For those who have a home gym with a lifting platform, did you use wood or mats under the rack. I'm putting together a gym and haven't done the last layer of the 8x8 lifting platform yet. It's two layers of two 4x8sheets side by side, alternated in direction and screwed down. The top layer will be oak plywood in the middle and stall mats on the edges to catch the weights.

An old Navy buddy had one and his had the standard 4x8 plywood sheet in the center and stall mats on the outside. His rack was on the plywood. But it made dropping weights outside the rack tight. The plywood was torn up and broken on the edges and it was rough on his bumpers.

I've seen some folks recommend cutting the center plywood to 3'6" to give more clearance. If I do, the outer legs of the power rack would rest on mats.

Another option I've considered is to cut the centerpiece on the area outside the rack to get support for the rack and still get a narrower area for better mat coverage.

Anyone have a similar setup that has thoughts on which way works best? I'm a little concerned about support by the mats or the mats settling.

I've been slowly collecting the components over the last 8 months and would like to finish it this week, but the bumpers haven't arrived yet. Making changes, hopefully for the good.