Floor Mats for Deadlifting

[Link815]

For those of you with home gyms/gym owners: what type of rubber flooring do you have for your deadlifting areas? From what I've seen so far, horse stall mats seem to be about half the price as those specifically designated for gyms. Are they squishy at all or are they pretty solid? Any recommendations as to where to get some? Maybe if I have some rubber mats I will be convinced to deadlift.

[notforeveryone]

i have a platform made of ply-wood and horse stall mats. the mats are pretty stable. could even squat on the them if need be.

[arian11]

Got horse stall mats from Tractor Supply. Don't know if they got one near you.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/...=&cm_vc=-10005

[Silentpoet]

At home I usually pull off of a couple of 2*10s, one on each side. With my sticking point being higher it doesn't hurt. I can pretty much pull from the floor what I can from one board. I do wear shoes so it is not complete 1 board pulls. I do like to get in some pulls from the floor in my water shoes or socks every so often and there is not much difference.

[Anthony21]

I have my home garage gym set up with horse stall matts. I squat and deadlift on them with no probema and they are solid and sturdy.

[Link815]

Got horse stall mats from Tractor Supply. Don't know if they got one near you.

http://www.tractorsupply.com/webapp/...=&cm_vc=-10005

I'm sure there's one in Chicagoland somewhere. These were the ones I was looking at. Are they really 100lbs a piece? That's monster. I still have like 400lbs of weight in my garage cause I'm too lazy to carry it down the stairs to my basement.. now 100lb mats too?!

[MillerTime07]

I'm sure there's one in Chicagoland somewhere. These were the ones I was looking at. Are they really 100lbs a piece? That's monster. I still have like 400lbs of weight in my garage cause I'm too lazy to carry it down the stairs to my basement.. now 100lb mats too?!

I used to work at TSC. They are impossible to load and move by yourself. I don't know if they actually weigh 100lbs, but they are no joke to try to move around. Make sure you have a few friends lol.

[arian11]

I'm sure there's one in Chicagoland somewhere. These were the ones I was looking at. Are they really 100lbs a piece? That's monster. I still have like 400lbs of weight in my garage cause I'm too lazy to carry it down the stairs to my basement.. now 100lb mats too?!

Yea, I remember them being quite heavy and annoying to cut in half.

[JoeGJr]

now 100lb mats too?!

AND it's a flimsy 100 lbs that flops around as you are moving it. We couldn't figure out a good way to move them.

[JoeGJr]

Yea, I remember them being quite heavy and annoying to cut in half.

How did you cut it? We used a jigsaw with a fine tooth blade. No problem at all.

[6mildollarman]

I have a garage gym at home and laid out horse stall mats over half the floor, right on the concrete. Dropped loaded bar with 420lbs bumper plates at waist height with no issues at all, and 200 lbs from shoulder height. With iron plates, I tend to avoid dropping directly, but have done fast controlled descents with 405lbs without feeling any shock in the joints or damage to the bar/plates/concrete.

They are pretty heavy, a b*ch to move around! and have an unpleasant odor. Best way to move them is to roll each one like a donut and use a rope to tie it around the circumference. Then carry them like you would a beer keg.

[runtocatch]

I'm sure there's one in Chicagoland somewhere.

I doubt it bro. Prolly Bloomington be the closest to you. Maybe one over in Indiana though.

Edit to say come on down my way and I help ya go get em and help your lazy ass load and unload them.

[hsilman]

Wanted to thank everyone who responded to this thread. I'm starting to put together a list of everything we need for a home gym now that the wife is on board with it, and I was wondering if we should build a platform or if horse stall mats alone would be fine. Very few people use just the mats, as most discussions I've seen talk about a platform. However, everyone who talks about just laying down mats has been satisfied with the result. I plan on lying them down next to each other to make an 8x6 lifting area in the corner of the living room(yay NYC apartment).

Not sure if we'll be able to deadlift due to noise concerns, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

[Link815]

AND it's a flimsy 100 lbs that flops around as you are moving it. We couldn't figure out a good way to move them.

I deal with this every time I walk into the bathroom, no problem here.

[DirtySmalls]

I deal with this every time I walk into the bathroom, no problem here.

OK, I laughed a little at that one. But on a serious note, roll the mats up, much easier

[Notjericoe]

Horse stall mat over plywood is what I use.

[mstngvic]

They are pretty heavy, a b*ch to move around! and have an unpleasant odor. Best way to move them is to roll each one like a donut and use a rope to tie it around the circumference. Then carry them like you would a beer keg.

I had to move a bunch of them around this past weekend. This is the only way to do it if you need to carry it any decent distance. For short drags, grab 1 corner of the short side in each hand, bend the mat away from you, and yank.

Horse stall mats can also be doubled up, if you're really worried about cracking the floor.

[eltigar]

My brother is a tiler.
He did a job at a gym that was being renovated .
They put down new rubber flooring and had a massive roll left over.
It now sits on my garage floor on top of some ply wood I knocked off from a worksite I was at.

[doctor220]

Have you guys ever put this stuff over carpet, and if so how did it feel? Obviously dependent on the carpet, but in my basement it's pretty old and not very thick so I don't think it would be a problem, but curious if anyone has done this.

[jennyStone91]

Dont have a special floor. but the weights are small in diameter so I lift off of steps.

[izzygrant]

our gym has horse stall mats. we also built a platform out of plywood and horse stall mats but it's a bit of work and probably not really necessary.

Have you guys ever put this stuff over carpet, and if so how did it feel? Obviously dependent on the carpet, but in my basement it's pretty old and not very thick so I don't think it would be a problem, but curious if anyone has done this.

put plywood down first and then put the mat over that.

[doctor220]

our gym has horse stall mats. we also built a platform out of plywood and horse stall mats but it's a bit of work and probably not really necessary.



put plywood down first and then put the mat over that.

On spread, thanks eh

[doctor220]

Update on this: I bought 2 of these mats from TSC and have plywood underneath them for my platform. They are very solid and work great. They do smell kinda funky so either deal with it or let them air out for a few days before you put them in. Last piece of advice is when you are buying them, bring duct tape, roll them up into cylinders and tape them closed. This will make it 100x easier to transport them to wherever you want to put them in.

10/10 would recommend.

[davisj3537]

Damn it. I should have searched the forum for this before buying some of the fancy mats. They are pretty legit though, but so are horse mats:/