Introduction
Playing sports is everyone’s right, and doing so safely and comfortably is equally so. Whether indoor or outdoor, simple and easy-to-implement technologies ensure safer physical activity while increasing the performance and quality of your facility. Understanding how these positively affect the workout space is the first step towards making an informed choice. So why use gym flooring?
Gym flooring enables users to move around safely, ensuring performance and comfort. It helps maintain mobile equipment and contributes to the optimal positioning of machinery. It can help to create a pleasant and uncluttered appearance in a visual and olfactory sense, promoting tactile cleanliness. The benefits are no longer optional: they are essential qualities each user expects to receive.
Let’s look at 6 of the specific reasons why using appropriate gym flooring makes a difference, not only to the athlete and their performance but also to the sports facility and equipment used.
Moving safely
Want to train where falling is risky and uncomfortable? Or where you are supported, in total safety, by a surface that decreases the risk of injury? A doubt as Hamletian as it is easy to resolve. Gym-specific flooring is the support every athlete needs. It protects those who train while allowing them to move safely. Among the common characteristics of different surfaces are that they absorb bumps and falls, thus reducing the likelihood of injury.
With an even and uniform surface, gym flooring creates a welcoming, orderly and comfortable area. It can serve as a visual marker for gym zones, dividing the space so that athletes always know where the best surface is for their intended activity.
Using easily transported apparatus and weights requires a safe and uniform surface. Moreover, it is critical that, once used, mobile equipment gets safely returned to easily identifiable storage areas. The correct positioning and safe use of machines like ellipticals, exercise bikes, and treadmills rely on a perfectly even surface. Slopes and dents burden the proper operation and maintenance of the equipment itself.
It is sensible to consider how installing proper flooring will protect your equipment. Members will drop or damage equipment by storing it incorrectly or dumping heavy weights without regard. Your choice of flooring will mitigate the risk of damage, promoting the longevity of your equipment.
Performance and comfort
Training with the knowledge that your injury risk has been minimised, with a full suite of safety measures in place, gives training itself a sense of freedom and flow.
Athletes will have a greater incentive in a safe place to perform their workout. Comfort in a sports area decreases when there is no spatial order. Proper flooring provides a space with this essential characteristic, impacting the athlete’s performance. Therefore, the division of mobile and stationary apparatus is paramount.
A gym without proper flooring risks an unkempt, cold appearance while providing a predictable source of countless injuries. Seemingly trivial to the uninformed, appropriate gym flooring is a vital investment.
Prevention is better than cure
As mentioned previously, the application of appropriate flooring will help in preventing the deterioration of equipment. It’s a mandatory investment for those who want the gym to be as welcoming and safe as it is comfortable and organised.
Mobile equipment, such as weights and barbells, are at daily risk of damage and deterioration from falls and impacts due to improper use and storage. Appropriate flooring won’t just decrease the risk of broken equipment; it will also increase its durability, reducing the effects of daily wear and tear.
A pleasant stay
So far, we have seen how activity-specific flooring increases the safety, comfort, and preservation of sports environments. In addition to these benefits, it is worth noting how the relevant application of gym flooring ensures a pleasant stay.
There is proof that human beings tend to relax in well-organised environments. They have a strong influence on the desire to stay. In the case of gyms, it is essential that the athlete feels welcome, safe and subconsciously drawn to spend time within spaces designated for different activities.
Indeed, visual order helps calm the nerves, promoting concentration and decreasing mental fatigue. Exercise time for the body, but no muscle can hold onto a distracted, nervous mind.
The ground on which one walks, therefore, will influence well-being. Not just physically but mentally too. All the more reason to highlight the importance of appropriate flooring in a gym.
Ease of application and maintenance
Whether it’s an open or enclosed space, the flooring must have several features that make it durable, easy to maintain, and straightforward to install over the subfloor.
Impact-resistant flooring can cover a walking surface, with the capacity to conceal any hollows and unify the surface of the floor. A functional and agile solution to an existing problem while eliminating possible future issues.
The characteristics of the materials guarantee durability. Temperature extremes do not alter form. Thermally and acoustically insulating, gym flooring prevents contact with a cold concrete floor in winter and reduces noise through sound absorption. It is resistant to heavy weight and is not prone to damage like expansion or cracking, which is typical for many materials in environments constantly subjected to temperature extremes.
Maintenance is simple, allowing high usage with minimum headache. All you need is a pH-neutral or solvent-free detergent diluted in plain water, making it a green choice concerning energy expenditure, dispersion of harmful materials and wasteful planned obsolescence.
Hygiene and cleanliness
Last but not least is the aspect of hygiene and cleanliness. Dirt and grime are unwelcome guests to all. Even more so regarding surfaces that many hands touch and where many bodies sweat.
Specialist gym flooring is clean to the touch, sight, and smell. These are surfaces that, while varying according to the specific material, have universally excellent hygiene capabilities for ease of maintenance and performance.
They are easy to clean, requiring only a vacuum cleaner and simple detergent to achieve a crisp surface. They are non-toxic, an indispensable feature for areas that come into contact with bare skin. They do not absorb bacteria from sweat, so they prevent infection and passage of viruses within enclosed spaces. They are mite- and mould-resistant, thus promoting hygienic use while protecting allergy-prone individuals at risk. Lastly, they reduce unpleasant odours in the gym and promote a more welcoming environment.
Conclusion
Versatile and multi-beneficial, appropriate gym flooring shouldn’t be an added luxury for your facility. It should be an essential element. It will ensure performance and comfort for users, protecting and promoting the longevity of equipment and training areas while enhancing the overall sensory experience of the facility.
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Disclaimer: The opinions and positions expressed in this publication are those of the authors and collaborators and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the professional fitness community.
