My gym has a soft and a little bouncy surface all of the free weight area sort of like pic related

my gym has a soft and a little bouncy surface all of the free weight area sort of like pic related

the thing is it goes under the squat racks as well. is this normal or acceptable? I noticed it but didn't think too much of it while squatting with shoes on but I tried bare feet today and could literally feel my heels sink into the floor even before I put the weight on my shoulders. I thought squat needed a hard solid surface to protect the ankles or have I misunderstood something?

should I write a complaint and ask them to do something about it? it's a rather new gym and they have made some changes before based on user feedback but I don't know if this is something that I can or even should demand changed.

Its so you dont break the floor if you drop weights.

It is bad for your squat but only if you are maxing out

I understand that but I'm talking about the middle part of the squat rack where your feet go and where the weights wouldn't drop (see pic)

I'm more concerned about the potentially increased risk of injury than the numbers. Is there any and should I refrain from bare feet squatting?

never done vertical stability squats on a trampoline I take it?

You're squatting on an unstable surface.

That's never going to be a great idea.

ok I think I'll write a complaint citing safety reasons and keep squatting with my fingers crossed in the meantime

>You're squatting on an unstable surface.
once you apply weight on your body the mat will compress to its limit, same as standing on a solid floor.

You can negate most of the depression by spreading your weight out over a greater surface area. Take a piece of 4'x4' sheet metal, at least 1/8" thick with you next time and try it out. Then when management comes ask them how safe they feel with you squatting on a compressible floor.

let me just check my sheet metal drawer real quick

If you don't have sheet metal lying all around your home, you might as well sign up for TRT.

alpha

could the Turkish Radio and Television corporation give me advice?

>tfw you write a letter of complaint and suddenly feel 60 years old

Nigger, they invented that shit.

>Crossfit

>a piece of 4'x4' sheet metal
I would use MDF

Yeah or a 4x4 feet one inch thick slap of hard steel. for gains on the way to the gym

You shouldn't do barefeet anyway

what if it's either that or what are practically runnign shoes? they're not super high on the heel but still have some padding

Man if only it was widely accepted among athletes of all kinds as superior to squat in shoes with elevated heels instead of barefoot, then you'd be perfectly fine. Oh well, what a shame. Someone's gonna have to call all those dumbass gold medalists and tell them their shoes suck for lifting.

they squat with weightlifting shoes which have a solid hard heel, not a soft heel like a running shoe. that's the entire point of separate oly shoes

The point is that they're flat and stable. If the heel is soft it'll just compress to its maximum like the other user said, it's hardly significant compared to having a stable, flat shoe.

If you had tried proper WL shoes you wouldn't be saying that. Running shoes are certainly not stable even when fully compressed.