wrestling mats...

[shaolin kungfu]

I want to put a wrestling mat in my basement so me and some wrestling guys from school can have somewhere to train outside of school. After looking around the net I realized that they are really expensive. Does anyone have any links to either cheap wrestling mats, or a how-to guide on building your own?

[Oso]

did you look here?

http://www.tiffinmats.com/wrestling/homeUseW.html

check with area high schools and colleges to see if they have an old mat section they would sell cheap. you can buy the repair stuff to patch and gouges and rips.

[IronFist]

http://store.yahoo.com/titleboxing/title-puzzle-sports-mats.html

[shaolin kungfu]

hey hey hey! Dont hijack my thread!:mad:

Ironfist- thanks.do you know if are those good for doing takedowns and such?

Oso- thanks for the link and the suggestion. I'll see if my school wants to get rid of any.:)

[EarthDragon]

I recently closed my school and I have 2 wrestling mats I woould be interested in selling. There college quality mats , blue, 12x12. Where do you live ? you would have to pick them up......... email me or PM

[Ford Prefect]

I made real cheap mats in my old house. You need:

1) 1.25" - 2" ploystyrene insulation panels
2) Liquid nails with gun
3) carpet pad (that layer you put between carpet and concrete)
4) a canvas or vinyl drop cloth
5) elmer's glue

Step 1: Cut polystyrene to fit the area in basement and glue the panels togethers using the liquid nails. Let sit an hour.

Step 2: Lay the carpet pad on top of polystyrene using liquid nails to secure it. Walk on it or use a roller to make sure it sticks. Let sit 3 hours.

Step 3: Lay a good amount of elmers glue on top of carpet pad and put down drop cloth. You will need to thouroughly walk on/roll down the drop cloth to make sure the glue is sticking. Get a fan and make sure you have circulation because this takes a day or two to dry completely.

Step 4: Go to town! You have a nice mat where you can even do throws on. I covered a 20x12 area for $150-200.

[shaolin kungfu]

Cool! Thanks ford!:D :cool:

[IronFist]

Originally posted by shaolin kungfu
Ironfist- thanks.do you know if are those good for doing takedowns and such?

They have those at my new school. The entire floor is covered with them. They're a bit harder than the standard folding gymnastics mat, but they work well. They're fine for grappling and stuff, but I haven't been thrown (hard) on them yet so I'm not sure about that.

[Oso]

SK, imho, a single layer of those would not be adequate for taking hard falls on a regular basis. Also, you have to get used to them as they are notorious toe grabbers intil you figure it out.
I owe one broken toe to them.

at the place I take jujitsu they have 2" of other foam stuff and then those puzzle mats on top.

Ford...seriously??? Not doubting you but I would think that arrangement would come apart in minutes.

At my old school our sparring platform was a plywood over 2x4 base w/ 3 or 4 layers of carpet padding underneath carpet that was stretched out and stapled down to the 2x4's. We'd spaced the 2x4's out so it was pretty springing and the padding did ok for taking some of the sting out of a fall. we broke through it several times over the years though.;)

[CaptinPickAxe]

Where can I find some cheap high density mats? Ones suitable for shuai chiao but won't cost me my first born.

[Oso]

goto the link I posted above.

Tiffin has the cheapest mats around for the quality.

and, no, I don't work for tiffin:)

[IronFist]

Originally posted by Oso
they are notorious toe grabbers intil you figure it out.
I owe one broken toe to them.


Oh yeah, this guy in our class said his toe got stuck on them when he was demonstrating a technique for us once. But I usually wear socks so I haven't had any problems yet (knock on wood).