(Part 2) Best exercise mats according to redditors

Buy some rubber floor mats like these or choose your own. Put those down, and make sure everyone is barefoot or wearing socks or whatever so they can feel when they step off the mats, and then that'll add an extra bit of awareness for when you're getting too close to the walls.

I have seen some people use bands around the bench to create more friction to the bench, might be worth a shot. Also seen people using some sort of friction mat. There is also benchpress t-shirts with a huge print on the back to create more friction.


Example of rubber bands: https://www.instagram.com/p/BatGm2AnRCg/?taken-by=jsundelin

Friction mat: https://www.amazon.com/Non-Slip-Bench-Press-Mat/dp/B01GNMUYHC

I bought a package of foam tiles at Sam’s to use for blocking.

Similar to this:
Incstores Eco Soft+ Foam Tiles (12 Tiles, Blue) Interlocking Foam Flooring Mats With Removable Edges

My thoughts are your “initial” sparring rules are all things you could expect from seasoned artists no noobs. “Half speed” yep, until a noob gets one clean strike, gets pissed and KOs their opponent. Lol. It’s hard sometimes to get experienced people to slow down.

All in all, this seems like a horrible idea to me. Even going out into the grass is better than falling onto tile or hardwoods. “Lifting an opponent “ on a hard tile or hardwood seems liek a good way to blow out your knees, or actually fall and KO them.


You can get 20X20 or roll out mats cheap. Or get 10x10 and spar in pairs. We do catch wrestling in my friends garage like that 😂 we have an actual wrestling mat but these are cheap get 2

Alpha Mats Tri-Folding Gymnastics and Exercise Mat for Aerobics, Yoga, Martial Arts - 4 x 10 x 2 Feet, Blue https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075RD4K5F/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_2clqDbW6A4DJR

You can get 100sq feet of puzzle tiles too for less than $200

Also, look on FB or craigslist. All the time people are getting rid of mats

You can try these foam tiles and they'd be easily taken apart for storage purposes.

I bought some padded floor foam Here on Amazon to cover my 4m x 3m play space and it has alleviated the pain issues for myself.

Playing a ton of Hover Junkers it is almost necessary.

mat tape

Anyone tried this mat: https://www.amazon.com/BalanceFrom-Density-Treadmill-Exercise-Equipment/dp/B0744M9M9C
And these weights: https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Neoprene-Dumbbells/dp/B073CT2YS5

I slept on my 6x4 Metolius crash pad for 9 months in the back of my truck. I would often wake up with mild back pain in the night, though this is more due to having a bad back probably. The main disadvantage of sleeping on your pad is that it will quickly turn the pad too soft to be used for big bouldering falls. Other than that, it was convenient and easy. However, I switched to something like this, https://www.amazon.com/Trifold-Foam-Folding-Mattress-Multi-Purpose/dp/B0721NCJYF, which was significantly more comfortable and cost 1/3 of the price of the crash pad.

Yoga mat. I bought one of these recently and made a shield by adding some velcro.

http://i.imgur.com/DnCy76k.jpg

They've worked out pretty well. For any workouts that do not involve Turkish Getups I just use one or two of those squares. I have 2 squares attached by my desk that is my permanent KB storage area.

Obviously, it will not protect them if you're trying to get fancy and you drop the bell on your hardwood, but it's definitely done the job if you're setting them down properly.

One thing I found is that they have a tendency to shift or slip slightly. I got some adhesive rug gripper tape to apply to the underside that solved the problem.

For TGU and other work I purchased one of these that I'll roll out. I unfortunately can't leave this out due to space constraints, but if I had a dedicated area just for workouts I'd just get this and leave it out all the time: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01G61ZB0K/

The kid's versions of those are really slippery, u/skoobear. We had them for our wood floor and my husband almost wiped out several times when little dude pried one loose. We replaced them with the big yoga mat version - in addition to having better grip, they're also thicker for better padding. :)

Shop around a bit. We got a 16 piece at Sam's Club for $20.

I've heard good things about this one, but I have no experiences of my own to relate.

https://www.amazon.com/Oil-Dri-Oil-Only-Automotive-absorbent-pads/dp/B01CG7Y4L0

The concept isn’t new—I think he just found a way to make a large quantity cheaper.

I did this for years, 1 to 2 week or just weekend excursions with my wife & daughter. You're going to find that every simple little thing can be an adventure for the kids. (and the "grownups"!)

Are you hoping that this becomes a family routine? Run off on every available weekend for some woods/down/family time?

I would first recommend that you do a family planning session with Mom and the kids. ( Cheat and discuss the overall plan with Mom first). IMHO, the more input the kids have, the more they feel like a real part of the whole thing rather than being dragged into something by Mom & Dad.

Gear in general, buy the best that you can afford. Good gear pays for itself in comfort, reliability, and performance. You're going to be putting this stuff through its paces, setting up, tearing down, living in it and piling it all, sometimes haphazardly into the vehicle.

Tents, You're going to be in a lot of different locales and weather conditions so I would definitely want something with a full fly. Drying out a tent when traveling is a distracting, time consuming, PITA. I would get two of them, one for the kids & one for the adults. A good 2 person should be big enough for them at their age. Understand that they will want to get away from the grownups sometimes and for them, having their OWN TENT is awesome!
Understand also that the kids will most likely end up sleeping in your tent most of the time so I would look for a good 4 person tent.

Sleeping bags, buy ones that are rated for the LOWEST temperatures you will encounter, It's very easy to partially unzip a bag that's too warm but more difficult to make a cold bag warmer. Avoid the real cheap ones, the insulation tends to bunch up in spots leaving you with a bag that has both lumps and cold spots.

Ground pads (padding directly under your sleeping bag), I would first try something like these, test them at home, along with all your equipment, and if they're not adequate you can upgrade to something better. Any worthwhile outdoor store should have a variety of sleeping pads already out & inflated for customers to try out. GOOD SLEEP is everything.

FOOD is also everything! for car camping cooking in a group I would find a Coleman Gas stove. I've had one for decades, they just WORK!
Also, you can run it on the unleaded gas in your gas tank, just buy a 6-8 ft piece of CLEAR 1/4" ID siphon hose and you've got as much stove fuel as you have gas in your vehicle. I've been doing this with mine since the mid- 1960's.

Eating gear, I Still have a basket that holds all the plastic cups & dishes, utensils, spices, Aluminum foil, even a smallish (10") skillet & cook pot. It's real handy to have it all organized in one package when you're hungry, or anytime.

Camp lighting. HEADLAMPS FOR EVERYONE! IMHO, These are cheap & reliable, and easy to find & replace if necessary. (Buy many extra batteries...)
For the Camp, one of These provides a soft light around the picnic table in the evening. The candle itself is readily available and easily replaced.

Water is life, You won't shouldn't need a filter at a campground but everyone still should have a personal water bottle. Custom water bottles for kids and adults can be fun.

First aid, bug spray, and band aids are a must for both the kids & adults.


That's the basics, get out & hands on shop, compare, and enjoy the trip!

EDIT, I just saw Big Agnes tents on closeout at REI, IMHO this looks like a good deal for a 4 person car camping tent. It's a good time to be shopping for gear, lots of stuff on sale right now. Check out Backcountry.com and Sierra Trading Post for decent gear at decent prices. YMMV

I did it for a while with my husband, we bought 2 40lb CAP Barbell sets and a doorway pull up bar. For the weights we waited until Amazon had a good deal (the price seems to fluctuate cyclically). We also bought some mats/flooring to put on the carpet (didn't want it to smell and felt like it's a better surface for working out). This is what we got (http://amzn.com/B001EJPGPA)
At least for me so far changing the weight hasn't been that big of a problem, maybe it's because for most things I use the ligtest disks anyway and I just adjust the number of reps I do.

I know egg crate foam like /u/YouHadTimeToWaste suggested is popular for DIY soundproofing. You could also just buy tiles which are meant for the purpose
I'd also suggest doing something like this to pad the floor, both for the kids' safety and for soundproofing. You could also lay rugs over that if you feel like it.
You could also keep some blankets and pillows out for fort building.

For those interested:

Floor pads Amazon link

Power Tower Amazon link

Ball - Amazon equiv.

Body weight cards Amazon link

I use Pro Source's extra thick version for the floor where I play darts and they are nice and definitely help with keeping my feet from hurting. Would probably work well for a VR space if one needs that extra padding. Only possible con I can think of would be the edges not being tapered like on the mat the OP got which could maybe be an issue when not being able to see where you're walking. Could maybe cut them to have the taper or do something else to the ends.

https://www.amazon.com/Prosource-Extra-Thick-Puzzle-Exercise/dp/B01N16GHJD/ref=sr_1_4?keywords=prosource+extra+thick&qid=1567791801&s=gateway&sr=8-4

There is a version for Android. The book is also worth taking a look at just so you get an introduction to bodyweight fitness in general. It's also great because the author has a lot of tips for people who are working without a lot of equipment (e.g. put some canned food in a backpack and use that as a weight). Bodyrock.tv also has some good videos and workouts (they are actually fairly serious, despite the video thumbnails looking pretty porny).

If you are worried about noise, you could put some puzzle mats (something like this) down for you to do jumping jacks or DDR etc on. They should absorb a lot of the noise.

There's also hula hooping if your apartment is big enough. I still can't do it, so I bother the neighbours with the sound of it falling on the floor.

The plyo could damage your knees without a mat and decent shoes when doing the parts that involve a lot of jumping (especially if you are athletic and jump high, or once you become more athletic). You'll also really screw up your back on the Yoga and Ab's without it (at least I would).

I got this one and it works great.

I just picked up this mat which is pretty thick and squishy. Most of the complaints in the comments I found to be true as well, but if you're looking for padding, this thing is a freaking mattress. And it's only $23.

Buy mat tape. Tape them.

http://www.amazon.com/Gamecraft-Feet-Mat-Tape-ROL/dp/B0006MI40K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396386966&sr=8-1&keywords=wrestling+mat+tape


It's cheap, and it will make sure your mats stay together and you don't have issues with the jigsaw separating or anything like that.

There are these thick puzzle exercise mat tiles, made from some soft Material (https://www.amazon.com/ProSource-Interlocking-Protective-Cushioned-Equipment/dp/B078216C3P). But 2 to 4 of these under your printer (interlocked, depending on the size of your printer, not over each other :3). Besides reducing the noise the printer makes by quite a lot, it also helped me with the problem you've described. Using this in combination with the other methods mentioned before (Jerk control, acceleration, etc) should take care of things.

What's better than a tarp are foam pads. Get a 4 pack of these to cover a 4x4 tent. They won't allow as much heat to transfer which will prevent condensation. A tarp won't do shit for condensation.