Mats might be the most unsung martial arts gear.
If you’ve ever trained at a gym, they’ve supported your movements, padded your landings, and protected your feet. But you’ve probably never had to put much thought into them because they’ve always been there.
If you try to train outside of a gym setting, you’ll quickly learn how important they are to martial arts training, though. And their value doesn’t end there. Investing in a set of jigsaw mats can protect your body — and your stuff — during at-home and outdoor martial arts training and support you in all sorts of other activities in the rest of the your life, too.
Let’s take a look at five ways that you can use jigsaw mats, from the obvious to the out-there.
Martial Arts Training
Jigsaw mats are a budget and space friendly option for outdoor or at-home martial arts training. They’re dense enough to support your body during mat-based warmups, drills, and technique training but have enough give to keep your comfortable, too. They’re also great for any barefoot Muay Thai, Kickboxing, Boxing, or Karate drills that you’d like to practice in the comfort of your own home without ripping up the soles of your feet on carpet, tile, or wood flooring. And they protect your floors from the wear and tear of all of that training, too. They’re also easy to pull apart and store, which makes them a suitable option for even the smallest home training setup.
And if you want to get creative, you can take them outside, too. Jigsaw mats are solid enough to provide a comfortable surface for outdoor technique training, conditioning drills, and light sparring from the knees. (We recommend saving your takedowns and standing sparring for a more traditional gym setting.) They’re also light and portable enough to take on the road if you want to train at a friend’s place or a local park.
Mind/Body Exercise
The composition and size of jigsaw mats makes them equally useful for mobility and mindfulness work, too. They’re solid enough to support you while you’re doing planks, balance work, downward dog, and other exercises that require a stable surface. But they’re still cushioned enough to keep your comfortable throughout your mat-based movements. They’re also padded enough to provide support for your spine during Pilates exercises like rolling like a ball and the seal.
Assembling three jigsaw mat pieces in a row can give you an effective alternative to a yoga or Pilates mat. Putting four together in a square gives you plenty of space for a comfortable and peaceful mediation session.
Weight Lifting
Jigsaw mats are great at protecting you from the floor during martial arts, mind/body, and bodyweight workouts. But they can also protect your floors from your workouts — especially when you’re using various equipment.
Take weightlifting, for example. Even if you’re extremely careful about putting your weights, kettlebells, and other workout gear on the floor between sets, that small wear and tear can add up over time. And if you ever slip and drop a weight — or you get tired and put it down a little less gently than usual — you could scratch or scuff your floors.
As long as you’re not doing heavy Olympic lifts at home, putting together a makeshift weightlifting pad out of one or two jigsaw mats should be enough to protect your floors from your workouts. Which allows you to stop stressing about potential damage and focus on your lifts.
Sleeping
It’s unlikely that you’ll have the best sleep of your life on a set of jigsaw mats. But you’ll probably have a more comfortable night on them than you would on the floor. They’re kind of like a really firm and thin mattress.
So if you need to crash and you don’t have access to a bed, couch, or sleeping pad, reach for the mats. Throw them in the car for a little extra padding when you go camping. Make them one of the first things you take to your new place when you move, so you have something to sleep on if your furniture doesn’t come on time, or you’re too tired to unpack or assemble anything. Throw a bunch down for a sleepover party. Or put a few down if you find yourself with an unexpected house guest and no extra beds or sofas.
Apartment Living
Jigsaw puzzle mats can be practical alternative to bigger, bulkier, and more expensive soundproofing materials for people in apartments and condos. They’re often easier to assemble than big carpets or rubber mats. And they’re great for covering irregularly shaped spaces. They also happen to be pretty good at absorbing the sounds that come with anything hitting or shifting across the floor, including footsteps, moving furniture, and at-home workouts.
