Gym Floor Mistakes to Avoid

27 plus years into this, and I will certainly tell you that it's a close match for what the worst flooring for a gym could be.

 

The frontrunners in this competition are wood, concrete, and carpet.  None of these are good solutions for a fitness room.

 

A wood floor obviously has no give, so it's not great in terms of the biomechanics. It also transfers sound like crazy. And if you drop a dumbbell or a plate or a bar, it's going to dig into the wood floor and leave a permanent mark.

Sometimes clients will take a wood floor, and put mats underneath some of the equipment, but those black mats then take up off about a large part of the room, and they're nowhere near as effective for blocking noise or in terms of cushioning.
We can use Bounce2 or other Ecore flooring with a wood look that is easier on the joints and damage resistant, like this floor below from Osterville.

 

Concrete is another one that has no give whatsoever, though when we have concrete we're normally in the basement and we don't have to worry quite as much about noise transfer. Again, this is one that we offered and end up putting area mats underneath so that the equipment doesn't get smashed directly into the concrete, but it's more to protect the equipment than it is to protect the floor.  However, we put Rally Flooring down on concrete regularly, which is what they use in half a dozen NFL weight rooms.  Looks great, no offgassing, and has an amazing biomechanic.

 

Carpet is another area that we often end up ripping out and replacing with real flooring. Carpet obviously absorbs a little bit of impact, but it also builds up a static charge for some of the cardio equipment. It also shows marks from rubber, absorbs sweat, absorbs oil from barbells or some of the strength equipment or the treadmills, and wears heavily in the areas people use the most.
We have a VERY popular flooring called Ebb& Flow that has a woven look, but still has that softer underlayment.
Here is a studio up in Hampton, NH, using Burleywood color Ebb& Flow.