How Weight Lifting Mats Can Help

Weight Lifting Mats – Lifting weights at home is taking off like never before – thanks in part to lockdown restrictions, and also to the affordability of free weights and associated equipment. It is important not to forget your flooring when you set up your weight lifting space, though, so here is our guide to how weight lifting mats can help. 

Protection

Whether you rent your home or you have purchased it, you’ll want to protect your floors. Whatever the material, dropping weights (which you almost inevitably will at some point) will damage it, from the concrete floor in your garage getting chips taken out of it, to wood or laminate flooring cracking, or carpets transferring the impact straight through to your floorboards. A good quality rubber gym mat can prevent (or minimise, at the very least) all of these flooring types from taking damage – saving you money in the long run. 

Safety

There are two main safety elements that rubber floor matting can help to mitigate: 

• Bounce-backs

Bounce-backs occur when a dumbbell, barbell or just one of the plates, is dropped and then bounces off the floor. This can be extremely hazardous if it then strikes you in the shin, knee or lands on an unshod foot – at best, you’ll be left hopping around in agony, at worst you can break bones or cause serious damage to joints. Rubber matting absorbs the impact of dropped weights, reducing both the frequency and the height of bounce-backs. 

• Slips

The last thing any weight-trainer wants is to slip over with a personal best barbell over the head. Increase the traction of your workout space by laying down rubber matting with anti-slip properties – then work out with peace of mind. 

• Noise

If you share your home, you’ll probably have already heard complaints about the noises made when you’re working out. From increased amounts of footsteps to heavier ’thuds’ when you are exercising or if you drop a weight, the noise can travel around your entire home fairly easily – particularly if you are working out in an upstairs space. Rubber matting will reduce the noise, and your family/friends will thank you. 

What types of gym matting are there?

You’ll want a rubber gym floor mat, ideally one that is purpose built for either gym or weight lifting use. Typically, you can choose between two main types: rolls and tiles. 

Rolls are much like a piece of carpet or large rug – the matting is provided rolled up and ready for you to lay. The advantage of this is that you can choose your mat size to fit your room, and it is quick to roll and unroll if your gym space is shared use.  

The other main type is tiles – these take up less storage space if you do want to pack them away, but take a little more time and effort to lay and pack up, as they need to be interlocked to form a continuous, even surface. Both types are equally easy to maintain and keep clean and will have the noise-reducing, traction-increasing and impact-absorbing features that you need. 

Author Bio: First Mats started life as safety matting specialists, but have since expanded to become a complete industrial and commercial supplies company. The focus of First Mats is to provide safety-focused products that improve the wellbeing of staff through quality approved products, backed up by extensive knowledge. www.firstmats.co.uk

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