Mats: building, buying and repairing.
By Gene Simco

Most of us who own and operate schools know that the key to business longevity is not over-extending in the beginning. In other-words, don't over supply where there is no demand. Many people who do start schools spend way too much in the beginning, making it impossible to either recoup that money or pay off debts. Many others, like myself began with no money. In either case, (and in the case that you need mats for a home gym) it is important to explore all of your matting options, as this will most likely be your largest expense.

I've tried just about every kind of mat you can possibly use, so I figured I'd share my experiences with you, hoping that they might save you time and money when making your decision.

Building

When I first opened my school in 1997, it was in the back of the building I'm in now. The benefits were that the rent was cheap and it had a nice loading dock door that I could open during the warm weather, giving the gym an outside training feel. The draw-back was that it was a little hard-core for most people and the location was poor … but then again, so was I.

I was working two other jobs and playing in a band full time, using an entire paycheck form one job to pay the gym rent every month. The prospect of buying expensive mats was out of the question. I believed in my business and knew that if I could stay open long enough, I'd be able to attract customers based on the fact that there were no (other) hard-core gyms around and no one was teaching jiu-jitsu (grappling). In order to get by for a while, I built a frame using 2x4's spaced about 16" apart, and then covered them with plywood. Many people use tires instead of the 2x4's, but these happened to be hard to come by at the time and need to be framed by wood anyway. I then covered the plywood with two layers of thick carpet foam, then covered the carpet foam with a plastic tarp. Was it perfect? No. Did it work? Yes. It would become slippery at times, but I avoided the canvas due to the fact that it is generally unsanitary and will cause burns on the skin due to friction.

Purchase

The old system was replaced by a Ringside boxing ring as soon as I got the money together to buy it. I still can't decide whether this was my best idea or worst mistake. The boxing ring had a canvas floor and was rough to roll on. The padding was also minimal and not suitable for long-term judo practice. The rails that framed the floor of the ring were metal and exposed, causing the occasional injury. I had to go with a floor ring due to ceiling height and expense; this meant I had to anchor the bolts into a concrete floor, which was good until heavy people climbed on the ropes. Rope climbing is irresistible to most normal males. The benefit was that it allowed me to have 'Friday Night Challenges' in my gym where people from other local martial arts schools would come in and spar or fight against us, which boosted the reputation of the school and brought my first wave of students … kind of like a micro-UFC.

The boxing ring eventually turned out to be a great expense and too much of a nuisance to maintain (canvas is not easy to clean either). People who want to learn real boxing are far and few between, so having boxing classes never paid off. As a result, I eventually packed away the ring.

My next step was a purchase of Tiffin folding mats. These had their pros and cons as well. The pros when compared to the canvas were that the vinyl is easy to keep clean and they are softer than the typical boxing ring padding but, the mats were still rough and cause the occasional mat-burn. I also noticed quite a few injuries due to the gaps in the mats where they fold; people would often break toes or trip. On the tile floor of the gym, the mats had a tendency to slide around; this was remedied by sticking Velcro to the floor and attaching it to the Velcro strips on the mats that made them connect, which (another con) wore out eventually, causing the mats to come apart.

I eventually purchased re-conditioned wrestling mats and retired the folding mats to the wall by attaching pieces of wood with Velcro strips on them to the walls. The mats can be removed if need be and make excellent mat padding as their cons (the mat burn and gaps) don't come into play in that position.

The wresting mats were a more expensive choice, but getting them used proved to be a money saving choice that would pay off for years. The only real draw-back to using wresting mats is their thickness. If you are doing any kind of Judo, some students will complain that the mats are very hard for beginners to break-fall on. This was remedied by using the extra foam padding from the boxing ring underneath the wrestling mats. I use this set-up to this day and everyone who trains here from out of town loves them. They have none of the problems that I mentioned in previous set-ups and are very soft for every day training.

There are two set-ups I have never tried: one is to purchase foam and frame it with thin pieces of wood, to be used as anchors for a vinyl cover. This is both sanitary and seems to be cost effective. The other is something I never considered after working out on them: tatame. The word meats 'mat' in Japanese and can usually be found in Judo schools. Whenever I see them being used for excessive ground-work, there are tons of students with mat burn and holes in the knee-section of their gi pants.

Repair

I've been using the re-conditioned wrestling mats for about six years now and just recently noticed the signs of age. They were still completely usable, but the assorted tears and gouges began to lose their charm. To remedy the situation, I purchased a repair kit online from a manufacturer of wrestling mats. I have to add a word of caution here: the vinyl paint used to cover the mats is extremely toxic and usually will not be sold in large quantities. I did use the paint, but I ventilated the room properly, wore rubber gloves and a mask. I also did not let anyone enter the room until the paint was completely dry and all residual odors were gone. I also must tell you that I am not a professional mat-repair guy and if you want to do this on your own, you might want to do more research than this article.

Refurbishing the mats was a three-step process including a special glue, caulking compound and vinyl paint. The glue is applied a day before to connect completely torn parts of the mat. Once the glue dries, you must apply the caulking compound to fill in holes and gaps. The compound must dry (takes about an hour) before you apply the paint. The drawbacks to using this compound were that it is a bright color, which eats up many layers of dark paint and it dries quickly in a ventilated area, causing it to 'clump' rapidly. Once your caulk is dry, you can apply the vinyl paint just as any other paint with a normal brush. Once finished, I threw everything away to be on the safe side and let the room air-out for two days. After a couple of days, the spots that I repaired are marked as slightly glossier areas on the mat - I suppose this is due to the fact that the paint is newer than the untouched surface. I'm hoping that after some normal wear, they will blend in a little better.

Was I smart enough to take before and after pictures? No, No I wasn't'. In fact, this article was a last minute idea after breaking my back and emptying a few bank accounts. I figured I'd write this to save you time and money. Why? Well … Maybe if I save you thousands of dollars on mats, you'll feel good about spending a fraction of that on my books or dvds.

Enjoy!