Soundproof Gym Flooring - CrossFit Goose Creek Testimonial

By Brett Hart Created: March, 2019 - Modified: April, 2023

As a new gym owner in a retail development, Adam Gray of in Franklin, Tennessee, wanted to make sure to be a good neighbor from the very beginning. With CrossFit Goose Creek being sandwiched between a Mexican restaurant and a day spa, and knowing that many CrossFit gyms have developed reputations for transferring a lot of noise to neighboring businesses, Gray began researching into noise complaints and solutions to them.

“People were saying avoid retail at all costs, and people were getting sued,” Gray said. “I have experience with the 3/4-inch stall mats that everybody uses. I know those are terrible for killing vibration that can travel through the floor. The last thing I want to do was lay down some 3/4-inch, thin matting like you typically see in a CrossFit gym, and then have the neighbors always complaining.”

Finding Legit Soundproof Gym Flooring

Soundproof Floor Tiles for Gyms
During his research, he came across a YouTube vlogger who had stopped in at Zero Machine CrossFit in Phoenix, Arizona. In the video, they discussed how well the sound tiles worked for the gym. Already being locked into his lease at the retail location, Gray dug a little more into the sound flooring option and found Greatmats Sterling Sound Tiles. He also found a review Zero Machine CrossFit had done for Greatmats. He even reached out the Zero Machine’s CrossFit Games athlete on Instagram, who confirmed that the sound tiles were as good as advertised.

So he ordered a few mats to test. Working with his neighbors, he started dropping weights on the mats to see how much sound would transfer next door and, to his delight, they had trouble hearing any of the dropping at the neighboring businesses.

He even had a sound engineer over at one point to make sure it was going to work.

“It was getting validated all over the place,” Gray said. That’s when he knew “I’ve got to do it. They’re super expensive, but I’ve got to do it. ... I was pretty comfortable pulling the trigger on it. You pay now or you pay later.”

Sound Gym Flooring Overdelivers

Shortly after purchasing the mats and before officially opening the doors to CrossFit Goose Creek, a gym owner from Nashville who was in a similar situation came over to witness the test.

“We’ve been crashing weights on it for almost a month now, and I’ve been talking with my neighbors. They’re like, ‘We don’t hear anything,’” Gray said, “It’s been great.”

The sound tiles have delivered.

As an added benefit, Gray says the new tiles are more forgiving on the joints than the thinner mats he’d spent the last 16+ years working out over.

“I’ve had a lot of people come in and say how much they enjoy it over the stall mats,” Gray said. “If we’re doing box jumps or doing stuff with the jump ropes like single unders, double unders - it’s a little more springy. It doesn’t feel as hard on the joints. That’s for sure.”


** Note: Per the warranty, the recommended usage for the Sterling Sterling Athletic Sound Rubber Tile Black 2.75 Inch x 2x2 Ft. is for weight drops under 90 lbs. and from fall heights under 36''.

Adam Gray
CrossFit Goose Creek
Franklin TN 37064