Choosing A Sports Mat
The best buy in a sports mat depends entirely on the sport. My daughter is heavily into gymnastics and practices at a large club. The whole floor in the area where she does her floor routines is one big mat. The surface is firm but the floor is made up of layers of foam padding, plywood and springs and is about 4 inches thick. This construction provides the ideal surface to do tumbling routines (and crashes) without hurting herself.
Elsewhere in the gym you will find different types and thicknesses of mats. The landing area behind the vaulting horse for example has an extremely thick, vinyl covered, foam filled crash mat so that it doesn't matter how well, or badly the vaulter lands. The trampoline has mats overlaying the outer springs to prevent the users from landing with legs going between them. The floor beneath the uneven parallel bars and in the landing area has some fairly thick landing mats as well.
The main purpose of a sports mat is to prevent impact injuries. Shock absorption during many sports, such as wrestling, martial arts training and cheerleading is critical to the safety of the participants.
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