Crash Matts

[dark-castles2]

I am looking for a crash matt to do flips onto, just wondering if anyone knows were I can get one cheap, or if someone has one for sale?
DC

[clive]

Don't want to down your hopes dc but iv been trying everywhere to get hold of a used crash mat with no luck, hope you have better luck than me, iv got a mate who is selling a new trampoline if your untreated Jason and I was going to get it but turns out the same size that we both allready have

[dark-castles2]

Na, Hmmm... I can get one for £20 but its only 2" thick, do you think that would be enough? It will be on grass aswell
DC

[SNuD]

I can get one for £20 but its only 2" thick, do you think that would be enough? It will be on grass aswell
DC

Not a hope in hell mate! that is unless you're more or less there and just fluffing the landings, ie falling back. if you get it very wrong and come down on your back / lower spine you are going to do yourself some damage. We found a 6" mat too thin for a bad fall. The one we use in the gym is 8 - 10" high density on the top medium in the middle and high again on the bottom. Now that seem to catch most catastrophes!
And as Clive said we tried for ages to get one but short of £300 no chance!

[dark-castles2]

Well I will keep looking, and let you know if anything comes up that might come in handy to you aswell
DC
p.s. thanks for the help

[Bbmthbloke]

Well 5 old matresses have been fly tipped in a cul de sac i use on my way to work ( there is a foot path at end of it) you could use them


oh and to 'really' annoy you. I do own a 2nd hand crash maT. Got it off e-bay. I honestly think its got more support than the 3 at the pompy gym ( gawd my back aches today from landing on it yesterday). Cost me about £100 inc petrol.

Annoying bit? Erm got it from your backdoor. Not many miles from Plymouth AND from a m8 of Simeons!!!

It straps on the car roof nicelly too. Im now just on the lookout for a sweet spot in Bmth where I can take it , that also has some steps and blocks un stuff to have a lil outdoor bocking gym. So if any1 can think of a suitable , please shoutout. Im kinda thinking a park in 1 of the hillier parts of bmth or Poole. Beach @ Boscombe is a possiblity--get down early to bag a spot by the prom aND  drop mat on the sand ( if peeps club together to pay my parking  )

[Jason]

Did you say you can get one 2" mat for £20 or you can get 2" mats for £20

If you put 5  2" mats on top of each other you end up with a 10" mat which would do to flip onto

Jason 

[Locky]

We got an almost brand new 10" thick crash mat donated to us from an education authority (which means its one of the expensive fire retarded ones too!) and a couple of thinner mats.

Doing flips on any crashmat thinner than 10 inches is dangerous, unless you are advanced enough that your feet are landing on the ground ALL OF THE TIME. A video with a side shot is the best way to check this.

Some schools have a policy now where certain gym equipment can only be used for a few years and with the school end approaching now is the time to be asking them nicely

I dont recommend piling together thinner mats and I dont think putting the mats on grass is any significance either.

[Bacon Miller]

The thinner mats that we have at my school gym are very hard, so stacking 5 of those on top of each other would just give you a 10" hard surface, really. Not to mention that they can slip out from under you.

[dark-castles2]

I just found something even better , Went to my local tip to get some tires, and they got 3 old gymnastics ones, bit ripped and warn etc. but they are willing to sell them for £15 each all about 10" (ish) looks more, so might do a patch job on them
DC

[Bbmthbloke]

woop   oo un ill buy  1 off u if u want..... find a home 4 it in pompy   create a series of alfresco bock gyms across the south!   pm  if interested ooo un just ask me if u need old tires ....we got a bike engineer at wotk i can just go get some off him

[SNuD]

Be careful DC. As locky said you are in dangerous territory with crash mats. A good mat will have a top layer of high density foam which is designed to spread the impact force over a large area on to the low density soft foam below which absorbs the forces.
Stacking thin ones together only gives a higher surface that is no softer. Bed mattresses need to be covered with a high density mat or you will get a broken springs stuck in your back.
Remember you damage your back and your knackered for the rest of your life.

[dark-castles2]

They are old Gymnastics matts and the foam is in perfect condition I was going to strap one ontop of the other do is about a 15-20" mat all together.
I was then going to peg them to the grass out side my house, (from the side of course, make sure the pegs aren't dagerous) which should be more than enough, ontop of that I will have my mate with me and wear wrist guards, so should be safe enough may use the third one as a safety on the side or something.
DC

[Jason]

Gawd it's got tech since I was young 

We used to have to shake the mats to get all the straw back into the middle when I was young 

If you didn't it really hurt as you were basicly landing on canvas on the floor

Jason   

[dark-castles2]

Lol, straw Jason, seriously were you born in the middle ages
DC

[SNuD]

They are old Gymnastics matts and the foam is in perfect condition I was going to strap one ontop of the other do is about a 15-20" mat all together.
DC

A 2" mat is too hard and it wont get any softer by stacking them. It's designed to be used alone mate so wont transfer any force.
Check it out on the internet, don't want you hurting yourself!

[dark-castles2]

I am not getting a 2" matt :s

[SNuD]

I'm confused!
Ok I'm only worryin cos I know how much it hurts when you get it wrong!
Just b careful out there!

[dark-castles2]

Lol i am getting 3, 10" <---- crash matts
DC

[Jason]

I wondered why Clive and I got so many bruises when we were falling on the 2" mats 

No not the middle ages DC  :Claugh:just the 60's if you want to know how tough the gyms were just watch the Grimleys 

People think that Brian Connoly was over doing the Gym teacher brutality but he was being soft compared to some of the sadists we had

And yes the mats were full of straw and guess what they worked really well 20" of well placed straw is soft and resistant but only if you shake them well  one squeeked once when someone landed on it and we had to pull the dead rat out 

Knock the kids down with the medicine ball was a gym teachers favorite and god help you if you forgot your gym gear (try running round the Girls playground in your underwear for an hour  )

Jason 

[clive]

oohh they were the days 

[SNuD]

Sound like you whent to my school!
The kids today get it so easy!

[dark-castles2]

Lol, Ok everyone... You know you are old if you get caught in the above conversation about 'hard' schools and straw matts
DC

[Hammy]

DC is correct 

[madmonky13]

i agree

anyway
if you get a 1"-2" thick mat than you could use it as the high density foam and put it on top of the 10" mat, because thin mads a usually quite hard/dense.