I’m ready to put up my rack in my basement, and anxious to do it really soon. I don’t want to break the concrete if I drop a heavy deadlift so for xmas I got some of that integrated gym flooring from Sports Authority. I think it’s too thick.
I laid it down on the hw floors and squated barefoot, bodyweight only, and my heels really sank. This flooring is 20mm thick. I think they have thinner stuff at Target or Dunhams that I’ll go look at. Otherwise I was thinking of putting down a 1/2" deep sheet of subfloor underneath with just a real thin rubber mat.
What have you guys found and used? I’m thinking the ones I have are too thick because I doubt you want your heels to sink when your squatting. Would you go with the thinner stuff at Target or the 1/2" subfloor under that too? I’m not sure how much lbs that rubber intergrated flooring absorbs and don’t see a rating on the bag. The thick stuff I got seems like it could take a lot since I’m 194lbs and it just lets me sink some. Thoughts?
Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to set it up tomorrow. How do you know how thick your basement floor is? If it’s only 1/8" thick it’d bust real easy wouldn’t it? Otherwise I could just put down rubber and not worry about laying down a sheet of subfloor, which would be nice to avoid the hassle.
[quote]Shaggs wrote:
Thanks for the replies. I was hoping to set it up tomorrow. How do you know how thick your basement floor is? If it’s only 1/8" thick it’d bust real easy wouldn’t it? Otherwise I could just put down rubber and not worry about laying down a sheet of subfloor, which would be nice to avoid the hassle.[/quote]
It’s way thicker than 1/8", it’s somewhere between 4-12" with a rebar and wire frame within the concrete.
You will bend your barbell before you break the floor.
It should be about 3.5 inches the width of a 2x4 and HOPEFULLY rebar rienforced but 90% of the time not depending on how old it is. Most likely steel matting.
And yes DLing with a Heavy load etc. over timme can crumble the structure. Get the mats.
ironmind.com has plans for a lifting platform. They describe an olympic lifting platform that has rubber on both sides and wood in the middle. I made mine with rubber covering the entire surface.
basically, you take (2) 4x8 3/4 inch thick plywood and set them side by side. Then you take (2) more and turn them sideways and stack them on top of the others. Then you screw them together. This makes an 8’ x 8’ platform. Then put rubber on top of it.
I got lucky and found an 8’x8’ rubber mat that came in four sections and locked together. I then had measured where my power rack would go (it had predrilled holes in the legs) and bolted it clear through to the bottom of the plywood. The weight of the rack holds the mats in place. I have dropped 500# deads on the platform and it handles it with ease. I did not put my rack in the middle but towards one end so I have about 3’ of open area in which to do deads. It’s plenty of room to do this.
Once again, here is a pic of my rack that show the platform.
Alright I got it set up today. I ended up going to tractor supply and got a 4x8 rubber mat for $70. I’ll keep the other thick interlocking stuff for stretching, floor presses, or something.
The plans for the platform look solid however I only had about 1/2" clearance from the joists. My pulldown/row assembly which mounts on my rack (Parabody) got centered between two joists which is also where my head will come up for pull ups. Thanks to everyone here for the last minute tips. LOL, I’m anxious like a 5 yr old…
Congrats! I had expressed concern over my rack being too tall when I ordered it. Looking back, if it had been too tall, I would have just notched the joists ONLY (it wouldn’t have compromised their strength at all) where the rack needed clearance but I didn’t need to notch them at all but it was a tight fit.
