Dojo floor remodel.

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[Nobleronin4]

Several forum members have mentioned that their dojos are being remodeled. I thought this might be helpful.

I was just on a judo website and saw a great idea involving floor remodeling for a dojo.

http://www.judoamerica.com/helpforclubs/springmat/

Has anyone ever heard of new Aikido students leaving because of (hard floors)?

[Lucy Smith]

We had an extra mat for ukemi practice for us newbies.

[Dajo251]

thats a cool set up, I think that would be pretty effective,

[Richard Langridge]

Yeh it looks pretty good, but I think normal mats give the perfect balance of softness/hardness.

[Steve Mullen]

Just breathe out and enjoy the pain :evileyes:

[Dennis Good]

I've been doing some research on this lately myself and I found this.
http://www.judoinfo.com/tatami.htm

I found the foam blocks he was talking about on this site.
http://www.tiffinmats.com/gymnastics/foamFloor.html

All in all it is a pretty cheap way to go if you make it yourself.

[Jerb]

My aikido group just remodeled a dojo.

We built the floor with a frame of 2x4's placed on edge, spaced about 2 feet apart. We screwed this to the floor and put 3/4 inch plywood on top of it. On the plywood we place the tatami mats. It cetianly does not seem any harder than any other mats I have been on.

If anyone wants more info let me know.

Jeff

[DCP]

I've been doing some research on this lately myself and I found this.
http://www.judoinfo.com/tatami.htm

My sensei's dojo is set up like this. It does make for less painful high-ukemi since uke's force absorbs into foam blocks instead of the concrete.

I always imagined (if I ever have my own dojo . . .) that I would glue tennis balls to plywood for the spring base instead of using foam blocks or tires. I think this would allow decent shock-absorbtion without having the mat space at such a high altitude. If the base needed to be firmer, simply glue on more tennis balls. If the tennis balls dry-rot or wear out, they're not that expensive to replace.

Anyone ever try this? If so, let me know since I thought this was my idea.

If this idea is truly new, I want credit if you use it! Please write on the platform, "These are Dan's fuzzy balls!" :D