gym flooring on carpet for powerrack

[thewolf49]

I have a sheet of 3/4" plywood down...is there anything else I would need?

 

[Mr.Sinister]

If there is a Tractor Supply around you, I would suggest 2 stall mats. They are $40 a piece and 4x6. That's what I have and they work great. There may be other dealers that have them, but that's who we have around here.

 

[thewolf49]

Would you just lay those on the carpet and forget the plywood? Or put them on top the plywood?

 

[mikeg313]

Both sound unsafe being that you'll have the carpet underneath. Why not just put it onthe carpet itself which would press closer to the hard floor beneath or remove the carpet from that spot? Layering spongy surfaces seems that it would render the rack unstable causing it to rock back n forth too much. Kinda spooky thought when your playin with weight.

 

[thewolf49]

I'll probably try it out with just the plywood for now. It's thick so it's not unsafe. I don't want 300 plus lbs of weights sitting right on my carpet when i do deadlifts.

 

[mikeg313]

Well if your doing deads in the rack then the weight usually doesn't touch the floor before the bar hits the bottom of the rack unless you have a power rack that doesn't have that bottom support bar at shin height.

 

[CincyKiller45]

At my gym, they used OSB underneath a thin layer of matting. Now, every time you DL the bar rolls because the boards are dented from weights slamming on them. Makes it very annoying to DL when you spend 3 min trying to get the bar straight.

 

[Mr.Sinister]

The stall mats aren't 'spongy' at all. They are super hard and dense. When you first handle them you'll know what I'm talking about. They are a bitch to move. Probably like 80-100 pounds, but no stiffness.
I'd try both the carpet and the Plywood. I have mine on a full platform and I put a screw in each outside corner.