Weight Room Floors
Weight room flooring seems like a straight forward topic. You get rubber floor tiles, you interlock them together, and boom, a weight room floor. The reality is more goes into choose the right flooring material. In order to attract athletes to the growing exercise lifestyle, fitness facilities have built ever larger, more sophisticated weight rooms and exercise equipment spaces. Private fitness facilities, community rec centers, YMCAs, high schools and universities alike have joined the exercise craze and competition for patrons. Flooring in these facilities is a special challenge. These are high use, high abuse spaces that must look great under all conditions.
Trends in Weight Room Floors
Aesthetics, cleanliness and durability are key criteria in the decision on the type of weight room flooring to use. Heavy weights, heavy equipment and repetitive stresses are hard on floors. The floor has to be easy to clean dirt and grime from foot traffic, as well as bodily fluids. Popular weight room floors are interlocking tile rubber flooring. Interlocking tiles are easy to change when they wear out from repetitive high use under few weights and other heavy gym equipment. Another trend that has recently become popular is the addition of turf in your weight room. Turf allows for indoor training during the colder months.
Rubber Flooring for Exercise Spaces
Why choose rubber flooring? There’s many reasons. Some of the key benefits to rubber flooring are:
- Excellent sound absorption
- Incredible impact resistance designed for free weight drop zones
- 100% recycled tires or post industrial EPDM rubber content
- Certified GREEN sustainable product
- Interlocking, lay flat surface
- Many colors, styles, patterns
BASKETBALL | FOOTBALL | WEIGHT ROOMS | WALL PADS | FLOORING
U of M Athletes Village
MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA
The University of Minnesota set out to build an innovative new practice facility for student athletes. Anderson Ladd, now known as H2I Group, worked alongside the University, BWBR Architects, and Mortenson Construction to plan and design the state of the art Athletes Village. Acoustics were the main concern for the multi-level facility that layered student halls between basketball courts. Using a method H2I Group previously used at the Timberwolves Practice Facility, students are able to study in designated study areas below the men’s and women’s basketball courts without interruptions.