Wrestling Mats

Get a Grip on Wrestling Mats
What to look for, what to avoid

Choosing the proper wrestling mats is critical to the health of your squad and your students. Perhaps the single most important element of safe wrestling mats is shock absorption. Don't be misled by the thickness of any one mat. Wrestling mats need to have a certain foam type, cell construction, and outer material.

Foam ain't just foam
When selecting a wrestling mat, you should make sure it has PVC rubber nitrile foam. This foam is designed for impact protection, and ranks the highest in Head Injury Criterion (HCI) testing. You will find this foam in football helmets, karate pads, and under artificial turf. The foam is closed-cell foam, which increases the shock absorption capacity.

Close the door on open cell foam
Open-cell foam should be avoided completely in a wrestling mat. With open-cell foam, air is allowed to flow through the mat, and the chance of hitting the hard surface underneath is greatly increased. Injuries become much more common on an open cell mat. If a mat is NOT designed for wrestling, boxing, or martial arts, don't use it for a wrestling mat.

Have some standards
Your wrestling mats should also pass standards as set up by the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM). They are a non-profit group made up of industry experts, general interest groups, users, and manufacturers to arrive at a consensus standard.

What to look for
Firmness and density are important, too, with density playing a more vital role in shock absorption. Density ratings are found by weight a cubic foot of the material. If a cubic foot of foam weighs 5.9 pounds, its density rating is 5.9. Wrestling mats with higher density rating are safer.

Wrestling mats come in varying thickness, ranging from 1 inch to 1.5 inches thick. Yours should be made for specifically for contact sports and should feature a durable and repairable outer material. A preferable outer material for wrestling mats is a sprayed-on polyvinyl coating. Make the sure your wrestling mats are coated on all sides.

Above all, your wrestling mats should absorb impacts, and NOT recoil and rebound them.