Proper Floor for intense cardio

M

Mary13

Member
I have recently dropped my 11 year club membership (difficult decision). This past month I bought a treadmill, steps, big ball, ankle weights, dumbbells. I am an INTENSE :-wow stepper (at the club I did advanced stepping classes, followed by weight training, followed by running a mile or so on the treadmill, and then stretching). Back to my topic...I am used to a suspended wooden floor. At home, I have carpeting.

My questions: :-hmmm
1. Are Cathe's cardio videos (esp. stepping videos) really that intense?
2. On what kind of floor does Cathe use the step?...What kind of floor does anyone else out there step on???
3. What kind of performance can I expect stepping on my carpeting (my husband has already expressed concern when I pulled my step out of the box and simply did some simple maneuvers!)
4. I'm considering installing a suspended wood floor in my
basement for a designated work-out area. Is this ridiculous?
Are there any other options? What are you home cardio steppers doing out there?????

I'd love to hear from you... :-jumpy
I want to save my joints for my future!
 
I used 1" by 2" boards and 4 pieces of 4 feet by 4 feet plywood and built a cheap floor in my basement. Sure beats jumping up and down on cement. My basement workout area is not a finished area, so appearance was not that importnant. I did recently put a 5 by 8 rug down but it does not cover up the whole thing, and was mainly for when I do floorwork, not appearance.
 
Hi Mary, 1. Hell yes, her videos are intense, most have a lot of power moves, high intensity/impact. 2. The type of floor Cathe uses can be found on this website, check the homepage, I think its called Tyraflex or something like that. 3. I workout on carpet over regular flooring/plywood (I have a workout room on the second floor of my house). Is your husband concerned about ruining the carpet or you getting injured?? Ive been working out on it for years and its not worn out.4. You cannot posibly workout on concrete or even carpet over concrete with Cathes cardio tapes, youll kill your joints. As for the suspended wood floor, I dont think your ridiculous at ALL, if you can afford it and are really into this home workout thing, go for it, if I had the extra cash, Id do it in my workout room!! Judy
 
Mary,
You'll probably find Cathe videos to be equal to if not more intense than your gym instructors. There was a prior thread on this months ago and someone mentioned a mat they found that wasn't too expensive (probably less than the suspended floor).
I would say cement is out without something else besides carpeting, your joints will get sore. Mine did. IMHO.
 
Um, yes, Cathe's tapes really are intense. You'll see... :)
Do a search for flooring to help with ideas. Also, you may want to check out greatmats.com.
Wendy
 
>4. I'm considering installing a
>suspended wood floor in my
>basement for a designated work-out area.
> Is this ridiculous?

It's not ridiculous - just keep in mind the height of your basement ceiling - My basement only has 7ft. ceilings - and right now, with a 6" step, if I lift my arms up over my head - my hands would whack the ceiling! Actually, I can touch the ceiling even if I'm not on my step. I'm afraid to higher my step because I'm afraid if I jump too high, I'll hit my head...I'm 5'7" tall, if that helps. I'm always conscious of this when working out, and I have to modify a lot of power moves.

So - if you put a suspended floor in there, depending on how high it is, you'll lose that much more ceiling height.
I use a rubber interlocking mat like the ones at greatmats.com that someone pointed out in this thread; however I bought mine at Home Depot -they came in packs of 4 (I used 2 packs), they cost just under $20 a pack.
I do get achey joints occasionally, but I think it's just my 42-year old body protesting high-impact 5 times a week.... :)
 
Do the mats provide enough cushion/give for all the joints???

Are you still able to move as quickly and assuredly with the mat as you could on a wood floor (I don't know if you've ever experienced any other flooring other than what you have now)?

Does the mat "squish" in any way, and if so, are your movements still "crisp and clean" enough to provide for an animal (ie, intense) workout?

What about placing the mats on top of carpeting??? Does that work?
 
[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON Feb-16-02 AT 06:29PM (Est)[/font][p]First, I would like to thank all of you who have responded. I now know that I am in the infancy stage of researching this area of flooring.

I'm the type of person who, embarking upon a new adventure, goes whole hog. So when I dropped my health club membership, I knew I had to do something at home. My husband and I built our home about 5 years ago. I knew that once the kids became more demanding of my time (which is NOW), the club membership would have to go. I also knew that I had future plans for a work out area in our home. I want this room to be appealing (it's simply what I want). Mirrors will be installed on two walls to check for form. I have begun purchasing eqiupment as listed previously. Anyhoo, I want this room to be done "right" from the start. I'm an older, "out-of-the-home working" mom with 2 young kids, who appreciates a healthy living style. A major part of that lifestyle is physical activity, and I want an attractive room that will keep me inshape and my joints HEALTHY!

I just went to the Teraflex site. They seemed to be geered up for large floor areas for institutions. I left them a message.

My club had suspended hardwood floors...I think I might just call them to see what they did..They looked great, and I have to admit, after building our home, looks are important to me, even if my gym ends up in the basement.

I'm somewhat concerned about the dual role the area (12'X12') will be...I'm planning on it being my aerobic area as well as my weight area. Soooooo, I feel that I need a dual purpose flooring, and I don't even know if such a beast exists.

I'm keeping my eyes and ears open for any more info.
 
Hi Mary,

Your plans sound great, & I envy you already!

Is it possible for you to have part of the flooring covered with a permanent mat for weight lifting purposes? Maybe half or 1/3 of the floor? There are some great mat sites out there, greatmats.com, which I believe Bobbi mentioned, wondermat.com, cfmmats.com (my personal favourite) & brandsmall.com (!)

Let us know how it's going...I will live vicariously through your beautiful new exercise room!
Ruth
;-)
 
Mary - we just moved into a large home which had a "wine room" attached to the basement area but is a separate room. The nice thing about our basement is that it has windows and a door that opens out onto the back yard garden so it is not below ground level. Yes we lucked out. Anyways, the point is that my husband and I are also very fitness oriented and knew that we would dedicate the wine room to a work out room. After doing research on different flooring, I did decide to go with Taraflex. I have always liked the way it looks on Cathe's videos - that is - visually appealing. We had it installed in December and my husband and I are always amazed at how wonderful it is to work out on. For reference, I am advanced - I do all Cathe's and anything intense as well as lots of weight work. I also am in love with kickboxing and bought a full size freestanding heavy bag. Even though Taraflex is expensive, we decided to cover not only the wine room with it but the entire basement area also. Why? Because it probably costs as much as hardwood but considering the kids and the fact that you come in and out of the back yard, it is super easy to keep clean. Just mop and that's it. No freaking out when there is a tiny scratch. The other two stories of this home are hardwoord floors that we had refinished. I love hardwood but it's nice to have a place where the kids don't have to worry.

I called Taraflex and asked for a distributor in our area. Yes, they do mostly gyms and all but I found a very friendly rep who was willing to order extra material on a job he was doing and install it here. Again, it is not cheap but my husband is very pleased with it and says it was definitely worth it (especially when he works out on it). I used to work out on hardwood over concrete and my knees were a mess. Now, no problems. I live in California - I don't know where you are, but if you have any questions, let me know.

Julie
 
Thanks Ruth and Julie...
It looks like I need to be a bit more persistant with locating a Taraflex distributor and checking out the various mat sites.

Julie, I live in Minnesota (this winter has been quite the bummer as far as lack of snowfall!). I like the idea of using a single type of flooring over a large area. I love the idea of having something great for kid use and for ease of cleaning.

THANKS!
 
I ordered a 8x10 ft., 5/8" aerobic mat from www.greatmats.com on a Monday and I received the shipment the same week Friday. The mats are very good and they take a lot of impact out of the moves. I can highly recommend their mats. Also, if you take a longer exercise break you can just take the mats apart and store them in the closet.
 
Attention Julie - RE: Proper Floor for intense cardio

Hi Julie

I am in the process of considering various floor options for my basement work out area, which is concrete.

I understand that there are a number of different types of Taraflex floors - Sport M, Action Sport, Sport Performance, 3D etc., and I would be interested to know which type of floor you went with, and any other feedback you might have.

Thanks

Sandra
 
Can theabove mentioned mats be layed over a carpet that covers a concrete basement floor?
Judy
AKA "Likes2bfit"
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http://groups.msn.com/CatheAddicts/jafitmamalikes2bfitfamily.msnw?Page=1
 
Judy,

I workout on carpet with the best padding we could get over concrete in the basement. Have been for seven years. Haven't had any problems yet that new shoes didn't take care of. How long have you been working out on the carpet covered concrete??

Curious...Sami
 
I've been working out on carpet over concrete since 1998. Since then I have had Plantar Fasciitis and knee issues which I have overcome with rest, ice, anti-inflamatories, and orthotics. Both of them flare up from time to time.
I'm just wondering if I might prevent further injury by having a more cushioned surface for high impact.

I dug up an old thread where Cathe recommends NOT using carpet over concrete for longer than 8 minutes of jumping. I would assume this includes IMAX2 and mic etc. I have always done those workouts on my carpet over concrete. Now, I wonder if I should add rubber flooring over the top. (I am short so the ceiling is not an issue.)

http://69.0.137.118/dc/dcboard.php?...ic_id=13740&mesg_id=13740&listing_type=search

Are there any orthopedic experts reading this? Please comment :)
Judy
AKA "Likes2bfit"
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