For athletes of all types to stay in top shape, it is important to train regularly. Strength and conditioning training is crucial for athletes to build up and maintain their strength for peak performance and to reduce their risk of injuries. It is important for schools, recreational centers, and other facilities to have a weight room available for athletes to train.
If you want to build a new weight room for your school or facility, you need to put some thought into its design. The placement of the equipment should create a nice flow through the weight room, and you will also need to decide on the weight room equipment and flooring that will contribute to an optimal place for athletes to train.
At MONDO Sport & Flooring, we provide high quality weight room flooring that can be incorporated into the design of your weight room. Our resilient flooring options provide support, traction, shock absorbency, and comfort for safe and effective training. We can provide weight room flooring in many different colors to fit the design of your weight room and we can put the logo of your school, team, or facility on the flooring.
Continue reading for insight on how to design the proper weight room for your facility.
Weight rooms in facilities and schools were once seen as utilitarian spaces and because of this, they all pretty much looked the same. The spaces were sterile with little if any color. Often, the only aesthetics came from plain colored walls, the chrome weights, and black rubber flooring.
Now that there are more options available as far as colors, textures, and designs, schools and facilities have put much more of an emphasis on the aesthetics, as well as the functionality, of their weight rooms. You can now choose from weight room flooring of many different colors and textures and incorporate the colors and logo of your school or facility. The infusion of colors, logos, and large mirrored walls has drastically changed the way that weight rooms are designed.
There has also been more of an emphasis on functionality and safety in weight room design. Schools and facilities not only want quality equipment, but also dependable, resilient flooring. Weight room flooring must be able to withstand the impact of dropped dumbbells and provide traction and support for training athletes. It is important for the safety of those training that the flooring does not become slippery when wet with sweat. Easy maintenance is also a plus when looking for weight room flooring.
In short, your new weight room should be designed to be aesthetically pleasing and functional. There are so many options when it comes to the aesthetics including flooring of various colors and textures, windows to let in natural light, mirrored walls, and branding with colors and logos.
Before you begin the design of your weight room, it is important to determine what you need as far as functionality for your purposes. You also need to consider your budget so you can make decisions that keep you within your spending limit.
Make sure you know the answers to these questions before you start designing your weight room:
What purpose will my weight room serve?
It is important to understand what the purpose of your weight room will be. Consider the athletes who will use the weight room including their age and what sports they play. Knowing who you will serve and for what purpose will aid your design.
What is your budget?
You must know what your budget will be and where your money is coming from. For schools, you need to know how much money your department will allocate to design and build a weight room.
How many people will use the weight room on a daily basis?
The number of people you expect to use the weight room each day will help you make decisions regarding equipment needs and layout.
What do the athletes need from the weight room?
Once again, you must consider the age of your athletes and what sports they play to get a better understanding of what they need from the weight room. You must design the weight room to meet the needs of both athletes and coaches.
How much of a priority is the aesthetic of your weight room?
You must decide how important it is to design a weight room that is aesthetically appealing as well as functional. For facilities, how much do you want your branding to factor into the design aesthetics? For schools, how much of a priority is the aesthetics regarding school colors and logos?
Do you want your weight room to accommodate growth?
If you are expecting an increase in membership at your facility or an increase in attendance at your school, you should design your weight room to accommodate this growth.
When it comes to the planning process, there are several steps you must go through before you have a completed weight room design. There is a lot to consider and breaking it down into multiple steps is one way to ensure that you cover all the details.
The following are the main steps of planning a weight room design:
Pre-Planning
Pre-planning for the new weight room should include everyone involved with the project. For schools, the planning process should include coaches and personnel from the athletic department as well as administrators who decide the budget. In this stage, you should articulate the vision for the new weight room.
Planning and Design
In this stage, it is helpful to designate someone to lead the project and someone to handle the design of the weight room. When planning the design, consider the use of space for various activities, how many athletes are expected to use the weight room on a daily basis, and limitations you have when it comes to space.
Space Planning
Now that you know your budget and the space available, you can begin working with the designer to map out the weight room and decide the best way to arrange the equipment. An experienced designer will know how to make effective use of the space while considering your budget, brand, and the equipment you plan to put in the space. This is the stage where the vision comes together, and you can consider your options for equipment and other features.
You must also consider athlete safety when planning the space and deciding on what type of equipment and flooring to include. Check out the latest trends when it comes to equipment like platforms and weight room flooring to determine your safest options.
Creative Design and Architecture
In this stage, you can incorporate more creative elements of the design like colors, wall textures, and flooring as well as architectural elements like lighting, windows, and doors to personalize the space. The designer will help you make decisions on all of these features to help you realize your vision when it comes to aesthetics and function.
The lighting in particular is an important design element as it can drastically affect the look and feel of the weight room. You can plan the lighting to provide a sense of warmth or coolness, highlight certain areas, enhance the depth and textures, and attract more people to certain areas of the space. The designer can help you work with natural and non-natural sources of lighting to help realize your vision within your budget and spatial limitations.
If possible, work with your designer to build 3D models of the design. With these models, you can see what the finished weight room will look like with your choices of colors, textures, lighting, equipment, branding, and logos before you begin investing in the construction of the space. You can also show the 3D models to investors and administrators that provide the budget so that they will move forward with the project.
Blueprint
At this stage, the builders can use the 3D models of your weight room to form a blueprint for the construction. Your model should already include the design and specifications for the space, and the architect will account for the demolition or removal of existing elements to complete the blueprint.
General Contractor Bidding
The 3D models and blueprints are sent to general contractors so they can bid on a job and propose a timeline. This is the stage where you choose a general contractor to complete the construction.
Construction
The general contractor you choose to work with will begin the construction of your weight room design. You should work with the general contractor to stay updated on their progress and make changes if needed during the construction. Keep in mind that any last-minute changes may result in additional charges from the general contractor.
Equipment
During the construction is a great time to choose and order the equipment you want for your weight room. This includes weights, exercise equipment, platforms, and flooring. Equipment tends to be chosen based on budget, but you should also choose equipment that best suites the needs of your athletes and fits within the space. You must consider the timing of the delivery of the equipment as you do not want to interrupt the construction progress, but you also want the equipment delivered in time for the installers.
The weight room flooring is generally categorized as equipment, and it is important to choose a flooring type that will create a safe space for athletes to train. You should work with an athletic flooring professional like MONDO to choose a weight room flooring type that fits your design and allows your athletes to maximize their training while reducing the risk of injuries.
You must consider the following when it comes to choosing flooring:
Method of installation: The best material option for weight room flooring is rubber because it absorbs impacts from weights and equipment, provides stability for athletes which reduces injuries, and it is easy to maintain. You can choose from rubber floor tiles that interlock together or large rolls for a seamless floor. The Interlocking of weight room rubber tiles keeps the flooring in place while rolled flooring may need an adhesive to say in place.
Composition: Some rubber flooring options may have a certain composition of recycled rubber and may consist of two or three layers vulcanized together. An athletic flooring specialist can help you decide on the right composition of new materials and recycled materials as well as the number of layers that best suits your weight room.
Colors: There are many options available when it comes to the color of the flooring. MONDO can manufacture rubber flooring in just about any color to match your branding or school colors. We can also add custom logos and lettering inlays to the flooring.
Surface type: Rubber flooring can come with smooth, matte surfaces or textured surfaces such as hammered surfaces. This choice will have more to do with the aesthetics of your weight room.
Prices and warranties: You should consider the price and warranties that come with the flooring to ensure that you stay within your budget. A good warranty should cover any repairs or maintenance needed for the flooring.
Installation
Once construction has completed on the new weight room, it is time to install the flooring and equipment. Make sure you work with a trusted professional that can install the equipment properly as well as a flooring professional like MONDO to install the new weight room rubber flooring. After the installations are complete, you can open the new weight room to your athletes.
Designing a new weight room for your school or facility is an intensive, yet fun project that allows you to be creative and make a space where your athletes are proud to train. Your options are virtually endless as you can design the weight room to meet the specific needs of your athletes and incorporate your branding or school colors and logo.
One of the most important features of your new weight room is the flooring. At MONDO, we provide a variety of strength and conditioning flooring options that are ideal for weight rooms. Our rubber flooring is made from multiple layers of vulcanized rubber that absorb impact and provide excellent stability to athletes. We also offer the new MondoLIFT PRO Platform System in which wood inserts from Praters are combined with our rubber flooring to create a weightlifting platform with a rubber drop zone. All of our flooring types come in multiple colors, and we can put logos and lettering on our flooring.
If you are designing a new weight room or need new flooring for your existing weight room, talk to our experts at MONDO about our strength and conditioning flooring options.