The best home gym flooring

The American Floor Mats Fit-Lock Rubber Flooring takes our Best Overall spot because of its durability and versatility. Most of the Fit-Lock type mats on the market are made from EVA foam, which is fine, but oftentimes won’t hold up to the beating of repetitive heavy weights. Some of the foam mats even have a rubber coating on top, but the same limitations persist. The American Floors Mats are different in that they are made entirely of a commercial-grade, recycled rubber (of the same type and quality you’d find in car tires), meaning they can stand up to even the most aggressive of workouts.

The American Floor Mats Fit-Lock Rubber Flooring is heat- and weather-resistant, so these mats can easily be used indoors or outdoors and are completely capable of standing up to the elements. They are also mold- and mildew-resistant, making them a perfect choice for a gym where the atmosphere is often warm and humid.

These rubber tiles come in 24- by 24-inch squares and fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Obviously, not all home gyms are the same, varying greatly in size and shape. Whether you’re planning to cover the entire floor or just a portion, the rubber tiles can be easily cut with a sharp utility knife, though you may need to make several strokes to get all the way through the rubber.

The American Floor Mats Fit-Lock Rubber Flooring can be purchased in a wide range of set sizes to fit whatever dimension home gym you’re constructing.

If you’ve blown all your cash on other workout gear, the ProsourceFit Puzzle Exercise Mat tiles are an excellent way to solve your flooring problem. I know this because these are the home gym flooring mats I purchased for my garage gym at home, after spending all my money on adjustable dumbbells. At $25 for a set of six tiles, you really can’t beat the price, and you can easily cover a large floor area for a fraction of the cost of rubber mats and tiles.

The ProsourceFit Puzzle Exercise mats are made of high-density EVA foam, giving them moderate durability and making them ultra-lightweight and easy to move. Every summer I move my home gym from my basement out to the garage and picking up these floor tiles is a snap. They are both easy to carry and quick to assemble. The EVA foam is also water-resistant and easy to clean, which means you shouldn’t have issues with mildew and mold.

The only downside to the EVA foam mats seems to be their durability. Foam is a naturally porous material with weaker bonding agents, so it is less likely to stand up to the repetitive beating of extremely heavy weights. If you’re an Olympic-style lifter, you may want to consider a tougher material, but if your workouts don’t involve dropping heavy dumbbells or iron plates, or you’re looking for something to protect your floor against the scuffing of cardio machines, these mats should suit you just fine.

Not into puzzles? Maybe tiles aren’t right for you. Maybe what you need is one solid mat to cover your entire workout space. If that’s the case, then check out the Gorilla Mats Large Premium Exercise Mat. This four- by six-foot and quarter-inch thick mat has been consistently rated as one of the top, most durable exercise mats on the market. It’s great for anything from HIIT workouts to cardio to yoga. The only caution I might take with this mat is with Olympic-style lifting, where you’ll have extremely heavy weights coming down hard. The mat may be durable, but ¼ inch is ¼ inch, and you don’t want to damage your floor beneath.

The Gorilla Mats Large Premium Exercise Mat has a non-slip grip pattern on its underside, making it great for quickly covering any surface in your home, though many of the product reviews suggest the mat can slip some when placed over carpeting. The top layer appears to be a woven durable woven fabric to protect the ProFoam cushioning below. This is a great gym flooring option for a smaller workout space and it’s quick to roll up and put away when finished.

Two trusted individuals interviewed for this review have sworn up and down by the quality of the Tractor Supply Co. Thick Rubber Stall Mat. Before I go on, it should be understood that this floor mat was originally intended to line the stalls of horses and other barnyard animals, and the website description states: “built specifically for the needs of large animals.” Personally, I can’t think of a better compliment for serious weightlifters.

The Tractor Supply Co. Thick Rubber Stall Mat is made of 3/4-inch thick vulcanized rubber, and the whole four- by six-foot rubber mat weighs a whopping 94 pounds. Translation: This isn’t a mat you’ll be moving around the house with ease. This mat can be placed over any surface and features both a smooth surface side and a textured side. The textured side employs raised rubber “buttons” that help prevent surface slides when faced down or help prevent foot slides when faced up. The mat can be used either way. The non-porous surface of both sides makes this mat easy to clean, but can also make it a bit slippery when wet. Heavy sweaters beware.

Not all workouts require a thick pad over your floor, and if you’re prone to a lower-impact or lower-weight workout, perhaps a more versatile flooring would be better suited to your home gym. For this, I’d recommend the House, Home, and More Indoor Outdoor Carpet. A durable indoor/outdoor carpet is a great way to add texture to otherwise slippery surfaces like tile and hardwood or to provide protection from dirty or abrasive surfaces like cement patios or your garage floor.

The House, Home, and More Indoor Outdoor Carpet is made of low-piled, polyester fibers and measures about ¼-inch thick (so you won’t want to drop any heavy weights on this one). The carpet is backed with a thin coat of rubber to prevent slipping and the edges are unbound, so multiple carpets can be placed side by side with little or no visible seams. This carpet is a great gym floor material if you’re like me and your home gym moves from inside to outside depending on the time of year. The carpet is easy to clean with a vacuum or broom and can be easily rolled up and stored away when not in use.

This carpet is available in multiple sizes ranging from six by 10 feet or six by 50 feet. Keep in mind that the carpet delivers in a roll, so it may take a little time before it lays completely flat.

Oftentimes, our home gym space is not exclusively reserved for working out and we need to have a flooring solution that looks good for other purposes as well. The Sorbus Wood Grain Floor Mats are a slick solution that can add some style to your home gym floor. The Sorbus Wood Grain Floor Mats are interlocking foam pads, similar to those reviewed earlier in this article, only the Sorbus Mats are designed to look like hardwood flooring of various colors and styles.

The Sorbus Wood Grain Floor Mats contain no actual wood but are made of OPP plastic on top (printed with wood grain patterns) and polyethylene foam underneath. The ⅜-inch foam gives the mat a nice cushion making it ideal for high or low-intensity workouts, though you may still want to be extra careful when setting down dumbbells or other weights. I would still recommend not using anything too incredibly heavy on these mats and would certainly advise against throwing any weights down.

The mats are cut with jigsawed edges so that they interlock perfectly, creating barely visible seams. Twelve mats come in a single order, giving you a total of 48 square feet to work with.