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Circuits are fun, versatile and can really push members to their limits. However, some planning and organisation is required to create a good circuit session. At Origin Fitness, we have found that one of the best ways of keeping a circuit session organised is by using gym floor markings.
In this article we’ll look at the three main ways gym floor markings could change the way you structure your circuit classes.
What Are Gym Floor Markings
Gym floor markings are lines and shapes on gym flooring which can support your fitness business in a number of ways. These can be cut, painted or printed on to your fitness flooring to fulfill you unique training requirements, or add extra branding to your facility.g.
They can be used to support particular zones within the gym, such as the functional training area surrounding a rig, the suspension training zones, boxing and cable station zones. These can guide a user by providing visual cues as to where they should be positioned to work to different intensity levels, or support their form.
Due to the abstract nature of the markings, the sky is the limit, and many facilities actively use markings as part of their decor.
Benefits of actively using floor markings in a circuit
Certain markings can provide visual tools to help carry out certain exercises and enhance the user’s ability to perform movements. For example - if you have a sprint track with horizontal lines every metre, this zone immediately lends itself to squat jumps, walking lunges, sprints, monster walks and many other exercises
A circuit session can be a hectic place, especially for a coach tasked with overlooking the whole class. Creating these clearly identifiable zones and knowing your participants won't stray beyond their lines may give you peace of mind.
With this extra organisation, you can pay attention to more immediate tasks at hand such as form correction and providing motivation for the group.
We have identified these three main zones you may want to include in your circuit, and the ideal gym floor markings to establish these in your facility.
Stations and Workout Cells
This small zone is ideal to host one circuit station. Consider a floor space of 1 - 4 m² per station for this purpose. Make sure that any exercises performed within this zone don’t involve any large lateral movements. This will limit the chance of collisions between members working out, and will also ensure that any equipment belonging to a station will stay within that station. This means that users do not have to walk around trying to find a particular piece to carry on training.
Within this category, you will find a large variation of gym floor markings such as:
- Numbered Squares
- Grid patters
- Targets and Compasses
- Dots
Speed Zone
A speed zone allows users to move without interrupting other members of the circuit class. Of course, this increases safety, but it also offers members a quantifiable target to work towards when it comes to traveling distances in an exercise.
For example, rather than doing as many walking lunges, shuttle sprints or farmers walks as possible, you establish a 10m track for people to complete within the allotted time slot. This makes the exercise more competitive and fairer to measure.
These tracks can be as long and wide as you want, but we would recommend at least one metre in width per track, and a minimum of 10m in length.
The standard floor marking for this type of zone would be a long rectangle with start and finish at the respective ends. Bring it up a notch and add another lane, or include distance markers for those with a longer space to work with. For a completely versatile solution, why not turn those distance markers in to individual boxes, which can become frog jump goals or individual circuit stations if the sprint track is not in use.
These markings don't necessarily have to be on standard rubber fitness flooring. Why not consider installing a sprint track made of Astro Grass. This track won't just bring a pop of colour to your facility, they are also fully customisable with line markings and will accommodate prowler and sled work. With the proper markings, this can be the ideal circuit training tool, opening up your gym to a whole new level of training.
Safe Zones
Finally, it is worth considering using gym floor markings to create a safety zone. With the increase in popularity of rougher training styles we see heavy alternative equipment being brought in to the gym. It's important to keep these tools in a well sectioned safety zone, away from anything (or anyone) they could harm.
These markings should be used to create safe space around the movements that could be considered ‘high risk’. Options might include creating a larger area designed for free weights movements where the bar is liable to bounce, or skipping where there’s a risk of other users being hit by a spinning rope.
This zone could allow you to include sledgehammer work, tyre flips and any other throwing or movements which could otherwise
It is also worth considering whether you want this zone to have thicker flooring or an integrated platform. This would enable you to include more free weights movements or even Olympic lifts in your circuits.
The plus side of using gym floor markings to create these zones means that they can be repurposed for any other training. It is the ultimate space saving organising tool, which also allows you to create a unique fitness space.
Want to find out more?
Including floor markings in your circuits studio design can bring some structure to what may have otherwise appeared to be a chaotic class. Even if it is organised chaos, members don’t need to know that. Zones and markings can add some clarity and organisation to your sessions, setting yours apart from other classes.
If you want to find out more about the different types of gym floor markings, you might enjoy this article about the top 5 function gym floor markings or this article detailing more about the ways you can customise your fitness flooring.
Should you be interested to find out what's involved in getting gym floor markings installed, why not get in touch with one of our experts.
