Deadlift mats

Cort · 12-Sep-05, 11:12 PM

Anyone know the standard thickness for mats you'd want to use to protect the floor from possible damage?

Just curious, got some crap from a gym employee (first time in over a year of working out there) today because I was deadlifting on the gym floor, which is protected by like an inch and a half of rubber.

**Firehawk** · 13-Sep-05, 06:27 AM

1 1/2 inches seems like PLENTY dude. We have about 1/2 inch rubber mats but they are made specifically for gym floors. Perhaps the mats you guys have are maybe somethin else and not designed for gym floors? 1 1/2 inches is very thick.

We also have some wooden platforms that we have our benches set up on, and also we deadlift on them occasionally. People drop 600 from standing position and it doesn't hurt the protective covering or the floor underneathe.

Maybe the employees just don't like the noise the weight makes when it hits the floor lol.

Cort · 13-Sep-05, 08:39 PM

No, lol, they don't even go in the gym half the time. There's a front desk in the hallway where you check in, and then two weight rooms and an indoor basketball court that are in their own separate rooms.

I'm not going to argue with them about it, but I've been deadlifting in there for over a year now without any problems. You'd think if it wasn't enough, I'd have busted their floor in by now

**Firehawk** · 13-Sep-05, 08:41 PM

Maybe they got nothin better to do than bug you...lol

**.V.** · 13-Sep-05, 11:23 PM

Why would anyone want to deadlift in the first place?

Come on man, get it together, find some nautilus machines.

Seriously, my gym is a metal building in my back yard with a 1/2 inch wooden floor. I put another 1/2 inch thick piece of OSB board that I can move around to where I'm working at.

I deadlift on that all the time and have never damaged anything - it must be the noise bothering them. Granted, my biggest DL was only 305 not like the tonnage some of you pull - but still, it hasn't harmed my flimsy little floor.

The only damage to the floor EVER was a little crack from dropping 250 from my shoulders once.

Cort · 14-Sep-05, 12:18 AM

Nah, they can't hear any noise if they aren't inside the weight room. They just came in and happened to see me deadlifting and got on me about their floors not being protected for it.

That or maybe they were afraid I'd be dropping 350 lbs right out of my hands at the top of the lift.

**.V.** · 14-Sep-05, 12:30 AM

Man that sucks. It is in fact a gym, you'd think they would expect people to deadlift. What are you going to do - sneak and do it anyway? Complain to the manager?

I mean you are paying them money to get to workout - they should provide you with a facility appropriate for you to actually do that.

Cort · 14-Sep-05, 01:08 AM

It's a bit different because it is a comm. college campus facility. They didn't stop me from deadlifting, just strongly discouraged me.

Since they work behind the scenes in the office more often than not, I doubt it'll develope into an issue. Like I said, I've been at it for over a year and haven't been bothered, so I'm just going to keep on doing them until someone specifically tells me otherwise.

I just found it weird that they didn't think the floor was well-protected. The rubber flooring always seemed pretty standard to me from past experience.

Klinger · 14-Sep-05, 05:49 AM

You're dealing with narrow-minded control freaks who are just flexing their limited authority. Ignore them until someown who is in charge makes a fuss about it. There's no doubt the gym floor can withstand the punishment.

eb86 · 19-Sep-05, 04:13 PM

i dont see how you can even find room to deadlift there. Everytime i am up there the place is pretty full. I havent lifted there but is there even an area for deadlifts or cleans? Im surprised they said anything about you deadlifting, they seem pretty cool up there for the most part. Except for the overweight girl, she is evil.