Can You Place Exercise Equipment on Carpet?

Home gyms are exploding in popularity because they offer convenience and privacy when compared to a public gym, but for all their pro’s, home gyms can be pricey. The cost of equipment can eat up a lot of your budget, and this means lots of people look to cut costs elsewhere – usually on room décor.

Home gyms are typically installed in spare rooms, basements or garages. Many of these rooms may already have carpet laid down and painted walls. This can present itself as the perfect blank canvas for a home gym and you might think ‘there’s nothing to change here, let’s get the equipment in!’, but is that really the case? The walls won’t be an issue because they won’t affect your performance; however, the carpet could.

If you’re looking at an installing a home gym in your spare room and are wondering if you need to revamp the shell of the space first, we’ve got you covered. In this guide, we’re going to be looking at flooring options for your home gym and seeing whether it’s something you can gloss over, or if it needs some investment prior to your equipment being loaded in.

Gym Flooring

If you’ve ever been to a public gym then you’ll know they’re often quite neutral. Block painted walls and dark carpet tiles are commonplace, as is anti-slip resin flooring in fitness studios and spin rooms. If you’re transforming your garage into a home gym, you might well already have resin flooring in place, in which case you can install your equipment safely over the top.

Resin flooring is great for gyms because it’s anti-slip and it’s solid, and this means when you’re lifting weights or doing equipment-free workouts, the surface beneath your feet will provide you with the support and stability you need.

Resin flooring is also particularly good for placing heavy equipment on top of because the equipment won’t sink into the floor and result in indents or holes. The hard surface means equipment will sit level and won’t be at a tilt which makes it one of the safest options for heavy equipment like treadmills, exercise bikes and weight benches. The same can be said for most hardwood floors like laminate, concrete and tiles, but soft floors like carpet don’t offer the same hardwearing properties.

Can You Put Exercise Equipment on Carpet?

As mentioned, alongside resin flooring, carpet tiles are commonly used in public gyms. This might lead you to believe that you can use carpet in your home gym, but carpet in your home and commercial carpet tiles are in fact very different products.

Carpet tiles have a hard backing on them which makes them hard and supportive, whereas carpet in your home is not of the same calibre and does not have the same backing or hardwearing qualities.

If you have long/high/deep pile carpet, it is categorically not suitable for a home gym and should be removed without exception. It is far too soft, unstable and slippery for use in a home gym and poses great risks to your safety. In addition, it will almost certainly get ruined by heavy gym equipment and as such, none should be placed on top of it.

Short/low pile carpet is slightly different and if carpet tiles are not being used, it is the most common alternative for those looking to install a soft floor in their home gym.

So, what exactly can short pile carpet offer you in terms of your workout space?

• Low cost – carpet is cheap and easily sourced compared to carpet tiles or hardwood/resin

• Protective – the soft surface means if you slip and fall or drop gym equipment on the floor, the risk of injury or damage is dramatically reduced

• Less noise – carpet absorbs sounds which means noise is less likely to reverberate throughout the house or echo around the room

• Aesthetically pleasing – resin flooring can resemble concrete and doesn’t look particularly nice

• Adaptable – if you’re wondering how to protect the carpet from exercise equipment, installing exercise equipment mats for carpet surfaces on top of the carpet can prevent damage

These are all compelling advantages of adding carpet into your home gym, but should you really consider it?

Here are some of the key reasons why carpet is not suitable for a home gym:

• No hard backing – there is no support or stability during heavy lifting or other types of exercise which could cause poor form or injury, even if equipment mats are used because the surface underneath the mat is not hard or stable

• No grip –gym shoes will likely not grip on short-pile carpet, which could potentially cause you to slip and injure yourself

• Not hygienic – sweat will absorb into the long fibres of the short-pile carpet and may get stuck, causing stains and/or an unpleasant odour (note: carpet tiles are not the same because they aren’t short-pile and so have fewer fibres for liquid to seep into)

• Damage – gym equipment is heavy and will cause hole indents on the carpet that will cause irreparable damage

Final Verdict

There’s a lot to be said for installing gym equipment on top of carpet and there are convincing arguments both for and against it, but generally speaking, unless commercial carpet tiles are being used, it’s not advisable due to the health risks and damage it poses.

When you’re designing your home gym, it’s best not to cut corners anywhere. If you can’t afford brand new equipment upfront, we offer refurbished gym equipment as well as finance plans to help ease the burden. We also offer a comprehensive 3D design service to help you imagine what your new gym space will look like in real life.

To find out more about any of the services or gym equipment products we’ve mentioned, please contact our team.