Good mats for rolling & falling

[Daniel Sullivan]

I'm preparing to teach in a location that does not have mats. I'm looking to get a folding judo mat for rolling & falling. Is anyone here familiar with this company/product: Tumbling Mats - Durable Martial Arts Mats And Wall Padding?

Any recommendations are welcome.

Thank you.

 

[jks9199]

You're just looking for periodic falling and rolling, not grappling, right? I actually got some decent ones at Dick's Sporting Goods a few years back. I think they were these or the 3x6 version. Price point was good -- and they're quite adequate for falling and rolling practice, though I wouldn't want to do any sort of BJJ randori/rolling on 'em without at least wrestling shoes. The folds in any folding mat are a concern at that point.

 

[Danny T]

Give Great Mats a look. Judo Mat - Interlocking Professional Judo Mats, Foam Judo Mat

 

[ballen0351]

Check craigslist. There was a guy over the summer that had a bunch of mats forsale his BJJ place went out of business when I talked to him he had over 150 mats they were a high quality brand I just cant remember the name. He had real good prices they were less then a year old. Ill see if I can find the ad.

 

[hussaf]

Sounds like you're planning on just pulling it out when you need it or are you going to be training on it all the time? If so, you'd maybe want a harder mat for kata. Kata on those soft, blue, accordion style folding mats suck.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

You're just looking for periodic falling and rolling, not grappling, right? I actually got some decent ones at Dick's Sporting Goods a few years back. I think they were these or the 3x6 version. Price point was good -- and they're quite adequate for falling and rolling practice, though I wouldn't want to do any sort of BJJ randori/rolling on 'em without at least wrestling shoes. The folds in any folding mat are a concern at that point.

The last set of exercise mats that I got from Dicks were very inadequate for rolling and falling, though they were not the same ones you posted.

Yes, mainly for rolling, falling, and some light groundwork. I want something that isn't exceptionally narrow and that won't (literally) deflate from 2" to .5" on impact.

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Give Great Mats a look. Judo Mat - Interlocking Professional Judo Mats, Foam Judo Mat

I have a big stack of puzzle mats, but they're more for gym and weight bench use (I got these at Dicks as well). I hope to be in my own space sometime in the next two to three years, so I will definitely be considering something like this then.

Though this company has the folding mats similar to what I posted in my OP. Have you dealt with them? How are they to work with?

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Sounds like you're planning on just pulling it out when you need it or are you going to be training on it all the time? If so, you'd maybe want a harder mat for kata. Kata on those soft, blue, accordion style folding mats suck.

No kata; just rolling, falling, and light groundwork.

 

[hussaf]

No kata; just rolling, falling, and light groundwork.

Ok. well you really don't want something super soft. Puzzle matsay be a little too hard, plus I feel like they are abrasive, repel water so that people with sweaty feet will slip a lot. You also want to figure out a way to keep the whole mat area from sliding around - depending on how hard you are training.

 

[ballen0351]

Brand new Tiffin MMA Karate jiu jitsu gym mats

Not sure what your price range is but

 

[Daniel Sullivan]

Brand new Tiffin MMA Karate jiu jitsu gym mats

Not sure what your price range is but

That's about what I'm after, though six hundred is more than I was looking to spend.

 

[Raymond]

I would check Craigslist, but be careful. Mats aren't cheap and sometimes people will get rid of them when they start getting frequent cases of skin diseases. Poorly maintained mats can hide all kinds of nastiness. At a certain point, no matter how much cleaning you do you will never get down deep enough in the foam to rid them of the diseases. I find this especially true with local schools that end up selling their mats (school funds are tight across the country, and mats are expensive; had to be a good reason for them to get rid of them).