Home Gym Flooring

Jan 11, 2009
2,185
2,436
melb
AFL Club
Essendon
Hey guys just setting up a small home gym at the back of my place, going to use 15mm rubber mats onto the concrete.
Has anybody had any experience with this, with the mats be suitable against the cold concrete, i dont need some form of underlay do i?
any feed back appreciated
 

Teagueeee15

Premiership Player
Sep 15, 2004
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2,698
Melbourne
AFL Club
Carlton
Hey guys just setting up a small home gym at the back of my place, going to use 15mm rubber mats onto the concrete.
Has anybody had any experience with this, with the mats be suitable against the cold concrete, i dont need some form of underlay do i?
any feed back appreciated

From experience, I prefer to just sit the weights on the concrete without matting. Unfortunately when the weather is really cold (Melbourne winter) or wet, water or condensation seems to find it’s way onto the mat and you can be doing a heavy press and your feet suddenly start to slide out from underneath you ☹️. It only takes a slight film of water that you can barely see for it to happen.

I only use a yoga mat for doing deadlifts or rows and that’s just to protect the concrete from cracking when putting the weights down. Not really any chance of your feet slipping whilst doing these exercises I’ve found.
 
Jun 27, 2013
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From experience, I prefer to just sit the weights on the concrete without matting. Unfortunately when the weather is really cold (Melbourne winter) or wet, water or condensation seems to find it’s way onto the mat and you can be doing a heavy press and your feet suddenly start to slide out from underneath you ☹. It only takes a slight film of water that you can barely see for it to happen.

I only use a yoga mat for doing deadlifts or rows and that’s just to protect the concrete from cracking when putting the weights down. Not really any chance of your feet slipping whilst doing these exercises I’ve found.
Thats good to know in regards to a home garage set up where moisture could be an issue. But surely it'd come down to how well ventilated your garage is or judging whether it'd be affected by the elements or not?

If I were to guess, garages that are connected to say the front/side of a house could offer more protection/insulation from moisture than say a shed style garage that's infrastructure is separate to a house?

FrankGrimes in regard to your question, hopefully Teaguey has answered it, however I feel some sort of padding may be needed if you do forego the mats if you're planning on doing say heavy barbell/dumbbell compound movements. Are you exercising on your back verandah or something? I guess that'd be very exposed to the elements. Yoga mats like Teaguey said could work, lighter portable style mats could work too and just set them up as needed then fold/store away afterwards, the other option that could work would be to use rubber bumper plates for heavy barbell compounds, problem with bumpers are they're normally the most expensive plates available ranging normally from $6-10 a kilo compared to budget friendly cast iron plates at around $4-5 a kilo.

On a personal note, my rubber mats for my home set up work a treat on carpet though. They just don't move. They are prone to picking up alot of dirt but 😕 normally once every few days/once a week i give it a vacuum or mop. Could just be because I'm in a smaller space though and I'm exercising in the same areas all the time so easier for accumulation (a bigger room would have more equipment spread out I guess)
 

Teagueeee15

Premiership Player
Sep 15, 2004
3,861
2,698
Melbourne
AFL Club
Carlton
Thats good to know in regards to a home garage set up where moisture could be an issue. But surely it'd come down to how well ventilated your garage is or judging whether it'd be affected by the elements or not?

If I were to guess, garages that are connected to say the front/side of a house could offer more protection/insulation from moisture than say a shed style garage that's infrastructure is separate to a house?

FrankGrimes in regard to your question, hopefully Teaguey has answered it, however I feel some sort of padding may be needed if you do forego the mats if you're planning on doing say heavy barbell/dumbbell compound movements. Are you exercising on your back verandah or something? I guess that'd be very exposed to the elements. Yoga mats like Teaguey said could work, lighter portable style mats could work too and just set them up as needed then fold/store away afterwards, the other option that could work would be to use rubber bumper plates for heavy barbell compounds, problem with bumpers are they're normally the most expensive plates available ranging normally from $6-10 a kilo compared to budget friendly cast iron plates at around $4-5 a kilo.

On a personal note, my rubber mats for my home set up work a treat on carpet though. They just don't move. They are prone to picking up alot of dirt but 😕 normally once every few days/once a week i give it a vacuum or mop. Could just be because I'm in a smaller space though and I'm exercising in the same areas all the time so easier for accumulation (a bigger room would have more equipment spread out I guess)

I should clarify that I have my setup in the back yard, underneath a car port, so would be more exposed to the elements than a garage that is part of a house.
 
Jan 11, 2009
2,185
2,436
melb
AFL Club
Essendon
Thats good to know in regards to a home garage set up where moisture could be an issue. But surely it'd come down to how well ventilated your garage is or judging whether it'd be affected by the elements or not?

If I were to guess, garages that are connected to say the front/side of a house could offer more protection/insulation from moisture than say a shed style garage that's infrastructure is separate to a house?

FrankGrimes in regard to your question, hopefully Teaguey has answered it, however I feel some sort of padding may be needed if you do forego the mats if you're planning on doing say heavy barbell/dumbbell compound movements. Are you exercising on your back verandah or something? I guess that'd be very exposed to the elements. Yoga mats like Teaguey said could work, lighter portable style mats could work too and just set them up as needed then fold/store away afterwards, the other option that could work would be to use rubber bumper plates for heavy barbell compounds, problem with bumpers are they're normally the most expensive plates available ranging normally from $6-10 a kilo compared to budget friendly cast iron plates at around $4-5 a kilo.

On a personal note, my rubber mats for my home set up work a treat on carpet though. They just don't move. They are prone to picking up alot of dirt but 😕 normally once every few days/once a week i give it a vacuum or mop. Could just be because I'm in a smaller space though and I'm exercising in the same areas all the time so easier for accumulation (a bigger room would have more equipment spread out I guess)
Thanks for the reply, I have built an outside structure for gym/separate bathroom, I will do the entire floor in the 15mm rubber matting, my real question was do you guys think the coldness of the concrete will seep up through the mats?
 
Jun 27, 2013
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Thanks for the reply, I have built an outside structure for gym/separate bathroom, I will do the entire floor in the 15mm rubber matting, my real question was do you guys think the coldness of the concrete will seep up through the mats?
Probably depends on the climate from where you live

Winter/frosty nights etc if you live in southern areas like VIC/TAS/ACT/SA etc

For 4-5 months of the year it potentially could

Edit*

As a test, before you commit to your setup, find an outdoor playground that has industrial pour rubber as padding (there's a few around Melbourne that I've noticed popping up). Perhaps on a cold/frosty morning, check how it's holding up etc
 
Last edited:
Jun 27, 2013
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I should clarify that I have my setup in the back yard, underneath a car port, so would be more exposed to the elements than a garage that is part of a house.
Yeah your set up would make sense doing what you do then

There's a large uncovered concreted area in front of the garage (our garage is in the backyard) where i do leg day alot when the weather suits as I use the back window to look at my form when doing DB/plated squats. Kinda sucks it's not covered as I'd drag everything out of the garage to train there, alas I'm restricted to the spare room some days.

Once I get a barbell, post landmine and squat stands I'll drag my bench out there too and bench as there's way more room and minimal risk of damaging stuff out there, maybe have a mate or two over to train on nice days. So much I can do with a post landmine though, rows, squats, presses etc
 

Not Important

never test the depth of water with both feet.
Oct 4, 2016
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Richmond
see people aren't returning to gyms in numbers following covid. some say 50% will continue to workout away from gyms.
 
Jun 27, 2013
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surely you're an outlier in the fact that you bought a bunch of stuff... I can't imagine a huge percentage of gym-goers went along that route.
Perhaps, quite a few borrowed equipment from their gyms too, but will be in the process of returning said equipment with gyms reopening (gave the pair of 8s I was using back to my brothers powerlifting gym where he works at for example)

I've always wanted a home gym tbf, but a lack space or lack of cash stopped me from thinking about getting one, so always had a gym membership or two. But I saw an opportunity to be proactive, cleaned up the spare room and garage, a few tip runs/op shop donations later and I've got adequate workout room at home now.
 

Aeglos

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Sep 27, 2016
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Rubber on >20mm plywood if you’re going to be deadlifting.
You can get away with thinner rubber that way as well.
Iirc this is 2 x 18mm 2400 x 1200 ply with 10mm rubber on top
 

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Jun 27, 2013
46,977
43,978
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Tottenham Hotspur, SSC Napoli, ESH
I used a bunch of these for my gym floor. They are strong and can pretty much take any knock.

Lol, they're about as rare as a hens tooth atm
 
Mar 13, 2015
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Victoria
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Essendon
see people aren't returning to gyms in numbers following covid. some say 50% will continue to workout away from gyms.

I found a few things that look cool!


Walking Pad!
 
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