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Saturday, December 20, 2008

Gymnastics Mats – The Incline Mat

Gymnastics Mats - What are they used for?


So, let’s talk a little bit about the incline gymnastics mat and what its uses are. As its name implies, an incline mat is shaped in the form of an incline. Typically it is flat on two sides, with an angle on the third (basically a right triangle). This mat also comes in many different lengths and widths, all suited specifically to meet the need of the coach who is using it.

While this gymnastics mat may be oddly shaped (trust me it isn’t alone – later on we will talk about the trapezoid – equally odd) it carries its unique design for many purposes. Depending on the size of the incline mat, it can be used to train rolls, walkovers, handsprings, cartwheels, round-offs, advanced vaulting techniques and more. It is an extremely versatile piece of equipment that provides a multitude of benefits to coaches and gymnastics instructors.

One of the other value added features I have seen larger trapezoids come with is the ability to fold in half. While it may be true that folding into a large rectangle will not enhance the training of most of the skills listed above, this added functionality allows gymnastics coaches to use the gymnastics mat as a spotting mat (assuming the mat is firm enough).

The bottom line is that incline mats are an invaluable piece of gymnastics training gear, and they are an essential gymnastics mat for any gymnastics center owner to have.

Gymnastics Mats

Friday, December 12, 2008

Gymnastics Mats - Gymnastics Mats and More

Welcome to my gymnastics mats blog. Having been a professional gymnastics coach for 20 years, I understand how important good gymnastics mats and good gymnastics equipment is. Additionally, I understand how difficult it can be to find good deals on gymnastics mats. One thing is for sure…they are not cheap.

As a gym owner I spent a good deal of time looking for discount gymnastics mats and gymnastics equipment that I could get a good deal on. Again, this was never an easy task. My hope is that I can share with you a little bit of the knowledge that I have picked up along the way and hopefully unearth some good gymnastics equipment sites that will provide gymnastic mats at a discount to gymnastics centers.

Right off the bat, I can tell you one of the tricks I used to use was to wait for one of the large gymnastics centers in a nearby metropolitan area to buy new equipment. Whenever they bought new equipment they would sell the old stuff because they didn’t have room for it. Let me tell you, those Phoenix gymnastics centers let go of equipment that still had a good deal of life in it. Another option is to purchase demo equipment, but we will talk about those gymnastics mats in a later post.

Cheers,
Gymnastics Mats