Home gym concrete floor ideas?

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I'm putting together a home gym on my outdoor concrete patio.  It's covered.

The gym is just a power rack with barbell and plates.

Do  I need to cover the floor with anything?   Why?  What's the cheapest possible solution?  Would 4x8 sheets of OSB plywood do?

[Dulcimina]

Maybe horse stall rubber mats? That's what they use at the weightlifting club that I go to.

[swashbucklinstache]

I think horse stall mats might be a good idea. Maybe sitting on top of plywood if you want? I like the horse stall mats anyway, better than nothing. Consider mold though, will depend on your area, but you might be able to buy 1 and try it out for a few months. Depends a bit on how much weight you're talking about but it doesn't take much to break concrete. Are you renting or do you own?

Re: DIY gym stuff generally,
There are a lot of DIY home gym blogs out there with good info on this kind of thing. Also try googling the below will bring up results for just this site's forum and clicking through threads will give you lots of ideas from forum DIY gym veterans =):
site:forum.mrmoneymustache.com DIY gym

(mmm built-in search functionality is not good, use a search engine instead)

In your shoes I would consider researching here and elsewhere on the topic of thoughts on storing weights/bars/etc outdoors, if moisture -> rusting could be at play. I've never looked at this myself and it matters where you live. A minor concern could be liability if your weight set is in a place where others might try and use it and hurt themselves e.g. an apartment complex.

DIY gym stuff in my experience:
I've been happy with a set of concrete + Lowe's buckets as squat/bench stand and a self-built pull-up bar / gymnastic rings setup. Bought a bench off craigslist that came with dip bar and seat attachments so didn't need that. I use a barbell with weights on it instead of an ab wheel. Otherwise I just don't have/use that many things since I have a barbell/big 4 focus. Might consider making a DIY med/wall ball or kettlebell for throws at some point (use jumps now), but might just resort to throwing a weight instead while/if working out outside. Might look into DIY prowler later because the damn thing is just too much fun to not do. I'd buy a power cage before making one myself but if you know the right people you could go another direction - I've had success without using higher rep ranges instead of singles, a proper spotter, <b>and</b> saw horses.

Please prioritize safety and know your exercise and DIY limits. Your mileage may vary on all of this, err on the side of buying things instead of DIY when it comes to large amounts of weight, and don't take anything I or others wrote as advice to follow blindly (or sometimes at all). We're conservative on here in some ways, but that makes sense if you step back to thinking: you're going to be a millionaire in 10 years and we're debating spending 5k for brand new equipment vs. like $400 for completely DIY stuff - one mistake is all it takes.
Strongly consider these points at each juncture:
Don't permanently disable (or, like, a permanent mild back ache) yourself to save $200.
Get your DIY kicks when you're remodeling your basement.
Save the $400 by replacing steaks with chicken for 6 months an be healthier for it rather than this.
Will I care about this when I am a millionaire at 40

I wonder if there is a DIY gym master thread on the forum?

Tagging participants on the other DIY gym thread for plates in case they have thoughts.
@JLee , @lthenderson @NorCal @Cali4en @GuitarStv @fixie @BTDretire @kenmoremmm
here:https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/do-it-yourself-forum!/diy-cement-olympic-barbell-plates/?topicseen

[a_scanner_brightly]

Maybe horse stall rubber mats? That's what they use at the weightlifting club that I go to.

I had no idea horses had plush mats for their stalls.

My friend recently discovered you could buy horse stall pellets made from pine instead of Feline Pine and save a small fortune.  So I like the theme.  I should hang out at Tractor Supply and see what other household stuff I can replace with horse stuff.

[Cali4en]

I'm putting together a home gym on my outdoor concrete patio.  It's covered.

The gym is just a power rack with barbell and plates.

Do  I need to cover the floor with anything?   Why?  What's the cheapest possible solution?  Would 4x8 sheets of OSB plywood do?

This is what we've used for years and we highly recommend them.  Granted, we're talking about in our garage and not outside, but we do park our car on top of the mats right next to our rack so there is regular rain and whatnot dripping on to and under the mats.

I can only speak to the horse stall mats sold at Tractor Supply, but those ones are great.  If you're going to be dropping heavy or doing a lot of really high impact stuff, then I'd do two layers or do a stall mat on top of plywood.  Otherwise a single stall mat will likely be fine.  I have not yet had any problems with mold under them, but I take a peek underneath every month or so just to be certain.

Now is a good time to buy them if you are in the market as TSC often sells them at a sizable discount for Black Friday.  They are super nice and will even help you roll them for loading if you don't have a flatbed to use.

Incidentally, while I'm throwing out TSC love, TSC is also a great place to pick up large nuts/washers/bolts for rack construction/maintenance or for constructing improvised lifting gear like pulley rigs and landmines and whatnot.  Same with the appropriate wrenches and whatnot to make assembly so much easier.

[GuitarStv]

Don't use plywood.  it'll get chewed up and wear in the outdoors.  I've used 3/4 inch rubber horse stall mats directly over the concrete floors in my basement for about eight years now.  They work great.  They're fully waterproof.  They're way too heavy to slide around easily.  Pretty much indestructible and weatherproof.

Generally, I'd say that I'm very careful while lifting weights.  However, in that time I've dropped 380 lbs loaded on a bar from a height of about a foot and a half (once), and a 25 lb plate from about 5 ft (once) - both with no damage or problem to the floor, mats, or the plates.  (The bar was messed up after dropping the deadlift though.)  Accidents happen.  If you don't have a covering over your concrete, you're going to get chips and cracks in it over time.

As far as DIY home gym stuff . . . I build my bench and uprights from scrap lumber.  I use them with some adjustable saw horses (as safeties) that I got from Home Depot (There are some pics in this thread - https://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/do-it-yourself-forum!/home-gym-equipment/ ).

[Uturn]

Another vote for Tractor Supply horse stall mats.  1/3 the price of gym mats and far thicker.  I had them in my home gym for around 10 years, when I sold the house, I sold the mats on CL for half of current price.  They even stand up to cat claws. 

[GuitarStv]

I re-measured my mats a couple minutes ago, they're 1" thick, not 3/4".  Not sure if that 1/4 inch really makes much difference though.

[aak7v7]

Another vote for Tractor Supply horse stall mats.  1/3 the price of gym mats and far thicker.  I had them in my home gym for around 10 years, when I sold the house, I sold the mats on CL for half of current price.  They even stand up to cat claws.

This. We have a garage gym as well, and while we aren't dropping very heavy weights on the floor, they are good at catching the occasional weight.


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[soccerluvof4]

Another vote for Tractor Supply horse stall mats.  1/3 the price of gym mats and far thicker.  I had them in my home gym for around 10 years, when I sold the house, I sold the mats on CL for half of current price.  They even stand up to cat claws.

This. We have a garage gym as well, and while we aren't dropping very heavy weights on the floor, they are good at catching the occasional weight.


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Agreed , and being on concrete the thicker the better if your a weigh dropper and dont want to crack your patio if you get to close mainly to an edge

[ROF Expat]

I also use TSC stall mats.  You can get them in different thicknesses. 

Is your concrete floor level?  If so, thick stall mats alone should be fine.  If it isn't, you might want to build a plywood platform topped off by a rubber stall mat.  You can shim the platform to get it level.  You can find plans all over the internet.  If you build a platform, my understanding is that you need to use multiple layers with the grain alternating so it doesn't warp. 

[ApacheStache]

Another vote for Tractor Supply horse stall mats.  1/3 the price of gym mats and far thicker.  I had them in my home gym for around 10 years, when I sold the house, I sold the mats on CL for half of current price.  They even stand up to cat claws.

+1 to TSC's horse stall mats. I don't have any evidence of this yet, but I'm convinced these mats would survive a meteor strike :) I've driven and parked on the mats and they've held their shape perfectly.

[Kraut Burger]

The TSC horse stall maps and some 4x8 sheets make a very nice lifting platform for less than $200. https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/how-to-build-a-weight-lifting-platform/