Best Gym Mats

Even if your home gym is on the bare-bones side, you’ll want to upgrade it with a gym mat. These thick mats keep spin bikes in place and helps you maintain your footing during a cardio class. The main difference between a Gym Mat and your average yoga mat is size and weight. Gym Mats tend to be bigger, thicker, and more firm. And while we’ve written before about big-ticket equipment to put on a gym mat — including the best treadmills, weight benches, and kettlebells — here, we’ve rounded up the best gym mats for every type of home gym.

Offers great protection for my wood floor as I have set up a mini gym in my family room. Even offers very good absorption when I am doing ‘floor-involved’ exercises like medicine-ball slams,” writes one reviewer. People love that the thin border pieces easily attach for a “finished look” no matter where the tiles are set up. One couple used these to turn their spare room into a gym and now they “don’t even use other fitness mats in our workouts because the flooring is comfortable enough for all floor activities.” And while it’s intended to be used for gyms, some of its most enthusiastic reviewers are people who found other ways to use the sturdy foam tiles. One woman in Florida used them to cover the concrete floor of her sheep and emu barn: “We had a 24 x 26 barn concrete floor covered in about an hour. I was a little worried about it being ripped up by the critters, especially the emus, as they have razor-sharp nails on those long toes, but this stuff has held up wonderfully.

They are the perfect thickness, buffer the sound, and soften the step.” Another reviewer who used these mats for “working out barefoot” and doing “yoga and stretches” calls them “easy to clean and very easy to assemble.” They also love the price and “plan to buy another set or two when their home gym expands.” A massage therapist who takes off their shoes when administering treatments and “needs soft support while they work” says Gym Rubber Mats are “very cushy on the existing carpet” and provide a great surface to stand on. A fourth reviewer uses these “big and durable mats” to line the bottom of an above-ground pool and says they are a “perfect fit”. Easy-to-clean is a common compliment for these mats, with a fifth reviewer saying that cleaning and drying are “convenient” thanks to the lightweight material, and that the black tiles are “resistant” to showing dirt.

This mat is a popular choice with parents looking to outfit playrooms for their toddlers. “My spunky toddler boy loves to jump and run on our bed,” writes one parent. “Occasionally, he gets overly excited and bumps his head against the wall. I stumbled upon these mats and it solved the problem. With these mats in place, I can rest easy.” Another parent needed something to cushion their toddler’s “play and tumbling,” and bought two of these mats to provide more safe space. “The Velcro is secured well around the perimeter and holds the mats together perfectly,” they say, adding that the whole family has been able to use these. “The foam density is soft enough to protect against tough falls and tumbles, but firm enough for my husband and I to use as supportive workout mats for yoga and floor exercises.”