Equipment in an athletic facility should promote health and safety. Due to many sports involving high impact activities and movements, flooring must be used to protect users from injuries. Flooring in an athletic facility should be resilient. If the floor mat used in a facility is not, its productive features will be ineffective.
Most athletic facilities use rubber floor mats. Rubber is a durable material that offers shock absorption. Matting made from this material can decrease the severity of an accident and help protect users from harming themselves. The flooring is versatile, allowing it to be used indoors as well as outdoors. Different thicknesses and styles of anti-slip matting may be used in an athletic facility to accommodate certain sports. The sports that commonly require rubber matting are weight training, aerobics, and running.
Weight Training
Rubber flooring is the solution for weight training facilities. For best results, the rubber flooring should vary based on the different training areas. Heavier workout equipment will require the floor to be dense and sturdy. It should withstand tons of weight, without breaking or bending.
Other areas of the weight room may require a different thickness for the matting. For example, the free weight area would need a thick rubber mat that would provide a cushion for weights. Olympic lifts require individuals to lift heavy weights overhead, when lowering the weights to the ground, the matting employed should allow the weights to bounce back slightly.
Aerobics
Aerobics and plyometric drills require the employment of rubber matting. These movements require individuals to move fast and explode from one move to the next. Aerobic exercises require individuals to perform jarring movements. These movements include lunging, jumping, and running.
Mats used for this type of sport should be porous. They should allow increased shock absorption, and an added layer of cushion. The porous rubber flooring for these sports should provide a place for gripping or sudden changes of direction.
Running
Indoor track and field facilities will require rubber flooring in place. The athletic mats used for running need to be able to withstand substantial amounts of foot traffic. The materials used to create mats for running sports need to be dense. The material should be resilient enough that it will not puncture when running spikes are used on it. The flooring will need to be flexible, so it can adhere to the various bends that are set into place on tracks.
Rubber Mat Attributes
Rubber is a material that promotes gripping. It should not be used for sports that require your body to create friction. Dancing on a rubber mat is not recommended, because your feet require a surface to glide on. It can be used as a subfloor, underneath a hard floor for these types of sports. This would allow the floor to provide an extra layer of cushion if falls occur.
When using a rubber mat in an athletic facility it is important to keep the area clean. The facilities are vulnerable to fungus and bacteria growth, so the mat should be cleaned regularly. Make sure that you select the right type of matting solution for your facility, based off of the sport that it is going to be used to support.
