Top 5 Foam Exercise Gym Floor Mats

Foam exercise gym floor mats can turn an arduous exercise regimen into a fun and exhilarating experience. Our foam mats add comfort to any space and can help reduce fatigue and injury. They can also add color and style to your exercise area, putting you in the mood to work up a sweat.

With so many foam mat options, it’s important to consider the differences between the product offerings. The most popular mats for exercise come in either puzzle tile or roll out mat forms. You'll want to consider what form of exercises will be performing before choosing an exercise mat.

Below are the top five most popular foam exercise gym floor mat options

1. Home Sport and Play Mat

Home Sport and Play Mats are 2x2 foot squares with puzzle style interlocking edges. They are made of 7/8 thick closed-cell EVA Foam. These durable puzzle mats feature a thatch surface that can stand up to athletic shoes. They are also waterproof and are reversible with a different color on each side. Use these puzzle mats to make a solid color floor; alternate two of the six tile colors for a checkerboard look; or create a pattern all your own. Use Home Sport and Play mats for Kickboxing, Aerobics, Home Gyms, Taekwondo and more. These soft foam mats are perfect for use over a cold, hard, concrete basement floor.

floor mats exercise

2. Foam Floor Mats 5/8 Premium

For a similar, but more economical exercise gym floor mat option, take a look at Greatmats Foam Floor Mats 5/8 Premium mats. The difference between these puzzle mats and the Home Sport and Play Mats is that these are slightly thinner and are not reversible, but both mats are made with the same high-quality materials. These are especially popular for softening kids playroom floors as they are available in 15 different colors and are stain resistant.

exercise floor

Foam Floor Mats 5/8 Premium mats are excellent for aerobic or floor-based exercises with low levels of impact. These puzzle mats have a universal interlocking design, allowing for the tiles to be connected together in any direction. For these foam mats all four side are the same, which isn’t a property of every interlocking mat.

3. Gmats Roll Out Mats

If your exercise regimen involves more intense activity, such as combat sports or wrestling, you'll want to check into roll out mats. A convenient 5x10 ft size, Gmats Roll Out Mats are designed home use. They are 1.25 inches thick and offer better impact absorption than the thinner previously-mentioned puzzle mats. The mats include a resilient tatami-textured vinyl top surface that can withstand the demands of wrestling and grappling workouts, as well as workouts that include shoes and boots. Multiple mats can be connected together with vinyl tape.

exercise floor mats

4. Gmats Cheer Mats

Similar in design to the roll out mats are Gmats Cheer Mats which feature the same roll out design in a 5x10 foot size. At a slightly thicker 1 3/8 inch, these exercise made have a carpet-bonded surface as opposed to vinyl. The carpet surface offers more rebound and makes it great for stunting type exercises such as gymnastics, tumbling, and cheerleading. These cheer mats can be combined used connection strips.

foam exercise gym floor mats

5. Pebble Top Foam Gym Floor Tile

These Pebble Top Foam Gym Floor Tiles are made with a high-density EVA foam that can handle the weight of exercise equipment, making them perfect for home gyms and weight room flooring. The reversible puzzle mats are 2x2 feet in size and 3/4 inch thick. These tiles offer a non-slip pebble-textured surface and a universal interlocking design. As these foam gym floor tiles are much denser that other foam flooring, it won’t indent as easily under heavy equipment.

While there are many different forms of foam exercise mats, these five should give a you a good start in knowing what to look for to meet your exercise room needs.

gym foam mats

What Purposes Do Gym Wall Pads Serve?

Safety is a priority in any sport as injuries can happen at any time, whether it be during competition or practice. As coaches, parents, teachers, and sports organizers, it is extremely important to set athletes up for safety in all ways possible. Making the play environment safer can help prevent serious injuries for everyone. One way to do such is to install gym wall padding.

Gym wall are able to be installed on the walls of sport courts, indoor tracks, or home exercise rooms. They can also be put up outside around fields or on chain-link fences. Although safety and protection is the most important use of gym wall padding, there are other uses as well. Read below to learn about the various benefits of gym wall pads.

Safety

There are many sports that require high-speed movement and physical contact that can spill off of courts and fields. During play, athletes can collide with surrounding structures such as walls, fences, beams, and columns. When players are moving really fast, it takes time to slow down all that momentum. Further, players can be so focused or determined that they become unaware of their surroundings.

Gym wall pad purposes

For example, basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer and P.E. sports all have seen players lose control and go flying off the court and into hard surfaces. Outdoor sports such as baseball, softball, football, and soccer often include players diving for balls, sometimes diving into the walls or fences surrounding the field. Those collisions are bound to happen, but without padding those collisions can mean extremely serious injuries. Installing high-quality wall pads surrounding a field helps protect athletes and dampens the impact of a collision.

The cost of gym wall padding is often the main hindrance in choosing to install pads. Many schools and recreation centers are on budgets where every cent matters. Because there are not strict regulations on the use of gym wall mats, some schools choose to forgo wall pads entirely. While they carry a steep cost in the beginning, gym wall pads will pay for themselves in the long term.There have been enough incidents to show that the cost of gym wall mats is slight compared to the cost of paying injury (or even death) related settlements. Also, gym wall pads don’t need to cost astronomical amounts. One can find the highest quality pads at the most affordable prices at Greatmats.com.

Style

padding for walls for protection

Using gym wall mats not only provides an important safety measure, but it enhances the look of any gymnasium as well. Most gymnasiums are not built to be visually appealing. The dull colors of walls, courts and bleachers do little to energize or stimulate crowds and players. Installing gym wall mats is a quick and easy way to brighten the atmosphere of any room.

Choosing gym wall padding in school colors is one of the simplest ways to immediately enhance team spirit. We offer gym wall mats in a wide range of vibrant colors that will match any color scheme. Further, gym wall pads can be customized with logos or pictures of school mascots. The creative freedom that comes with choosing gym wall pads means turning an important safety measure into much more.

gym walls

Wall Protection

Wall padding helps protect athletes from injury, but it can also help project the wall from damage. This is common practice in areas where combat sport training takes place. Imagine a martial artist breaking boards or getting thrown by his/her sparring partner. In both scenarios, things are flying across the room with a lot of force. Should a flying board or body accidentally come in contact with a sheetrock wall, that wall is likely to suffer significant damage. Gym wall padding can help protect walls from damage.

Whether you own a commercial training hall or a home dojo, you won't want to be repairing or replacing walls on a regular basis -- or scaling back your training intensity just to preserve them.

sports hall wall padding

Branding

Some doubt that there exists a product that can both be an important safety measure, and make money. It's true, gym wall pads have the power to do both. One way to offset the cost of athletic programs is to have and promote sponsors. Gym wall mats are the perfect highly visible place to do just that. Gym wall padding can be customized with the logos of businesses that support the teams. This kind of advertisement is large, eye-catching and sure to pay itself off.

Gym Wall Pads from Greatmats

Greatmats provides gym wall pads made of premium polyethylene foam wrapped in durable vinyl coverings. Every single mat is made to high quality standards and is made with premium materials, workmanship, and warranties. Each pad is puncture and tear-resistant and nonabsorbent. Further, pads can be customized to any style and colors you want. The mats can also be designed to fit well into any size of room and can be designed to work around any surface irregularities such as door handles, windows, and vents.

Greatmats makes ordering gym wall padding simple and easy.

Ordering gym wall mats is easy and simple with Greatmats. There's no hassle from the moment you click on a product to the moment it's installed beautifully in your facility. Let the Greatmats friendly and knowledgeable team direct you towards your next gym wall pad purchase.

wall pad

Rubber, Plastic and Foam Flooring Myths

There are many common misconceptions regarding rubber, plastic and foam flooring. Below are the nine most common specialty flooring myths, debunked:

Myth #1: Rubber flooring will add cushion and spring to your floor.

Rubber used for flooring is generally a very dense material. It provides thermal insulation and protection for the base floor, as well as absorb sound in the room. While it does those, it’s generally provides much less cushion than plastic or foam flooring. Keep in mind that most of these floors are made from recycled truck tires. Truck tires must be fairly rigid to withstand the rigors of tens of thousands of miles of travel. Any material that was soft enough to provide cushion to athletes wouldn’t be able to stand up to the demands of automotive use.

Flooring myths

Myth #2: Plastic flooring is hard.

It’s commonly thought that for a flooring material to be soft and flexible, it has to be made of rubber, but that just isn’t the case. Part of the beauty of plastic is that it comes in a wide range of hardnesses options. Most plastics used for flooring provide significantly more cushion than rubber floors and are commonly confused with rubber, due to their pliability.

Myth #3: All foams make good anti fatigue flooring

While foam does provide excellent cushioning and adds comfort to your flooring surface, not all foams are created with the same density, which is key for anti-fatigue benefits. Standing for long periods of time on hard surfaces can be taxing on the body, but so can extended periods of standing on surfaces that are too soft. Some foams are so soft that they provide very little resistance between you and the hard floor below. Others will keep you off the hard floor, but provide very little stability, increasing the risk of you losing your balance when standing on it. It’s important to ensure that any anti-fatigue flooring solution provides enough cushion to encourage shifting of position. This is important because it increases blood flow will still making standing on the flooring comfortable.

rubber flooring bounce

Myth #4: Rubber flooring is great for all athletic purposes.

It is true the rubber flooring is commonly used in athletic flooring applications. Rubber flooring is a great choice for use in gyms where the floor needs to be able to support the weight of exercise equipment and dropped weights. It isn't a great plan to use rubber flooring for areas where people will be running, changing direction and spinning however. One of rubbers best features is that it is slip resistant, but with activities such as basketball or dance, a certain level of slipping is necessary for safety, and rubber floors are usually too grippy to allow much slippage. If rubber is used for these types of activities, it can lead to an increased risk of athletes injuring their knees or ankles.

Myth #5: Foam floors contain rubber.

The majority of all foam flooring is made of of EVA or Polyethylene foam. Even though both of these material are very pliable, much like rubber, they do not contain any rubber. Foam rubber is a spongy material in which rubber has been manufactured with a foam agent to add air to the material and lesson its density. Commonly referred to as a “foam rubber”, it is commonly found in mattresses and furniture cushions but is not durable enough to be used in flooring.

Myth #6: Plastic floors are slippery.

The surface texture makes a world of difference in how slippery a floor can become when wet or dusty. Smoother surfaces will carry an increased risk of being slippery. Plastic floors often feature leather or orange peel type textures to provide traction as well as diamond and raised bump, non-skid patterns.

soft rubber flooring

Myth #7: Rubber floors are waterproof.

While rubber is very moisture resistant, most rubber flooring is made of ground automotive tires and can be slightly porous. This allows for water to ever-so-slowly permeate through the rubber. If power washed, the water is blasted into these tiny pores and forces them open, allowing the water in. If repeatedly power washed, water can become trapped within the rubber flooring and possibly even damage the flooring.

Myth #8: PVC and Vinyl flooring are completely different.

Vinyl is often the shorthand way of referring to Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC). The term ''vinyl'' actually includes a broad range of thermoplastic chemical compounds that includes EVA, PEVA, PVA and PVB as well as PVC. PVC is unique from other vinyls because of the addition of the chlorine molecule to the chemical structure, which makes it highly fire retardant.

rubber flooring fatigue relief

Myth #9: Rubber flooring is just as good as plastic for garages

Rubber flooring is commonly used as an inexpensive alternative to PVC or Polypropylene garage flooring. If the garage isn’t being used for automobiles, then this is fine. There are some downsides to using rubber flooring when, cars, trucks and even trailers are involved, however. While rubber is strong enough to handle the weight of vehicles, some rubber floors can sometimes experience chemical reactions to some automobile tires, oils and other chemicals associated with internal combustion engines. These interactions can lead to the rubber breaking down and in turn shorten the lifespan of the flooring.

Rubber plastic, and foam are all great flooring materials, but they each have their ideal use cases and proper research should be conducted to make sure the best flooring is chosen for an area.

Determining the Best Rubber Flooring for Weight Rooms

Rubber has been widely accepted as the go-to material for commercial gym and home weight room flooring for many years. There are a wide range of options to choose from for rubber flooring. With so many options, it can be hard to choose.

One of the first things to consider when choosing flooring for a weight room is how much traffic/abuse it will need to take. If your weight training facility will be used for competitive athletic teams, such as a college or pro football team, then it will need to be more durable than flooring for home gyms of senior centers.

Surface for installing rolled rubber

Rubber has built a reputation for protecting the subfloor, reducing vibration and cutting noise from machines and free weights. Rubber flooring is so popular because it is very durable, simple to clean, and is commonly made from recycled tires. Rubber mats can also be recycled at the end of their life.

installing rubber flooring over concrete

Rolled Rubber

When choosing rubber flooring, the thickness of the mat has a big impact on the long-term durability of the flooring. A 1/4 to 3/8 inch rubber floor will suffice for light to moderate use while heavily-used areas will require a thicker rubber surface match that lifespan. In spaces where free weights are going to be dropped, 1/2 to 1-1/2 inch rubber flooring is highly recommended to handle the impact of the weights without damaging the floor beneath. Although many thicker rubber floors can greatly outlast a 15-year warranty, kettlebells, hex head dumbbells and heavily-loaded barbells are especially punishing to any flooring surface when dropped and will take its toll on even the best rubber floors eventually.

home gym flooring over concrete

Rolled rubber flooring is the cheapest option for large weight rooms. It also leaves the fewest seams after installation. However, due to the nature of its size and weight (often coming in 25-50 foot long rolls), installation can be cumbersome without help, and thickness is limited - generally to 1/2 inch.

Rubber Floor Mats

Rubber floor mats, often sold in 4x6 foot sizes, offer another economical option with the capability of a slightly thicker surface. Greatmats offers rubber floor mats ranging in thickness from 3/8 to 3/4 inches thick. While heavy and generally stable, these straight edge mats can separate from each other over time, especially when covering a large surface area. Rubber floor mats are commonly used as supplementary floor protection in areas where weights are dropped.

rubber flooring installation

Interlocking Puzzle Mats

Interlocking, puzzle-style tiles offer convenient installation and a tight, durable fit without shifting. The are typically chosen for smaller installations due to their much higher cost per square foot. The smaller 2 to 4 foot tiles (1/4 to 3/4 inch thick) are easier to manage, especially if installed by a single person.

For use in cardio areas, where shock absorption is less of a concern than weight rooms, thinner rubber flooring will be fine. Some gym-goers prefer the feel and warmth of carpeting in cardio areas, but cleaning can become an issue as stains and bacteria are hard to remove from most carpeted surfaces.

rubber floor installation

Foam and plastic flooring options also exist for weight room flooring. Like carpeting, however, great care should be taken when or if you decide to use these materials. Foam is not suitable for use with exercise equipment as it will intent under heavy objects. Plastic flooring such as StayLock tiles are rugged enough to handle heavy weight equipment and offers cushioning similar to foam, but typically carries shorter-term warranties than rubber weight room flooring.

Greatmats understands that every weight room has unique needs, and that's why we offer a wide range of weight room flooring options.