Originally posted on June 25, 2020 @ 11:51 pm

Artificial turf isn’t just for landscaping, putting courses, and sports fields, it can be a fantastic substitute for gym and HIIT flooring. If professional athletes can play sports on turf, non-athletes can also use turf for a variety of activities and workouts to reach their fitness goals. In this post, we’ll take you through a bunch of the options that are available for workout routines that can take place on artificial turf gym flooring.

Total Body Exercises 

Artificial turf can be a part of a regimen designed to build strength, power, agility, speed, balance, flexibility, and endurance. Turf provides an ideal surface for a variety of activities to condition every part of the body whether conditioning the body peak performance, or just getting fit. 

1) Common Turf Sled Workouts

Sled workouts are commonly used by athletes for strength, speed, and power training. Sleds are heavy, and require the right surface for use. You need a slippery enough surface for the sled, but enough resistance to make it a workout, that also provides enough traction for feet.  Traditionally, sleds have only been used outdoors on grass, but turf means you can bring your sled training indoors, and workout rain or shine. No more mud, grass stains, or exercising in the blazing heat. An artificial turf gym flooring provides a great area for people to do their sled workouts in the same place they do their weight training, HIIT, or cardio. 

Examples of sled exercises include:

• sled push
• low sled push
• bunny hops
• sled fighting
• sled drag
• reverse drag
• sled drag and row
• lateral sled drag
• crawl with sled drag
• Single or double kettlebell sled push
• kettlebell sled drag,
• box sled push 
• heavy bag sled drag
• slider partner sled

By combining a number of these exercises, you put together a workout to tone and strengthen the muscles to give you a more toned and athletic body. 

2) Power Training Examples: Plyometrics

Athletes know that it’s not enough just to be strong, fast, and agile to win a big game — they need to be powerful too. Strength is the ability to exert force, and power refers to the amount of force exerted over the shortest amount of time. Plyometrics workouts increase the power, speed, and strength of the athlete, using primarily bodyweight exercises. They’re frequently used by athletes in every sport, and turf is soft enough to make these exercises way easier on the joints. 

3) Turf Balance and Flexibility Training: Ball Workouts

Ball workouts are excellent for balance training, muscle toning, full body strength, and flexibility. You also get the chance to feel like a kid again, rolling around on a ball in the grass. Plus, ball training can be challenging, so if you lose your balance and fall, you’ll land soft on the turf. 

4) Turf Speed & Agility Training: Ladder & Cone Drills

Ladder and cone drills are designed to boost your agility and speed by training muscles to rapidly accelerate, decelerate, and change direction and position. Artificial turf is the perfect material for this kind of training, as it will get you used to moving around on more natural terrain. It’ll also put a nice bounce in your step with no fear of tripping or slipping. 

5)Turf Aerobics

Aerobic exercises are an excellent way to build cardiovascular endurance, as well as working to increase weight loss and overall fitness. It can be done just about anywhere, and with a number of different equipment. The extra cushioning from turf makes those movements more comfortable so you are more motivated to do them more often. 

6) Turf Strength Training: Weightlifting

Whether you’re using barbells, dumbbells, resistance bands, medicine balls, kettlebells, or weight machines, strength training is an excellent way to build muscle and improve overall strength. Artificial turf can provide no-slip grip for many different strength training machines or benches, making it a great option for a gym floor. 

7) Turf Yoga & Pilates

Just like many of the exercises already outlined, the balance and flexibility that yoga provides is an enormous advantage to any person looking to increase their fitness. As an added bonus, yoga and Pilates are often done on natural grass or mats for comfort, so artificial turf can be a great option for an indoor space to make it feel more like the great outdoors.

8) Turf Calisthenics

There is a lot of overlap between calisthenics and aerobics in terms of the exercises, but calisthenics focuses on using the body’s own weight for strength training, while aerobics focuses on cardiovascular health and weight loss. These kinds of exercises benefit from having a stable, no-slip surface that turf provides to prevent strains or stress to tendons, ligaments, and joints. 

9) Turf High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) & Crossfit

High Intensity Interval Training usually consists of alternating between intervals of fast aerobics with short resting intervals. Crossfit is a regimen that includes HIIT, plyometrics, calisthenics, weightlifting, and more. Crossfit has been criticised for resulting in repeated occurrences of overexertion and preventable injuries like strains to joints and tendons — that’s where turf comes in. Turf provides a surface that is safe and comfortable to jump, run, or fall on. When you’re exhausted after your intense interval training on turf, you have a soft surface to collapse on. 

The Advantages of Artificial Turf for Workouts

Turf Can Reduce & Prevent Injuries

Artificial turf is an excellent option for reducing injuries in a gym. It is nonabrasive, offers excellent traction that makes slipping and tripping much less likely. You don’t have to be afraid of taking a tumble on turf because it’s shock absorbent, and can help reduce stress on joints during workouts that normally stress joints, like plyometrics. Using turf as gym flooring creates a safer and more comfortable workout surface that will keep people coming back.

Turf is Versatile

A number of sports and athletic activities can take place on turf — indoors or outside. Some of the activities that turf can be used for include but are not limited to:

• Soccer
• Golf
• Football
• Field hockey
• Volleyball
• Lacrosse
• Track
• Baseball 
• Cardio
• Weight training
• Calisthenics
• Plyometrics 
• Yoga
• Pilates 
• Martial arts 

For many of these activities, you might normally need heavy mats. With turf, it’s not required. No need to have to drag around and clean heavy awkward mats ever again! You can use the same surface for a number of sports and activities without worry of damage or injury. 

Turf is Durable 

Artificial turf is one of the toughest materials out there. After all, it’s designed for outdoor use. It can take the abuse of people running, laying, stomping, weights being dropped, sleds being pushed and pulled, or whatever else you decide to throw at it. 

Here are some examples of equipment that work well on turf:

• Sleds
• Medicine balls
• Kettlebells
• Ladders
• Cones
• Ropes
• Barbells
• Hurdles
• Tires
• Steps
• Benches
• Boxes

Artificial Turf is the Choice for Your Sets, Reps, & Laps

If you’re looking to create a home gym or you’re a gym owner looking to upgrade, consider using artificial turf. It has numerous uses and benefits, it looks fantastic in indoor and outdoor spaces, and is an excellent accessory for athletic conditioning and improving performance. Not to mention, it’s kid and pet safe too! Learn more by browsing our product line or get in touch with one of our experts.