Cracking the Concrete Floor

Off Topic
1

I workout at home in the basement with a standard North American floating slab concrete floor. Has anyone ever dropped a weight and cracked the floor?
I do squats and 400ish lbs deads and have never had to dump the weight and I wonder how much the floor can take. I do have a rubber mat found at all gyms as protection, but it isn’t that thick compared to 400 lbs imo.

I want to start cleans/snatches in my routine but I want to be able to drop the weight if I have too. I am a little worried abut what might happen if I do have to dump it from shoulder height.

So, how hard/easy is it to break the floor?
What can be done (in addition to the mat) to protect the floor?

thanks

2

There are rubber mats used for padding the bottom of horse trailers/stalls. They are about 3/4" - 1" thick and tough as hell. You can also build a platform pretty inexpensively. I beleive Mike Robertson wrote a mini article on it somewhere on this site. Otherwise search the web for designs then head to the hardware store.

3

[quote]Bujo wrote:
There are rubber mats used for padding the bottom of horse trailers/stalls. They are about 3/4" - 1" thick and tough as hell. You can also build a platform pretty inexpensively. I beleive Mike Robertson wrote a mini article on it somewhere on this site. Otherwise search the web for designs then head to the hardware store.[/quote]

That’s the mat i currently have. But i’m not sure how much it can absorb. Obviously there is a difference if the weight lands flat or on one edge of a weight, but there must be a way to know what the dampening effect of the mats is, ie. how much it can absorb per square inch.

4

I really don’t think it’ll be a problem for the floor with one of those rubber mats.

If you don’t have bumper plates though, you might tear up your weights w/ or w/o a platform.

5

It really depends on how strong the concrete is. Older concrete usually = stronger. I really wouldn’t worry about it, you would probably need a jack hammer to seriously chip it.

6

Building a platform would be the best. For a real simple one, just put a sheet or two of 3/4" oak plywood underneath the rubber mats and screw it all together with drywall screws.

7

[quote]tedro wrote:
Building a platform would be the best. For a real simple one, just put a sheet or two of 3/4" oak plywood underneath the rubber mats and screw it all together with drywall screws.[/quote]

good one, i might try that.

8

With no protection, it has the risk of chipping. I don’t think a large crack would form, unless it is thin concrete. Like you said, it all depends on the angle. So yes, I think it would be possible (unlikely) to crack/chip the concrete.