Crash Mats

Safety landing crash mats are made with medium density EVA foam to cushion the fall and have a tough rip stop vinyl cover. They also may have Velcro tabs for joining the mats together and with the larger mats carry handles on the sides and a mesh panel and eyelets to let the air escape quickly when you land on the crash mat. The thickness of the foam usually starts at 20 cm with the extra large gymnastics crash mats and goes up to 60 cm for the high jump crash mats.

Choosing Safety Landing Mats Sizes
Deciding what size thickness you need with your safety landing crash mats depends on what type of type of activity the crash mats will be used for and from what height the mats need to be able to break your fall. Also it can sometimes make a difference in choosing how thick to have your mats whether they are for children and/or adults and whether the floor surface already has a little give in it as with a suspended timber floor or if the mats need to go on a rock solid concrete based floor. You may also consider having a combination of mat thicknesses so you can have specially designated areas with different thicknesses of mats for different activities.

How big a landing crash mat needs to be also depends on how skilful you are in knowing how to fall and land correctly so you spread the impact out evenly across your body, and how well you are able to use your neck muscles to stop your head from flying downward onto the mat.

No matter how big and supportive a safety landing crash mat is, if you land in an awkward position with a fair amount of force then it can cause injuries or at least the impact of the fall in some areas will shock and rattle you more than you would like it to. This is why is essential you learn and practice how to fall and land correctly from a low height first until you become comfortable and very confident in your landing ability before you gradually try higher falls.

Cleaning Safety Landing Mats
Safety landing crash mats are very easy to keep clean. Just give them a quick sponge over with a mix of lukewarm water and some quick drying anti-bacterial detergent usually does the trick. The vinyl covered mats dry off very quickly if in a well ventilated area especially if you can blow a couple fans over them. If you need to dry the mats in big hurry just wipe them over with a couple of big beach towels.

Do not soak or hose down your crash mats or leave them out in the weather because if the foam inside is allowed to get wet then it may go mouldy and smelly as it is very hard to extract the water and dry out the foam. Do not store your mats when they are wet. When cleaning you only need to wipe the vinyl cover with a wet or damp sponge and wipe or pat dry with a large towel before you store them away.