Exercise Bike Mats For Under Exercise Bikes

Exercise equipment mats for underneath exercise bikes provide a cushioned barrier to both protect your floor and keep damaging vibration, dust and carpet fibers from harming the machine itself. An exercise bike, whether you choose the upright style or the recumbent type which many feel is a more comfortable option, is a smart choice of gym machine for the home environment. They are generally less heavy and easier to store than a treadmill or elliptical machine and you need less room to work out in when they are set up. They can still be pretty bulky however, and you will still want to provide adequate protection for you flooring in order to ensure they do not damage your carpet or scratch up your wood floors. That's where gym mats for underneath exercise bikes and other fitness machines come into play.

Without a padded mat under an exercise cycle you are almost guaranteed to scratch up wood or tile flooring and it is equally easy to wear holes in your carpet or leave unsightly indentations which never go away. Exercise bike mats provide a relative cheap and simple solution to prevent the kind of damage which will otherwise result in an expensive repair job. Don't make the mistake of thinking they are only there to protect your floor though as the thick padded has additional benefits too.

A noisy exercise bike can be a nuisance to yourself and those who live around you and that's another great benefit of stationary exercise bike mats - they help dampen and muffle the sound of gym machinery. They also help stabilize cheap exercise cycles which can wobble around and squeak a lot and again, that extra stability keeps a loud exercise bike from driving you nuts. Perhaps the best incentive for putting a bike mat below an exercise bike is that the padding and extra stability helps ensure your machine stays in tip top condition for longer. All the vibration, shaking and rocking you will experience on a hard floor surface will damage the component parts of your exercise equipment leading to greater wear and tear and costly repair bills. A padded mat for indoor fitness bikes will greatly reduce vibration and also keep dust and pet hairs from getting sucked up into the machinery which will help make your machine last longer.

The price of a protective floor mat for an exercise bike and other gym equipment varies dependent upon its size and its thickness. Generally, you will want to choose the thickest mat you can afford as these off the most protection and the extra padding will help damped down some of the noises caused whilst you work out. At a minimum you want a mat for under an exercise bike to be at least 3/8 inch thick for the best protection although ultimately, any mat is better than none. The following selection of mats for exercise bikes come highly recommended and there is more information on the different types out there and why you might want to choose one style over the others for your own specific circumstances.

Upright vs Recumbent Style Bikes

It seems like something of a no brainer but the difference in the sizes of an upright exercise bike compared to a recumbent exercise bike can be surprisingly varied especially in terms of the length. You will want to ensure you measure your bike beforehand and ensure you are buying something of the right size, as a protective floor mat for a recumbent exercise bike is going to need to be pretty long, compared with an upright machine. Of course, if yo want to future proof your purchase in case your decide to move from an upright style exercise cycle to a recumbent style gym bike or something like an elliptical machine then buying a long mat in the first place is always a good idea even if you don't think you need it now.

Impact resistant floor mats for underneath gym equipment like exercise cycles and spin bikes all do pretty much the same job - protect the floor and protect your bike. The difference is, and this is something to be careful of, is not all of these mats are made the same length and in the case of larger machines, like recumbent exercise bikes, you might find the mat is too short.

On the contrary, if you are looking for an upright exercise bike mat to protect your floor, then you don't want to get something which is excessively long or much too wide either. Doing so will not only cost you more than you need to pay in most cases because larger mats are generally more expensive than the smaller ones, but an oversized high impact floor cover will also take up an unnecessary amount of floor space, be harder to store and by extending out too far around the fitness machine may present a tripping hazard too.

The following selection of shorter exercise bike mats will fit upright stationary bikes but may be too small for a larger recumbent exercise bike or other larger gym equipment.

If you are looking for some floor protection for underneath a recumbent exercise bike then again, you can choose between a variety of different styles of protective mat, whether it be recycled rubber, high impact PVC or foam etc. but you will nee to ensure you are buying one of the larger gym mats. Some of the smaller sized mats, even if they say they are floor mats for exercise bikes, may be too small for the purpose to which you intend to use them and may actually be meant for the upright style. Since the length of a recumbent exercise cycle can easily be double or more of that of an upright model its easy to accidentally buy the wrong one and many people end up doing just this and having to make sometimes expensive returns.

The following selection of long floor mats for exercise bikes should fit most recumbent models but again, do check the dimensions to make sure.

If you are putting together your own home gym then buying individual mats for your bike, elliptical, weight bench etc. is neither going to cost effective or a particular smart option. Instead, you are going to want to look instead towards an option which gives you a more full floor coverage. Interlocking gym mats are an inexpensive solution when you need to provide a cushion for a hard floor surface and they are ideal for the home user who wants a cushioned floor without the expense.

Finding the best protective floor covering for underneath an exercise machine is a simple matter of understanding what you need and what the different options are. There are different types of mat which will be more or less suited for your particular requirements. For example, if you have a foldable exercise bike then the chances are you store it away someplace when it is not in use and you need a mat which is also easy to store. In this case, heavy duty interlocking gym flooring is not for you and you'll probably not want a large impact resistant protective floor mat either but instead, a more easy to store solution like a foldable gym mat like the Stamina Fold To Fit Folding Equipment Mat would be more suitable as you can stow away these when they're not being used along with the bike.

For most of us, the main goal is protecting our floors from damage and most mats will achieve that goal admirably. You do have to be careful however with some of the cheaper mats as your bike may sink through the surface and dent the floor anyway or tear through the surface when you try to move it. Thin exercise bike mats or very soft foam mats may not offer enough protection for a heavy exercise bike so be sure to opt for a heavy duty mat for exercise bikes if you think your circumstances will require it or even if you'd rather play it safe.

If your exercise bike is one of the folding models or if you otherwise do not dedicate a permanent space in your home to it then you might like to consider one of the foldaway gym mats to go under your exercise machine. These folding exercise mats for bikes and other gym machines fold up neatly to make them easy to store or stow away when the indoor stationary bike is not in use. The bulkier mats can be something of a nuisance to move around and are better suited to stay in one place which is fine if you have a dedicated workout area but if you are pulling a collapsible exercise bike out of the closest and working out in your lounge in front of your television, you aren't going to want to leave a rubber workout mat in the middle of the floor all the time. Foldable floor mats for stationary bikes are idea for temporary protection in cases such as these.

Recycled rubber gym mats are a great option if you are looking a for a hard wearing mat for below exercise bikes and other gym machines. They may not be best suited for inside your home though as some users complain about the strong rubber smell which can emanate from them when they are new. Others say a quick airing outside for a few days makes that smell virtually disappear but it you are particularly sensitive to smells, then these may not be for you. Rubber exercise equipment mats are ideal for more heavy duty environments and for heavier exercise machines because they are generally thicker and offer more strength and protection. They are ideal for the hard floor of a garage or basement.

One of the often complained about problems with rubber mats it that they can leave black skid marks on the floor. Generally, they just wash off of hard floor surfaces like tile or linoleum, but carpet can be a little more of a problem. For that reason, some people consider recycled rubber floor mats for stationary fitness bikes are often more suited to hard floors than to carpet which does make them perfectly suited for use in a garage, commercial and home gym rooms, kitchen, decks, conservatories and anywhere else a hard floor surface may be found in your home or place of business. That said, if you have spare piece of carpet or other non slippery floor covering to go underneath the mat, then you can safely use a rubber mat on carpet too.

You can But Your Shouldn't, Here's Why:

Yes, you can but sometimes the quick fix isn't the smart solution. Firstly, carpet actually provides minimal padding so you are not going to get the same shock absorption and sound dampening properties as you will get from a thick foam or rubber exercise mat designed specifically for this purpose. This means more squeaking and rattling from the cheaper bikes and more frequent maintenance or an early failure for the more expensive models.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, putting carpet beneath an exercise machine with moving mechanical parts is a quick way to reduce its longevity and to increase the amount of maintenance you have to perform on it. The problem with carpet is that it attracts dust and hair and also releases a lot of its own carpet fibers all of which get sucked up into the machinery where it clogs up the works and gets stuck over belts and moving parts within the bike. A good hard wearing rubber floor mat puts a protective barrier between the bike and any pet hair or carpet fibers which can damage it over time.

Loud Exercise Machines Can Be A Nuisance In The Home Environment

Whilst an indoor bike is a quieter alternative to a treadmill, they can still be pretty annoying to both yourself and those you share a home with. Whilst your family and neighbors will be spared for the rhythmic pounding of your feet on a treadmill deck, the rotating pedals and spinning wheel can still produce a fair amount of vibration which can be passed into the floorboards and reverberate around the house to the annoyance of everyone else who lives there.

It can be worse still be cheap exercise bikes which tend to be built less solidly and are prone to rattle and shake and to generally be less stable which leads to rocking and bumping noises especially when you pedal faster. A thick mat for stationary fitness bikes will go a long way to damp down the noise level by absorbing much of the vibration and the cushioned surface can aid stability too especially on an uneven floor. If you own a loud exercise bike then an exercise equipment mat below it is a much cheaper solution than buying a new one.