Picture this: you’re at the gym. You want to lift some weights and head over to the barbells. You step up onto the crash platform to perform your first lift, but you trip on the platform as you step onto it. That was a scare, but you’re fine. You do your first lift and drop the weight onto the platform, but the barbell lands awkwardly on the side of the raised platform. Instead of bouncing, the weights roll off platform and towards a fellow gym member doing bench presses. The weights run into the bench and stop rolling, and luckily no one was hurt and no equipment was damaged. You run to retrieve the barbell and weights, but slip on the edge of the raised platform and roll your ankle.
While it may seem unlikely, all of these safety hazards exist while strength training on raised platforms. To increase safety and flexibility in your weight room, consider installing inlaid platforms instead. By leveling the platform with the floor, many safety issues are stamped out. Here are 3 safety hazards that are eliminated by inlaid platforms:
1. Tripping on a Raised Platform in the Weight Room
There are several ways in which tripping hazards in your weight room or gym can be significantly reduced by installing inlaid platforms. First of all, a lifter can trip while stepping onto a raised platform. With such heavy equipment surrounding platforms, something as seemingly trivial as tripping forward onto the platform can quickly become a danger to the athlete and others.
The tripping hazard doesn’t apply only to the lifter, either. People walking around the gym, talking to others, listening to music, or otherwise are all at risk of tripping on the few inches of raised platform and hurting themselves.
As you can see in this picture, inlaid platforms eliminate this tripping hazard. With no material raised out of the floor, a smooth and level surface is created. This makes walking around the weight room and getting ready to lift much safer and easier for everyone in the gym.
2. Rolled Ankles/Missteps off of Raised Platforms on to the Weight Room Floor
The last thing any athlete wants is to suffer an injury during practice or training. Unfortunately, there is a risk of rolling ankles, slipping, and missteps off of raised platforms that can cause any number of lower body injuries. Similar to missing a step on a staircase, athletes are at risk of losing their balance and falling when stepping off of a weight platform.
Inlaid platforms completely eliminate this hazard in the same way they eliminate tripping hazards. Without a few inches of raised material coming out of the floor, you can’t slip off the platform.
3. Bouncing or Rolling Weights Across the Weight Room Floor
Weights bounce when dropped. It’s just what they do. This bring us to the most dangerous hazard on our list: the possibility of bouncing weights hitting the side of the platform and rolling to another area of the gym. Not only can this damage equipment, but could hit other people in the gym and cause major injuries.
While lifting on raised platforms, athletes need to keep this hazard in mind at all times to avoid hurting others or damaging gym equipment. Inlaid platforms can give lifters and the other athletes working out around the peace of mind that something like this won’t happen.
When dropping weights on an inlaid platform, the possibility of a weight catching the side of a platform and rolling away doesn’t exist. Platforms can be placed closer together because of this, and overall safety in the gym is increased dramatically.
More Advantages of Inlaid Platforms
Inlaid platforms don’t just eliminate safety hazards. They create a more flexible and dynamic weight room. Platforms can be placed closer to each other, and other exercises are able to be performed on top of them without the aforementioned hazards in this article.
If you’re interested in opening up your gym and improving your weight room flooring, contact Abacus. We helped invent the concept of the inlaid platform, and have installed weight room flooring across the country for over 25 years.