Zebra Mats Q&A

[floridalawdog]

FWIW, I have 12 Zebra mats that are at least 12 years old. They were at my school for approx 8 years, being used all day and night by many people. When my teacher moved in with a capoeria school, he sold me some mats for 50 dollars each. I jumped at the opportunity, because I was able to sell my dollamur mats for 400 dollars, so I recovered most of my money, and moved up to a superior mat. They have been being used in my garage for years, and feel as good as they did when they were new. Plus, no more mat tape, because of the sticky material on the bottom.

I love the Zebras, and would recommend them highly, just not mine, because I plan on keeping them forever.

 

[Jamartce]

I am looking to buy a good quantity of mats and for budgetary reasons I have seen the 1" Puzzle Mat as my best option to start with, is this recommended for MMA training..? some grappling..?

 

[zebramats]

Are your roll-out mats made in Germany as well?

2 year life expectancy it says on your website? Seems odd.

The dollamur tapout mat has a 5 year warranty.

How is your shipping to Canada?

Hi there,
sorry for the delay, we haven't been monitoring this thread as closely as we used to;
The Home Mat (roll out mat) is made in China.
Our commercial matting; MMA, Grappling, Combo, Yoga, Pro MMA are all made in our factory in Germany and come with an industry leading 10 year warranty.

We also have a new line of Commercial Elite Roll Out Mats made in our factory in USA, 6'Wx30'L or 40'L , 1.25"thick / 1 5/8"thick/ 2" thick - 5 Year Warranty

 

[zebramats]

Are your roll-out mats made in Germany as well?

2 year life expectancy it says on your website? Seems odd.

The dollamur tapout mat has a 5 year warranty.

How is your shipping to Canada?

Our Canadian Division stocks our commercial matting in a Toronto warehouse. All our German made matting

 

[zebramats]

I am looking to buy a good quantity of mats and for budgetary reasons I have seen the 1" Puzzle Mat as my best option to start with, is this recommended for MMA training..? some grappling..?

Hi there,
Hardly ever do I recommend puzzle mats to anyone, for safety reasons as well as performance reasons. All puzzle mats are China made, and are a simple EVA foam. Each company that orders these puzzle mats orders in different degrees of hardness, ..the lower the degree of hardness, the cheaper the mat and the faster it deteriorates - releases the colour dye, - and easier it gets 'knicked' and scratched.

We only order in the highest grade puzzle mats at 60 degree hardness (instead of 25 degree) to avoid as many problems as possible. While ours are a higher costs compared to what our competitors order, we sell them for the same prices.

Is it a gym you are trying to outfit?

 

[CaliPunk]

Hello Zebramats,

I'm trying to convert a garage into a gym for grappling, Muay Thai and all-around exercise. Concrete floor, and I have an area of about 18' x 19' to work with, but don't need it to be wall-to-wall.

I have my eyes on the grappling puzzle mats (1 5/8") and on the roll-out mats, but all are an option at this point. Any recommendations/opinions on what I should go with? Prices are a small issue but I'm saving up for the good mats.

Thanks in advance.

 

[KStarGear]

I'm looking to get some mats for stand-up and lifting weights. What would you recommend?

 

[icon115]

how does your home mats compare to this option of roll-out mats:

Hatashita.ca -- The Web Leader in Quality Martial Arts Gear

 

[zebramats]

Hello Zebramats,

I'm trying to convert a garage into a gym for grappling, Muay Thai and all-around exercise. Concrete floor, and I have an area of about 18' x 19' to work with, but don't need it to be wall-to-wall.

I have my eyes on the grappling puzzle mats (1 5/8") and on the roll-out mats, but all are an option at this point. Any recommendations/opinions on what I should go with? Prices are a small issue but I'm saving up for the good mats.

Thanks in advance.

Hi there,
when you say "all around exercise", what do you mean? Do you mean you will have weight equipment in there as well? Like a treadmill, dumbbells and weight plates? If that's the case I don't recommend a martial arts matting for the entire floor, just for the section you will be practicing your grappling on. Go with a rubberized floor for the other area.
For home use, if you want something a little more high end, you can get our 1" Combo mats made out of our Rebond PU foam, it still has great absorption even at 1" thick. Great for striking and some light grappling.
If that is out of the price range, then go with the 1" puzzle mats. There is not alot of difference in shock absorbency between the 1" and 1 5/8", I would recommend the 1 5/8" for a club on a tight budget where there would be continual repeated drops onto the mat, the thicker mat would hold is compression better than the 1" after repeated drops in a commercial setting. At home, you would see minimal difference. I rarely recommend EVA foam puzzle mats, try to stay away from them if I can. There is much better protection and performance out of our higher end matting.

 

[zebramats]

I'm looking to get some mats for stand-up and lifting weights. What would you recommend?

Anything pertaining to lifting weights means that you should be protecting your sub-floor and wearing shoes. You should be properly laying down a good sport floor for this.
Rubberized matting is the key here. If you want it to look nice, then get rubber mats cut into puzzles, they will keep the floor looking consistent without having to spend money on adhesive to glue down the flooring.

Also, because rubber expands and contracts due to temperature, with the tiles interlocking together, the entire floor will expand and contract together, keeping the floor always consistent. If you were to purchase just rubber tiles that do not interlock, you would have to lay them side by side and butt them up next to each other. Because the tiles would not be glued down, they would expand and contract individually, and take on a new size. This creates gapping between each mat over time. Looks very non-uniform, and allows for dirt and mildew to escape to the gaps and fester. You definitely do not want bacteria in a gym/health setting.

 

[zebramats]

how does your home mats compare to this option of roll-out mats:

Hatashita.ca -- The Web Leader in Quality Martial Arts Gear

Our home mat is made with a 19oz vinyl laminated to a polyethelene foam.
Hatashita does not lists the specs or construction of the mat so I can not be certain how they have theirs made. It does not state a warranty on their site either, so I would be inclined to warn you about whether or not a warranty would even be offered on that product.
Ours comes with a 6 month warranty.
Hatashita is a Canadian company, so if you are in Canada ship rates may hurt you if you can not pick it up. (shipping in Canada is 3 times more expensive than in USA). We have the same issue in Canada, currently we have opened up a number of dealers that stock our Home mats on their shelves where you can just walk in and pick one up instead of buying direct from us and paying large freight rates.

If you are located in USA then our prices on the home roll out mats includes freight to your home.