Puzzle mats: stable base for Cathe workouts?

[maddiesmum]

So, I just moved into my first, non-rental, bought-it-myself home.

A large part of the basement is mine for my workout space: it's just fabulous and I have it all organized already! Problem is, it has tile flooring and that is just not good for doing any amount of floor cardio with impact. Even doing Step Blast on these could hurt the knees.

So, I was looking at puzzle mats today at Target. What do we think? Is this a good solution to the problem? I could buy 4 packets of these, put them all together as my cardio flooring. But, here's the question: are they good at absorbing impact and do they stay put while you leap about on them?

I need impact absorbing flooring that will not shift about while I do HiiT, plyo work, etc. Alternatively, I could put a large piece of carpet down..

Ideas? Opinions? Recommendations? Personal experience stories from the educated crowd? Bring them all on!

Thanks everybody for your help!

Clare

 

[nightowl81]

for a largish area, and without spending a small fortune on aerobic flooring, puzzle mats are a good option. if you can try stacking 2 layers of them. others will probably have ideas on how to make sure they don't slide around on tile.

there's also mats like they sell for INSANITY and tapout xt... but I don't think they cover enough area for workouts that move over alot of space.

 

[bigbadbrandini]

I also workout in my basement but it is finished and carpeted. However, I use a single layer of puzzle mats on top of the carpet for aerobics and tv workouts. My most recent blog post has a link to my Flicker site with photos of the area. I got my mats at SAMs and I have 24 mats. Both my husband and I workout on them (separately of course) and the first set lasted about 5 years. We just replaced the mat this spring. We have not had any problems however pivoting can be tricky since the mat has a grip-like material. So I have to do anything with discs on the carpet next to the mat. I've tried putting the fabric part on the disc to use them on the mat and they just don't glide very well.

Just my experience with puzzle mats.

 

[mini-natty]

Hello Clare,

Congrats on the purchase of your home .

I believe I may have the same type of puzzle mats you do (it's a 4pk set from Walmart, very affordable, foam). I have them on top of parquet wood flooring and originally bought them to spare my joints from high impact and absorb sound (I live in an apartment and my neighbors below were complaining ). Previously, I had looked into the more expensive puzzle mats found in fitness/sporting good stores, which looked to be of better quality, non-slip, but boy were they expensive! To cover my entire spare room would have cost me a pretty penny . So I went with the cheaper puzzle mats. You get what you pay for unfortunately. The good news: they do absorb sound well (no complaints yet), high impact exercises are more comfortable on my knee's and back. The bad news: they come apart very easily and slip around a lot too. I have a hard time with certain step exercises, as they come apart during the moves . Any move which requires me to perform lateral jumps or forward jumps is very tricky too. I was thinking of crazy-gluing those suckers together! I'm not sure if the type of flooring you have (tile) might be better for the mats as there is less of a chance of them slip-sliding around. Carpet underneath/on top may do the trick also.

Hope this helps a bit! Good luck!

Natasha

 

[cokonkel]

What I did to prevent my puzzle mats from coming apart was to buy black duct tape and tape all the seams together. I went vertical along the seams and then also the horizontal way so that all the interlocking pieces don't come apart anymore. It was the perfect solution! I used black duct tape instead of the silver so that it wouldn't look quite so ugly . They have lasted me nearly a year now with no problems. I went all out and bought the thickest (more expensive) puzzle mats from MC Sports and use it over the berber carpet in my bedroom. I bought two sets to make the area extra large and it basically goes from the wall to my dresser. With that and the berber carpet it doesn't move or slide one bit. It's one of the best things I purchased for my working out and I really wish I had it all along! I might have spared myself some joint grief if I had been using it for high impact moves in the beginning.

 

[JeanneMarie]

I have the puzzle mats wall to wall in my workout room. I have them double layered over a ceramic tile floor. One layer is just not enough to absorb high impact.

Mine don't slip because they obviously can't. I have had great success with them. They've been in my room for 10+ years and haven't even started to wear out.

Here's a photo taken several years ago. My mats haven't worn down at all in years of working out on them. The only thing that looks different now is a newer TV. HTH!

 

[mini-natty]

What I did to prevent my puzzle mats from coming apart was to buy black duct tape and tape all the seams together. I went vertical along the seams and then also the horizontal way so that all the interlocking pieces don't come apart anymore. It was the perfect solution! I used black duct tape instead of the silver so that it wouldn't look quite so ugly . They have lasted me nearly a year now with no problems. I went all out and bought the thickest (more expensive) puzzle mats from MC Sports and use it over the berber carpet in my bedroom. I bought two sets to make the area extra large and it basically goes from the wall to my dresser. With that and the berber carpet it doesn't move or slide one bit. It's one of the best things I purchased for my working out and I really wish I had it all along! I might have spared myself some joint grief if I had been using it for high impact moves in the beginning.

Brilliant idea Colleen!! Off to purchase some black duct tape...

 

[mini-natty]

Hi Clare,

Wow, this forum is a hub for wonderful idea's . I followed Colleen's suggestion and used duct tape (so simple, yet it never crossed my mind ), but instead of using it at the top surface of the mats, I attached it underneath (my DH is a stickler for esthetically pleasing things ). It worked like a charm .

BTW, I do A LOT of high impact, hiit and plyo, and besides the problem of them pulling apart at the seams, they have held up well against all my abuse

Here are a few pics. I have black & white ones instead of colored. I have a total of 15 mats, and they cover my workout space perfectly.

 

[maddiesmum]

I have the puzzle mats wall to wall in my workout room. I have them double layered over a ceramic tile floor. One layer is just not enough to absorb high impact.

Mine don't slip because they obviously can't. I have had great success with them. They've been in my room for 10+ years and haven't even started to wear out.

Here's a photo taken several years ago. My mats haven't worn down at all in years of working out on them. The only thing that looks different now is a newer TV. HTH!

Jeanne Marie:

I am so jealous of your own personal workout studio! I thought my new basement workout space was good, but it's got nothing on this! When I buy my next house, the space to create what you have here is top of my list of desirable features.

Now I'm going to go off and be quietly envious in some small corner somewhere.....

Inspiring photo though!

Clare

 

[maddiesmum]

I bought a package of 8 squares from Sam's Club for $22. I think it covers an area of 4'X8'. I have not had any issues with them coming apart. I have mine right on top of the cement floor in my basement. I did one half of the room with these, and the other half a rug so that I can still use my discs.
I like the idea of doubling them up. I might have to do that in the future to save my knees!

Wow, excellent price! The pack of 4 mats at Target is already $21! I'm shopping at the wrong store......

Clare

 

[maddiesmum]

Brilliant idea Colleen!! Off to purchase some black duct tape...

Hey Natasha:

Thanks for your post and good wishes. I do like my new house. Wood floors and no more hideous beige carpet!! I'm so done with beige carpet for, like, forever!

It's good to hear about others' experiences, helps me make a decision on what might work in my space.

Sounds like you found a perfect solution in this thread! Good for you.

Clare

 

[maddiesmum]

Hi Clare,

Wow, this forum is a hub for wonderful idea's . I followed Colleen's suggestion and used duct tape (so simple, yet it never crossed my mind ), but instead of using it at the top surface of the mats, I attached it underneath (my DH is a stickler for esthetically pleasing things ). It worked like a charm .

BTW, I do A LOT of high impact, hiit and plyo, and besides the problem of them pulling apart at the seams, they have held up well against all my abuse

Here are a few pics. I have black & white ones instead of colored. I have a total of 15 mats, and they cover my workout space perfectly.

View attachment 2381
View attachment 2382

Excellent photos Natasha, thanks for showing me, gives me a sense of what i could do in my space.

My problem is that the floor space I have is part mine, part sitting area for everyone else ad communal walk through thoroughfare...... It is also irregularly shaped so I couldn't do wall-to-wall coverage to prevent mats slipping.

I need to go think, measure, calculate costs (we also have so much furniture we need to buy, sigh....) and try and envision it.....

Thanks!

Clare


View attachment 2382[/QUOTE]

 

[ElleJay]

I have the puzzle mats wall to wall in my workout room. I have them double layered over a ceramic tile floor. One layer is just not enough to absorb high impact.

Mine don't slip because they obviously can't. I have had great success with them. They've been in my room for 10+ years and haven't even started to wear out.

Here's a photo taken several years ago. My mats haven't worn down at all in years of working out on them. The only thing that looks different now is a newer TV. HTH!

NICE space! Love the mirrors!

 

[Jenniferlove]

Congratulations on your new home, Maddiesmum!

Beautiful room, JeanneMarie!

To solve my puzzle mat slipping issue I put that cabinet liner stuff (tacky material; cheap from home depot) on the tile floor under the puzzle areas that take the most movement - that did the trick!

I finally broke down and bought the mats from Great Mats because the ones from Target just didn't seem to absorb the impact. I am happy with the Great Mats, and they are pretty (green/tan).

Good luck!

 

[BreckGirl]

Do y'all have issues using slide & glide discs on your puzzle mats?

 

[Jenniferlove]

Do y'all have issues using slide & glide discs on your puzzle mats?

Yes and no - yes because the discs didn't work well on the puzzle mats but NO because I went to Big Lots and bought a decent-size piece of carpet... No problems at all now

The carpet stays in place on the mats and is large enough to use during the workouts but small enough that I can fold over and keep it out of the way when I'm not using the sliding discs.

 

[mackenzie]

I have a double layer of puzzle mats. Works just fine.

 

[tonyakay]

Awesome Ideas Everyone! The tape worked like a charm. I am thinking about doubling my mats after hearing about how well that works also.

 

[Ly10up]

I used 2 layers of puzzle mats over concrete for years with great results. I used double sided carpet tape on the underside around the edge of the bottom layer. The top layer never slipped.


JeanneMarie, your room is stunning.