Mat Advice?

if you were setting up an academy, what would you go with for mats? traditional tatame? any suppliers to recommend? do you set up something under the mats?

Swain's Flexi-roll!!!! www.swainmats.com

thanks josh, can you tell me a little bit more about them, how do they compare to say dax tatame?

Yo! Colin, What's up? You setting up something? Where are you training at these days?

Josh

'Swain's Flexi-roll'

Can one take falls (frequent) on them?
Does it require sub flooring?

the flexi-roll is awesome. it is 1.5 or 2 " thick. has the full tatami vinyl to it. the stuff is light as hell, comes in 6-foot x 'whatever-length you need' sections.

the foam is attatched to the vinyl by some kind of heat bonding that cannot separate like the glue found in regular tatami (though, we all know the swain gold medals dont separate like the zebra mats do unless you fuck them up).

a 10 year old can carry, roll-out, and put away a flexi-roll in about 3 minutes flat. yes, they are durable, they feel just like tatami. they are designed to be taken up and put down constantly. you don't need a sub-floor under them, but it is never a bad idea if you are going to be throwing stuff like uranage often.

Tohkon just used a flexi-roll at their tournament and had absolutley no issues with it. in fact, it was the only one of the 4 mats (the other 3 were gold medal tatami) that didnt need any adjusting at all.

hey hassan, i have barely trained since i hurt my knee a few months ago, but i am looking into setting up a full facility. when i do train it's at fitness plus.