What Is The Right Gym Flooring For Treadmills?

A motorised treadmill can weigh anywhere from 200lbs to 300lbs, not including the person using it. While manufacturers always design treadmills to evenly distribute weight, this is no guarantee a treadmill won’t mark a floor or damage it.

The right gym flooring in the UK for treadmills is a hard floor that doesn’t allow the treadmill to compress it. Softer surfaces, like rubber tiles, compress under the weight of a treadmill and this can cause irreparable damage to the surface.

Here are our flooring recommendations for treadmills:

PU or vinyl

We would typically recommend polyurethane or vinyl floors for treadmills. These surfaces have desirable point elastic performance with a stiff, rigid surface. You most often find these surfaces in gymnasiums and indoor courts.

PU and vinyl floors are extremely durable, and they are ideal for functional fitness areas where heavy weights are not used. You can use this flooring system for all your machines, including rowing machines and cable crossovers.

EPDM rubber matting

An alternative to polyurethane or vinyl is rubber matting made from stiff EPDM. EPDM rubber has outstanding wear resistance and durability. The benefit to using rubber matting is you can also cover large areas with it, extending it to functional zones. This is because the rubber surface is soft enough for functional fitness.

If you have weight areas near your treadmill, EPDM rubber is a good option because it will provide better protection to the subfloor than PU.

Have a hardwood or carpeted floor?

If you intend to locate your treadmills on a hardwood floor or carpet, then we strongly recommend buying treadmill mats. Treadmill mats sit underneath the treadmill to protect the floor. They work well and are inexpensive.

You might also like to consider upgrading your flooring system. Hardwood is fantastic for gymnasiums but not so good for functional fitness. Carpet also lacks the durability of rubber because it was never designed for gym use.

Summing up

Treadmills work best on hard gym flooring in the UK but not hardwood or carpet. If you intend to locate treadmills on these surfaces, use a treadmill mat. Otherwise, PU or vinyl flooring is an excellent choice, as is EPDM rubber.

Most gyms have treadmills alongside elliptical machines and cycling machines. The same recommendations apply with these. In our opinion, EPDM rubber is the best surface in gyms where treadmills are located close to weight zones.