As Millennials influence more and more trends in office design, there’s a noticeable increase in offices with a sports, wellness, and/or fitness room. Those building out new space are including spaces like this, and those with existing space are renovating or retrofitting to accommodate fitness rooms.

What kind of flooring should there be in sports, wellness, and fitness rooms?

For sports, wellness, and fitness rooms, you need flooring that looks good, is easy to clean, is relatively soft, and is hard-wearing.

Rubber is a good choice. Rubber flooring comes in both sheets and tiles, several colors and patterns, is resistant to water damage, and is very durable.

Rubber also offers significant acoustic benefits as it dampens sound. A fitness room can get very loud with treadmills or stationary bikes running and people clanking the Nautilus machines. A rubber floor will help to keep that noise from permeating the rest of the office.

When people exercise, a softer floor is safer. The softer floor provides good traction, and it also withstands impact. Rubber will not only bounce back from equipment being dropped on it or people falling, but rubber helps to prevent injuries of those engaging in sports and activities.

Another possibility is to have another flooring like linoleum or luxury vinyl tile or even carpeting, and then use rubber mats under the high-impact areas like under machines or free weights.

Rubber is also an eco-friendly choice. Rubber flooring can made from natural rubber, in which case it’s renewable, or it can be made of synthetic rubber, in which case it will likely be made of recycled tires.

If you’re going to have a fitness room, then definitely outfit the room so that it’s as safe as possible. Anyone doing physical activity needs good traction and a safe place to fall.

No one knows exactly how long natural rubber has been used. We know that the Aztecs were using it in Mesoamerica long before Christopher Columbus saw evidence of that in the 1400’s. But rubber is an amazing polymer, and whether you choose natural or synthetic, rubber is in a class by itself.

We are experts at specifying the right product for your commercial flooring projects. @EagleMatFloors is family owned and operated, providing sales and installation of commercial flooring products to Property Managers and Commercial Building Owners in the Washington DC Metro area for over 35 years. Eagle Mat & Floor Products specializes in renovating facilities in the Corporate, Education, Government, Healthcare, Hospitality, Multi-Family and Public Spaces.

For more information please contact us at (301) 762-2000 or sales@eaglemat.net