Rubber gym floors are quickly becoming the standard for many sports facilities all over the world. Thanks to its versatility and natural features, rubber is excellent for a variety of sports. It offers a unique set of advantages that other sports flooring solutions can’t match. On this page, we will highlight the sports that rubber flooring is best for and discuss why that’s the case.
Characteristics of Rubber Sports Floors
A couple of months back, we covered the advantages and features of rubber flooring in great detail. While we won’t focus on this part extensively again, we do want to emphasize the rubber floors’ main features before moving to this page’s main topic.
So without further ado, here are the essential characteristics of rubber floors that make them an excellent choice for a variety of sports:
- High-performing — Uniform and stable, rubber flooring can provide good athlete stability, traction, and force reduction without impacting movement.
- Easy to Maintain — Rubber sports floors are both simple to install and easy to maintain. Since rubber is water-resistant, cleaning involves regular mopping with a damp mop and occasionally using a recommended disinfectant.
- Durable — Rubber is a long-lasting material. It’s much more durable than other flooring solutions. Rubber flooring is also less susceptible to general wear and tear. This allows it to offer outstanding performance features over a long period.
- Customizable — Rubber sports flooring comes in a variety of formats, thicknesses, and shapes. It allows you to customize your gym and precisely mold the floor to fit your facility.
Rubber Flooring is Best for the Following Sports and Activities
Rubber flooring is an excellent choice for multi-sports facilities and a suitable flooring solution for a long list of activities. Next up, let’s take a closer look at the sports that rubber flooring is best for:
Weight Training
Without a doubt, rubber is the number one choice when it comes to flooring solutions for indoor weight rooms. Since it comes in many varieties, rubber is suitable for any weightlifting exercise.
If you have an area designated for lifting heavy weights, you can use a thick rubber floor that’s sturdy and durable enough to endure heavy impact without breaking or tearing. This mainly goes for Olympic lifts and heavy compound exercises such as squats or deadlifts.
You can use a thicker layer of rubber for free weight areas and other parts of your weight room, but one that’s not as dense and firm as that for heavy weight lifting areas. This type of rubber flooring will provide the right amount of cushion for the weights. It will also bounce back on impact to protect both the user and the floor underneath.
Running
When it comes to track and field, and mostly indoor tracks, rubber flooring is an excellent option. Not only is it durable enough to withstand heavy foot traffic, but it can also endure running spikes without getting torn or punctured.
Rubber flooring is best for other activities requiring explosive and fast movement, such as aerobics and plyometrics. As these exercises include many rapid movement changes, running, and jumping, the surface should allow enough cushioning while also keeping the users safe from joint and ligament injuries. Due to its characteristics, rubber flooring can provide just the right amount of shock absorption and grip for these activities.
Multipurpose Sports Facilities
If you run a multipurpose sports facility, consider installing a rubber floor as general flooring. We recommend this because many popular indoor sports, including basketball, volleyball, soccer, and handball, can be played on rubber floors.
If you decide to go with this option, pick a rubber floor that offers mid-level density. Such floors still provide shock absorption while also offering excellent ball-bounce.
Ice Rinks
While it may be a less obvious example than the above, rubber flooring is an essential part of every ice rink. Common areas around the rink require protective surfaces for users to walk with skates on. The rubber used for ice rinks is thicker and more durable than that for other sports. This is because it needs to endure heavy traffic and sharp skates without getting torn up.
Avoid Using Rubber Floors for These Sports
Rubber flooring is one of the most durable and resilient flooring solutions on the market, but it’s not suitable for every sport. To maintain an objective standpoint, we should also mention the sports that rubber flooring is not best for.
Due to its gripping characteristics, rubber can offer too much friction. This makes it unsuitable for sports that require surfaces that athletes can turn on without much grip. Most notably, this includes sports like dancing and martial arts, in which the athletes need to have the comfort of turning their feet without experiencing grip on their joints.
Of course, you can still use it as a subfloor solution if you’re looking for a surface with not too much grip but one that still offers excellent impact absorption.
How to Choose the Right Rubber Floor for Your Facility
Versatile, durable, and high-performing rubber sports floors are an all-around solution compatible with most sports. They’re easy to clean and more affordable than other traditional flooring options. But, for best results, you should always make sure you choose the right type of rubber flooring based on the sports activities in your facility.
If you’re having trouble choosing a specific type of rubber flooring for your facility, it’s always best to reach out to experienced professionals for more in-depth advice. Our sports flooring experts will help you choose the best rubber sports floor for your sports facility and provide any information you need.
Contact us today or call (973) 801-7219 to learn more about how rubber sports floors can improve your facility!