Let's see your paincave!

Hi all,

After some advice. In the process of planning a paincave in one of the spare bedrooms. Plan to use the space for lifting and indoor training. Looking into getting some rubber flooring. Any advice on the best thickness to go for?

I’ll be deadlifting, up to 150kg, but won’t be dropping weights from overhead or any other Olympic style lifts. I’ll invest in good quality bumpers.

Thanks, in advance. Will send in some snaps once it’s all finished :muscle::muscle:

Is there going to be anything under the rubber floor? If you have a sheet or two of plywood where the weights will hit then you can probably get by with 1/2-3/4" rubber. If not then I would say at least 1".

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Ahh, I have been trying to figure out how to store helmets since I have several between bikes and skateboarding. What a clean set up.

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Mine hang on large nails on the wall in the basement, or in season (ski or bike) there’s a few on fancy coat hooks in the closet by the door in and out of the house. Doesn’t need to be complicated.

Yeah, but I’m going for a cleaner aesthetic than hooks on the wall. I have all my gear organized in shelving with drawers so it’s very tidy.

I have 3/4" mats from here

Very durable, can handle deadlifting easily, very grippy and firm. I have a DL platform where I have this attached on top of plywood but honestly I don’t think that’s necessary.

kind of bank for what it is, but have you seen the 1up storage accessories? The shelf with hooks looks pretty clean and can seemingly hold most of your bike accessories.

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I’m all for the “cleaner aesthetic” but I don’t want my helmets in drawers, like the rest of my kit, where the air circulation is minimal to none :poop:

That’s why I said I liked the shelf setup…

Don’t fight guys, they’re cheap Ikea shelves :stuck_out_tongue: thank you. Took me forever to figure it out because I also didn’t want hooks, it just doesn’t look as clean or uniform

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I am now thinking about cleat/shoe display as I have a few sets for different situations

Sounds like a trip back to IKEA.

Interlocking rubber tiles? I’d pass, for me. Anything with a seam can allow sweat to leach through. I had a large Matt under my bike, and sweat found a way around the edges, and through holes from cleats. It was effectively glued to the floor by the sweat. It was gross, and hard to cleanup. If you don’t sweat much, it might work. Plus I think a mat would be more durable?

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Thanks for this (very gross) warning. I sweat a lot, and have interlocking tiles as a base. I think/hope that I’ll avoid the worst with my current sweat solution of tiles with a mat on top, and a towel on top of that. I always have one of this sweat guards that goes over my top tube and stem. This is all working so far, but I’ll keep an eye on the underside of the whole setup.

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You could buy stall mats. They come on very large sizes and various thicknesses

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Bike thongs help, somewhat. Sweat still gets by them. Yeah, I grossed out a lot of people when I was on FB, showing a picture of the sweat after a ride. My solution was to use more fans. I have 8 of various sizes and in different positions. I still get sweat that puddles around the legs of the trainer, but it’s not a tsunami washing over the mat. Sweat is healthy, but sure can be gross, especially cleaning trainers, bikes, floors…

Stall mats? Be careful! I bought one and it was made with recycled tire rubber and the incredible stench never left it. Recycled tire rubber is actually quite toxic and the off-gased vapors are really noxious. Using one of those while riding is, IMO, not at all recommended as the vapors are drawn deeper into the lungs and into the bloodstream. And they are REALLY HEAVY! I try to stay away from anything that produces vapors like that. The base of a Total Gym uses (used?) recycled tires for the rubber base. In a heavily ventilated room it’s not so noticable, but it was exiled to the garage because of the stench. Disappointing too…

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I finally tested my new addition to the pain corridor tonight.


It felt good but when I finished the workout I sat up out of the TT position and it was perfect. I think I’ll have to place it closer to me in future.

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For a rear fan position, consider using a stool or other method to get it up higher. Actually hitting your back is what I think is the most effective way to place rear ones for best flow on the large surface area.

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Same here. interlocking rubber tiles, and always a fresh, big, towel under the bike. Plus a bike thong, plus 3 Lasko fans, plus a headband. I like to think that I sweat a lot on the trainer because I’m doing productive work — not just noodling around some cartoon island in the Pacific.

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As mentioned here before and in a scary YouTube video I made a while back, if you’re dripping tons of sweat on the trainer, your cooling fan situation isn’t adequate. Everyone is different, but like pools of sweat under your trainer shouldn’t be a “thing”.

A few things you can try:

  • More fans - I run 3 and this seems to be a pretty sweet deal for a lot of people.
  • Better fans - Lasko Pro Performance, but there are other similar ones. You really want the focused centrifugal blower types IMO to get the best airflow across your body… but I’m sure there are others out there. Some people swear by Vornados and stuff like that. I’ve never met a box fan that was adequate IME.
  • Elevated fans - Consider elevating all of your fans to get them closer to your body. I run my two front/side fans on a box and a cooler, so they’re about 2 feet off the ground. I can reach the controls without leaving the saddle.

@mcneese.chad already mentioned elevating the back fan, this is a major improvement IMO, and this is now my primary cooling fan - I run it every ride no matter what, and it’s the first one turned on and adjusted to high. I get great head cooling from the back as well. And my back fan is right on my back, just above saddle height.

You can also do things to improve natural ventilation - door/window combos and such. Obviously ambient temperature can be a factor, but airflow is the primary cooling medium so get it dialed in. N=1 and all that, I consider myself an average sweater and I can do long threshold workouts in my garage at 84 degrees in the summer with 50+% humidity and have zero sweat under the trainer, just an occasional little bead on the tip of my nose.

Here’s a shot of my full cooling setup, the second side/front fan is identically placed on the back side of this photo.

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