Which Sports Use Rubber Flooring and Why?

Like all equipment in an athletic facility, it's essential sports flooring promotes health and safety.

As many sports include high impact activity, the flooring for the facility must be able to protect athletes from injury. Sports floors must also be resilient. Without a tough floor, wear and tear will yield any protective features ineffective.

Rubber flooring sports

Rubber is the standard flooring material for athletic facilities all over the globe. Customers lover for its durability and superior shock absorption. It can lessen the severity of accidents and safeguard against injuries. Rubber flooring can be used for multi-function flooring as it is very versatile. That being said, different thicknesses and styles of rubber work for different sports. Read below for an overview of the most common utilizations of rubber flooring, and what kind of rubber flooring works best for each area.

Weight Training

Rubber is a go-to flooring solution for weight rooms. There are many different kinds of rubber flooring, and it’s important to use the correct kinds of each kind of weight-training area. Heavy equipment requires a rubber floor that is dense and sturdy enough to hold tons of weight without bending or breaking. Free weight areas require a thicker rubber flooring that protects the flooring underneath from the dropper weights. For olympic lifts, it is essential that the rubber floor is firm enough to allow for maximum output as well as protecting the floor below.

rubber sports flooring

Running

Track and field also often uses rubber flooring in some capacity. This is especially true for indoor tracks. Obviously, rubber used for tracks need to be durable enough to withstand heavy foot traffic. Not only that, but the material has to be dense and resilient enough that it's not punctured or torn by running spikes. The rubber flooring used at tracks should be flexible enough that it can curve with the bends of the track.

Aerobics and Plyometrics

Plyometric drills are all about fast, powerful and explosive movements, which creates a harder impact upon landing. It’s typical or aerobic exercises to include jarring movements such as jumping, lunging, and running. Because of this, rubber flooring designed for plyometrics and aerobics should be more porous to allow for greater shock-absorption and cushioning. In order to help maintain a safe workout environment, this flooring has excellent grip that makes direction changes seamless.

Ice Rinks

You might be thinking to yourself, why would an ice rink use rubber? At first glance the use case is not very obvious. Common areas around the ice require protective surfaces where people can safely walk with skates on. Rubber is the most common material for ice rinks in areas surrounding the actual ice, including the bench. The rubber flooring used around the ice rinks will undoubtedly take a lot of use and abuse from skates, so choosing a durable, sturdy rubber flooring is imperative.

rubber athletic flooring

Multi-Functional Rubber Floors

While many sports don’t use rubber as their ideal flooring, it can still be used as a general sports flooring materials and work great. Basketball, soccer, and volleyball, for example, can all be played on rubber floors. That's why rubber flooring makes a good all-around flooring solution for rooms that will be put to many different athletic uses. If the flooring is going to be used for general use, choose rubber that is has a middle-density. That way, rubber will remain absorptive while balls can bounce on it.

When Not to Use Rubber

Rubber is a grippy material and yields too much friction for some sports. Dance is an activity that requires a surface which allows for feet to turn on without grip. Rubber isn't recommended for martial arts either. Again, the surface is too grippy and too hard for spins or learning throws and falls.

Rubber is a popular material for sport subfloor or underlayments if athletes need impact absorption and a flooring material with less grip.

sports rubber flooring

Types of Rubber Flooring

Now that you have an idea of the sports that use rubber flooring, you can start looking closer at specifics. Greatmats offer rubber flooring in three main forms: rolls, tiles, and mats. Rubber mats are a great and easy way to bring the benefits of rubber flooring into any room. Mats can be a great choice if extra cushion or thickness is needed over smaller areas.

Rubber tiles and rubber rolls are also extremely easy installations. Interlocking rubber tiles are one of the more popular options for spaces that need a sturdier and denser rubber flooring option.Tiles can be installed by your own hand just by laying down and connecting pieces.

Rubber rolls are just as easy to lay out, provided you have enough help to carry the heavy rolls, and can be adhered to the floor with double-sided floor tape or floor glue. Of the three options, rubber rolls are typically the most economical option and the final product will have the fewest seams after installation.

athletic rubber flooring

Keep It Clean

No matter what type of rubber you go for, it's important to keep athletic flooring well maintained.

Athletic facilities can be perfect places for bacteria and fungus growth if not properly cleaned on a regular basis. Rubber flooring should be cleaned with a pH neutral cleaner, as other cleaners can erode the material.

Ultimately, it's key to know your environment before installing a rubber sports floor. Every activity has different needs. Weight training will undoubtedly require a thicker mat that an indoor track. Not only that, but you must factor usage into the equation. The same athletic flooring for a small community center may not work in a busy college training facility, even if the activity is the same.

Greatmats is here to be a helping hand in sorting through all the flooring options that we offer. Customer service representatives can help you choose a thickness and style that will meet your athletic flooring needs.