Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Have any of you guys experienced sliding around a lot of hardwood floors? I'm trying to do indoor cardio routines but I can't seem to get any traction in my new apartment. I've swiffered the floor down, dust busted it. I'm not sure what else to do. I use Nike Free Runs for my indoor activities, in case someone has experience with those and thinks it might be the shoes. I didn't have nearly as much trouble in my previous apartment which was also hardwood, but last night I could barely take a step without sliding. Any ideas?

Maybe buy a cheap rug just for workouts?

Maybe a yoga mat?

I have a yoga mat but it doesn't cover nearly enough space for what I need. I'm pretty much jumping around all over the place. A rug might work but I'd be worried about that sliding around too. Perhaps if I had one of those rubber bead things below it too, but still if I'm really moving around won't it bunch up? Even then I'm still worried I'd need something pretty large to cover the entire area I utilize, plus the bother of having to set it all up and take it down every time. As it is I need to move my couch and other furniture. Ideally there's a solution for the hardwood floor but I guess I'll keep my options open. Thanks.

The rug will slide too -- you'll need a nonstick mat and honestly if your shoes are sliding it probably will slide a bit too. You might want to see if you can get one of the mats that they put the cardio equipment on at gyms. They're about the size of a small area rug and are rubber.

they make a multi-layer rug underthing. (rubber on the bottom, rough fabric on the top. you could just get that and then put a sheet on top to make it more skin-friendly if you'll be laying down.)

edit: i just remembered that target sells rugs already rubberized.

My floor is also very slippery and shoes didn't help much. I now wear socks with those rubber bits on the sole. They work pretty well.

I have heard of a lot of people using these puzzle mats for exercise on floors.

Agree with Mihl, if you aren't doing work that requires cushion/support for your feet, try the grippy socks. Toesox http://www.toesox.com/ are my favorite.

Otherwise I think a Manduka pro mat would solve your problem as they are big, heavy and sticky. They do not move at all once you roll them out and you can get an extra long one for maximum space. Unfortunately they are pretty pricey for something that would just be going under your feet for cardio.

I've looked at puzzle mats before, but I wasn't sure if they would work well for jumping around or if they were mostly just for keeping equipment in place. The toesox look interesting, but stella like you said, I am concerned that all the jumping might be strenuous on my feet if they don't have much cushioning. The problem with small rugs and even large yoga mats is they just don't cover that much ground. I'm literally jumping across my room front to back and side to side.

As an update for anyone else having similar issues, I actually noticed if my shoes were a little wet they seemed to grip better. This was completely counterintuitive to me, I would have assumed wet shoes would make everything more slick, exacerbating the issue. But a little bit seemed to work. I had no better solution at the time so I figured what the hell I'll go for it. Went to my sink, soaked the bottom of my shoes. Went to my routine and did not slip at all. Somehow it gave me awesome grip. Maybe it was just a thick layer of dust on the shoes? I don't know. I keep them clean, I keep my floor clean, and these are indoor shoes only. I did have to rewet them once during the routine but other than that they worked fine.

I wear Chucks. They work on my hardwood floors.
Otherwise...maybe you could try these... I don't even know what to call them, apart from a word in my home dialect... the things they make kids wear for PE? (Not kidding!!)

Those look like slippers to me...

We wore tennis shoes in PE...

Re: shoes being a bit wet. I always wipe my sweat on the bottom of my shoes for better grip. Learned it in middle school basketball practice in 1986!

I actually wanted to soundproof underneath my step aerobics step so I bought some carpet underpadding to place under my step. If you can sort of anchor it down using your furniture (just tuck the edges of the underpad under your furniture) that might work. If you can anchor it, it would be totally unslippery and lessen the impact as well. It's the same idea as the puzzle pieces, really, but carpet underpadding is all one piece and I cut mine to size using my kitchen scissors. I like to anchor the corners of the underpadding under my couch legs so my step doesn't slide around and move while I'm working out and it works pretty well.

^Yeah, this.

Sorry, I just noticed this post after I posted.

I'm having trouble making up my mind about which rug from Rugman.com I want to buy next.