When gyms reopened a couple of weeks back I was still undecided if I’d go back to mine or I’d continue to workout at home. Well, the choice was made easy when I found out my gym was sold to another gym. At first, I considered signing up to Inspire since all my friends go there, but their Bida’a location was closed for renovation and their second location was just too far away. So I decided I might as well just workout from home.
For the past few months I had been working out at home using some basic gym equipment I had rented. I was really limited with my workouts due to the equipment I had on hand, but I was still disciplined enough to work out 3 times a week keeping with my previous gym schedule. So I decided I’d just put together a proper home gym and continue to work out from home. Due to the high demand for gym equipment because of the pandemic, finding everything I needed for a gym and at a reasonable price was going to be a difficult task. Thats why I decided I would detail my process in three parts. I’m going to mention where I got what from along with the prices I paid so that anybody else looking to set up a home gym can follow my steps if they want to. In this first part I’m going to be talking about the easiest part of this home gym, the floor.
Back in April I posted about a company called Green Rub that used recycled tires to make rubber fitness tiles. The tiles come in 1x1meter sizes and in two thicknesses, 2cm and 4cm. The 2cm thick tiles weigh 16kg while the 4cm tiles weigh 32kg. Going by the photos on their account I had difficulty deciding on the thickness of the tiles. Green Rub had recommended 4cm if I was planning on dropping weights from a height and since I never drop my weights I went with the 2cm. I’m glad I did because after having the tiles installed I realized they were more than enough.
The price of the tiles is 6KD per square meter and the minimum they sell you is 6 meters. I measured my space and ordered 8 meters which turned out to be perfect. Installation is easy, there is no sticking and it’s not permanent, they just lay the tiles on the floor for you wherever you want. In my case since I was covering a whole section of the floor in one of my rooms, I needed the pieces to be cut to fit perfectly edge to edge. They were able to do that for me at no extra cost and the whole thing cost me 48KD.
The end result turned out great and the tiles feel premium like they belong in a proper commercial gym. The gym floor isn’t a necessity but it does help me mentally to feel like I’ve got a proper gym. When I work out I’ll be in this newly defined gym zone which should put me in a gym mode whenever I’m in it with an added benefit of not having to worry about setting my weights down gently on my parquet floor. If you want to get this flooring for your place, here is a link to their website.
Update: I noticed they’ve now increased their price from 6KD per square meter to 7KD.
17 replies on “Home Gym Build: Part 1 – The Floor”
A few years back I planned a small gym in one of the rooms, the flooring was going to cost me a small fortune till I saw these puzzle like rubbery tiles for children’s rooms. Bought it and installed it myself with one tenth of the price.
Still in a great shape and smells much better than these professional gym floors which gives me a headache.
Where did you get them from?
those childrens tiles though are soft and won’t work for weight lifting gym setups. You need a hard floor for stability so that you could send all your power effiently upwards not downwards. These rubber tiles I got are pretty hard but just soft enough to absorb a heavy weight and bounce it off.
You’ll find them in carpet stores in Farwaniya. Many have it on sale, buy 1 pack get 1 pack free
I don’t use heavy weights, not more than 20 kg and never drop it.they are more than enough for me.
I remember calling a gym equipment company in Kuwait city they told me a 5×5 room will cost me 400kd.
Do they help reduce any impact on your knees when walking over it / lifting weights while standing?
No don’t think so because it’s not soft. You can’t have soft flooring for weight lifting since you need the stability. It’s a hard rubber (think of your car tire) that can absorb a drop of a heavy weight while protecting the surface underneath. It’s softer obviously than a hard floor but don’t think enough to have an effect on the knees.
I used all the following online stores to set up my home gym few months ago:
1. prosportskw.com (got a pullup rack, resistance bands, ab roller, step platform, foam roller)
2. beyondequipments.com/shop (7 ft barebell, plates, plate collar)
3. instagram.com/orderstore.kw (adjustable dumbells, 5ft barebell, plates, bench, bar and plate rack)
4. arabakw.com (dip bars, squat rack)
5. gymdoctor.com.kw (plates)
other online stores that I searched but did not buy from:
– wawanpro.com
– alnasser.net
– xcite.com
– sportsgroup.online
Oh hadn’t come across beyond equipments, too and they’re sold out on a lot of stuff.
Which squat rack did you order from araba? Mine gets installed on Saturday and I’m pretty excited about it, really hoping it’s some heavy duty shit I can abuse and not worry about breaking
Intersport is also a good choice for sporting equipment. My heavybag + stand was delivered the next day.
Initially I ordered it from Wawanpro after seeing all the ads – but 2 weeks passed and they didn’t deliver or follow up on my order so I cancelled it and tried out intersport.
will they stain the floor under them? and what about the smell?
I doubt they would stain because there is no coloring. No smell oddly enough, I thought I would have to air out my room but other than a slight smell the first few days (probably cuz they were in the heat) there is no more smell right now.
Are they slippery in your home gym and hard to grip? My gym recently installed these rubber tiles but they are so slippery and no grip. I asked owner why so slippery and he said that they are new from the factory that is why they are slippery. Do you think this is a genuine reason?
hmmm do u mean slippery as in they move from their place or slippery if you mean the surface is slipper? In both cases I haven’t had an issue but my tiles also go from end to end so there is friction from the walls holding them in place as well as the base.
Mark, tiles are glued with floor so they don’t move. But anyone who walks or starts a workout on tiles don’t have a solid grip connection with feet to these tiles
Yes, they can shift from impact.
I had them fitted in the center of my gym at first but because they would move after a workout I ended up ordering more pieces so they connect to the wall end-to-end like Mark did.
You’re making a Pain Cave! Cool. Room conversions are the best. Make sure you have a dehumidifier in there or the underside of the flooring is going to grow some interesting specimens!
Hey Mark, is it possible to deadlift in an apartment if you have these installed or will it still cause trouble with floor/neighbors below?