Protecting kitchen floor during deadlifts

[tfranc]

I’m about to start deadlifting in my kitchen with vinyl flooring and was hoping for some wisdom on what kind of mats to get to protect the floor.

I was thinking 3/4 inch mats, but was concerned if they were actually thick enough absorb force that should be going to the bar. 3/8 inch mats don’t seem think enough, though. Not sure how to go about it.

Thanks for reading, you can help,
Tim

[Jordan_Feigenbaum]

Yea I don’t know if I could definitively say that a single layer of horse stall mats would work. I think they would, as I’ve used these on concrete a number of times, but I cannot say for certain. I suppose building a platform with 2 layers of plywood and a 3rd layer of rubber on top is out of the question for anywhere in your home?

[tfranc]

Thanks for replying. You know, I thought it was out of the question just because of space, but I think I can make 3 separate panels: 2 for the plates to sit on (plywood and rubber) and 1 to stand on and pull from. Storing 3 separate pieces instead of one huge one might actually work for my situation.

I was thinking maybe 3/4 inch horse stall mat with 3/4” plywood underneath for the end pieces, then 2 layers of 3/4” plywood for the center. I mean, I don’t know… what do you think?

Thanks so much again for your help

[Jordan_Feigenbaum]

You could try it. I just don’t know how it’s going to work for you.

[tfranc]

That’s true, I could just try it and see if it works lol, make adjustments as needed. It’s not like the IPF is going to come audit me or something.

Thanks again for helping me think through this. It’s a crazy time to figure out how to strength train and I feel really lucky to be able to reach out to you all.

All the best,
Tim

[BrewinBombers]

@tfranc
Depending on your home construction, you also need to consider the amount of vibration you’ll transmit through your home when putting down heavy weights. Even in my garage which is a solid concrete slab, there is a lot of vibration transmitted across the garage – even when using Alan’s lifting platform and setting down modest amounts of weight under complete control. Depending on a number of factors, you could easily vibrate TV’s and pictures off a wall or have light fixtures / globes or other thing falling on you or others in your home. Damage won’t be limited to your kitchen. Be careful and observant.

[tfranc]

@BrewinBombers

@tfranc
Depending on your home construction, you also need to consider the amount of vibration you’ll transmit through your home when putting down heavy weights. Even in my garage which is a solid concrete slab, there is a lot of vibration transmitted across the garage – even when using Alan’s lifting platform and setting down modest amounts of weight under complete control. Depending on a number of factors, you could easily vibrate TV’s and pictures off a wall or have light fixtures / globes or other thing falling on you or others in your home. Damage won’t be limited to your kitchen. Be careful and observant.

Ah god, really? I’m doing stuff mostly in the high 3’s low 4’s, so I guess we’ll see. Thanks for the tip

[tfranc]

@sactownbianchi

@tfranc
I’m in a similar situation where I use a shared space for working out. I’ve been using our family room upstairs as my workout room. Granted, we had the floor reinforced when we did our remodel a couple of years ago, but the vibration hasn’t shaken anything off of the walls yet. I’m also not lifting anywhere as heavy as most people so that’s probably a factor as well. Now, for the platform. I built a platform in sections as you described and I’ve been using it for almost two years now. I used one 4x8 piece of plywood and 1 4x6 horse stall mat to make it. There’s enough stall mat left to make one more double layer 2x2 square if you want. I did that and use it for deficit deadlifts.

Thanks for showing me this, this is really cool. Did you lacquer both sides of the platform?