber’s superior shock absorption properties as well as the two different forms available.

How Do I Choose an Exercise Mat?

You choose an exercise mat by determining the abrasiveness of your fitness routine and the size of your home gym space. Gym exercise mats are available in two forms: interlocking tiles and flooring rolls. Interlocking tiles are ideal for smaller or growing home gyms due to its interlocking mechanism that allows you to easily customize the size of the matting. Interlocking tiles are easy to install by connecting them together through their puzzle-like edges. Modular flooring for gyms can easily be customized simply by adding or removing tiles as needed. The adhesive-free installation process of interlocking gym exercise mats makes it easy to disassemble and store or transport to other areas if needed. Flooring rolls are ideal for larger spaces, such as wall-to-wall floors, and is available in set lengths or in a customizable length of up to 50 continuous feet. Unlike interlocking tiles, rolled rubber gym matting is installed using double-sided tape along the perimeters of the mats. Because it is adhered to the floor, rolled flooring for gyms is a semi-permanent flooring option as opposed to temporary interlocking tiles. Even though it is adhered to the floor, double-sided tape is easily removed to prevent damage from coming to your home floors during removal.

Additionally, gym exercise mats are also available in thicknesses including 6mm, 8mm, 16mm, 1/2″, and 1” for interlocking tiles and 3mm, 3.5mm, 5mm, 1/4″, and 3/8” for flooring rolls. Thicker, heavy-duty gym flooring is ideal for abrasive workouts as they will provide a thick enough barrier to protect against heavy impacts and vibrations. Fitness machines emit constant vibrations that will eventually damage the floor underneath them after extended exposure. Other times, weight training exercises can dent or crack floors when weights are inevitably dropped. Considering that you may drop your weights at some point during your fitness journey, it is important to protect your floors. On the other hand, thinner gym exercise mats are ideal for floor workouts. They are thick enough provide just enough cushioning for comfort, but thin enough to provide sturdy support. For some exercises, such as yoga, “it’s essential to maintain a proper stance. Standing on a mat that’s too thick can impede that” (melmagazine.com). Because most floor exercises do not require heavy or damaging equipment, a slightly padded gym mat is perfect for adding a level of comfort.

Do I Need to Put Anything Under Rubber Flooring?

You do not need to put anything under rubber flooring, but certain mats may need to be secured to the surface with double-sided tape. Interlocking rubber gym matting has an adhesive-free installation process that does not require any adhesives or other materials to be under the flooring. Contrastingly, rubber flooring rolls are installed using double-sided tape along the perimeter of the mats to keep them secured on the floor. Other than double-sided tape for the installation of rubber flooring rolls, nothing is required underneath rubber flooring for gyms. In fact, rubber gym exercise mats are designed to protect expensive home floors underneath them from damage caused by working out. Available in gauges ranging from 3mm to 1” thick, rubber gym exercise mats are thick enough to effectively protect the subfloor from impact damage and abrasions. Furthermore, rubber is a shock absorbent material due to its superior elastic properties. Case in point, “[Rubber] can be stretched by up to a factor of 10 from its original length and, when released, returns very nearly to its original length” (Wikipedia.org). This gives rubber a “bounce back” that allows it to provide a durable barrier between damaging forces and the home floor.

How Long Does Rubber Flooring Last?

Rubber flooring lasts for years in abrasive gym settings due to the rubber materials used in its production. The rubber variations used to create rubber gym exercise mats include recycled rubber, reclaimed rubber, SBR, and thermoplastic rubber. Recycled and reclaimed rubbers are both tire derived rubber variations made of post-consumer vehicle tires that retain the same durable properties seen on vehicles. Vehicle tires experience rough terrain and abrasive conditions daily without being severely damaged. This same durability is seen in the performance of rubber gym matting when faced with impacts and vibrations. Contrastingly, SBR and thermoplastic rubbers are synthetic rubber variations that are made with a blend of chemical compounds. Synthetic rubbers often exhibit enhanced strength due to its chemical composition. Due to the resilient rubber variations rubber gym exercise mats are offered in, it will last for years even in the harshest gym settings.

Can You Park a Car on Rubber Gym Flooring?

You can park a car on rubber gym flooring thanks to rubber’s excellent tensile strength. Tensile strength refers to the “maximum load that a material can support without fracture when being stretched” (Britannica.com). Rubber retains an excellent tensile strength, allowing rubber gym exercise mats to bend under the weight of heavy equipment and absorb the force of heavy impacts without breaking. This is ideal for a padded gym mat as even home gyms are filled with heavy equipment and vibrating fitness machines. Large fitness equipment, such as heavy weights, can damage floors when they are dropped. In addition, large and heavy fitness machines can be placed on top of rubber heavy-duty gym flooring without damaging the material. Rubber gym exercise mats will offer durable and long-lasting flooring protection due to rubber’s high tensile strength.

Rubber is the perfect material for creating gym exercise mats due to its durable shock absorption properties that allow it to efficiently protect your home floors. Interlocking gym exercise mats are best suited for smaller or growing home gyms as they can easily be customized. Contrastingly, long flooring rolls are best suited for larger wall-to-wall spaces. Both tire derived and synthetic rubber materials used to create rubber gym exercise mats retain high tensile strengths which allows heavy-duty gym flooring to withstand heavy impacts and constant vibrations without breaking. The rigor of your fitness routine should determine the thickness of the gym exercise mats. Thicker rubber gym matting is ideal for more abrasive workouts, such as weight training, while thinner flooring for gyms is best for comfort and cushioning floor workouts, such as yoga.

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