Exercise Mats
Many exercises are performed better with exercise mats. Yoga, Jiu-Jitsu, ab exercises, and more can all be done with exercise mats. This is especially necessary for exercises that can have a major impact on your back. An example of this would be various abdominal and oblique exercises such as sit ups, crunches, and ab scissors.
What Are Exercise Mats?
Exercise mats are designed to be soft enough to cushion you during exercises, but still hard enough to perform these exercises as expected. High quality exercise mats usually contain rubber or plastic materials. These mats are very useful as they provide a softer surface to stand, sit, and lie down on. They will also be designed to prevent any slipping, even if the mats get wet. Keep in mind that you could be using thick exercise mats to run on so this is very important. The non slipping feature is also very important if you are lifting heavy weights while on the mat.
What Are They Used For?
While exercise mats are primarily designed to help prevent possible injuries in the gym they are also used for other reasons. Many people use these mats for certain exercises, sports training drills, and more. Gymnastics, in particular, use a lot of exercise mats but these will be more heavy duty than most.
Also, some gyms will have these mats on bare floors to keep them in good condition. Many people drop their free weights on the gym floor after finishing a set. This is usually because the person has already used all their energy in the set and cannot slowly put them down. If you have ever been to a gym with the weight room on the top floor then you can relate to this.
The result of heavy weights dropping on a naked gym floor can be pretty serious. Besides the loud noise that will be very noticeable on the ground floor, it can also ruin the floors. Having exercise mats in the free weight area of the gym prevents or at least minimizes the impact of weights being dropped on the floor.
Buying Exercise Mats
When buying exercise mats you will have to purchase the right type of mat for your intended use. If you plan to use the exercise mat solely for yoga exercises then it will not have to be heavy duty. You can find exercise mats that are designed specifically for yoga if this is the case. Figure out how thick the exercise mat will need to be for what you plan to use it for. If you do not purchase a thick enough mat it could end up not helping much.
You want to find a mat that is going to be able to cushion your body weight but still be easy to move around on. Some exercise mats are just used to run on (example: sprinting lane in gymnastics) but you can find other thick mats that can be used for multiple purposes. You may incorporate running with other actions as well. For instance, if you are going to use the exercise mats for wrestling practice, you do not want a thick and hard gymnastic mat.
Also make sure that you do not buy a mat that you can easily slip on. The idea is to prevent injuries from occurring and most injuries with exercise mats are due to them being slippy. A cheap exercise mat may actually be more dangerous than your normal gym floors are. Look for high quality exercise mats that you can use without injuring yourself. Quality is prominent with exercise mats, even if it means paying top dollar because safety comes first.
