A number of physical arts are practiced today for either an occupation, sports, or simply a hobby, and the right gear is needed. One of the more mundane, but no less important things to have on hand, is crash mats or gymnastics pads. These aren’t glamorous items, but they’re pretty important to make sure that a practicing gymnast, whether a high school student or Olympic competitor, may practice safely. After all, gymnastics call for tumbling, leaping, rolling, and much more, and sometimes, the practitioner might make a mistake and fall over. When this happens, gymnastics practice mats may help absorb the impact. Without it, a person may suffer from bruising or even bone fractures by falling or tumbling onto sheer concrete or wooden floors, so safety comes first. Some of these mats are a gymnastics cheese mat, meaning that they’re wedge-shaped (like a cheese slice), and these gymnastics cheese mats create an inclined plane if the gymnast needs one. Good practice may be done on a gymnastics cheese mat, and someone can find one online with a search such as “good gymnastics cheese mats near me”.
The Mats
What else is there to know about gymnastics cheese mats or regular mats for gymnastics or martial arts? These are light but tough items, and they may even have creases and thin points where a user may fold them up like a sheet of paper to save room during storage. These mats don’t have anything fragile in them, and they can be handled a bit roughly without any trouble. Best of all, they’re lightweight despite being so durable, having foam padding inside them to absorb impacts from even the heaviest of people. A 250-pound martial artist will be just as safe as a high school gymnastics girl falling onto a mat like this. It should be noted, though, that these mats are not indestructible. People should not wear hard-soled shoes on them, nor should they bring any pointed or bladed or sharp items near these mats. If they do, such items may tear the mat and allow stuffing to leak out, and this will put rips on the protective fabric. And if the mat continues to be used, that may open the rip even wider, totally ruining the mat. If a mat is torn like this, it should be taken away for repairs or have its outer covers replaced at once. Finally, people are discouraged from bringing food or drinks near such mats, as liquids or food items may stain them. At the very least, it could cause a mess.
Such mats may vary in their size, shape, and color, and smaller ones may not even need to be folded up for storage. Some mats are in fact a series of interlocking, foam-padded puzzle pieces or tiles that can be arranged as needed for a practice session. These tiles may be assembled into an area as large or small as the user needs, and they may be patterned to have certain colors or even look like a wooden floor. This may be helpful for karate dojo filled with students practicing.
Other Users of Mats
Gymnasts are known for using mats like these even during official events as well as practice, but they’re not alone. Martial arts schools, police training academies, and military training sites may also use these mats so that people may practice martial arts and grappling. At a police academy or a military training zone, instructors will lay out such mats and use them to train their cadets, without the risk of someone suffering bruises or bone fractures while practicing throws or kicks. People may often get knocked down while they are training, and a drill instructor will not be happy if their trainees get a bone fracture and miss later training while recovering. Padded mats can help with this. And of course, a martial arts class may do much the same, and a trainer will lay out these mats as needed. In some cases, a karate class may involve assembling foam tiles patterned to look like a wooden floor. This can help with a large class where everyone needs crash impact resistance, and it maintains the wooden floor aesthetic of a dojo.