Stopping mats from sliding...

Hello, folks.

Some of my dojo-mates and I are trying to organize a weekly Monday practice session. The problem? Monday is the day all public community centers close, including the Toyota City Gymnasium, where our dojo usually meets. It looks like we may be able to get use of an elementary school gym. But we'll have to put down gymnastics mats on the hard wood floor. Does anyone know a good method to keep mats from sliding around in that situation? At the moment we're thinking of setting the mats up in a corner and trying to hold them in place with rubber door stoppers. Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

Yoroshiku,

At NEA Spring Seminar in Boston, they used some sort of double-sided tape to stick the mats to the floor. I don't know the brand or the name of that kind of tape, maybe someone from NEA can chime in, but it worked great. It might be a hassle though if you need to do this often.

Either use duct tape or velcro strips to hold all of the mats together into one large mat.

The Dojo i train in was asked to do a demo at a local health club, with a view to us being able to train there if enough people were interested. but as with your problem it was gymnastic mats on a polished wooden floor, they went everywhere, and it caused a few injuries, so what ever you do make sure it has worked properly

Safe training

Double side tape works wonders, you only need it on the outside mats, the ones in the middle are held in place by the ones on the outside.

-Don

There was a club which used the following method, I was surprised to see it work, and eliminate most of the problem. They made a wooden frame, opposite sides tied one to another by a piece of rope, and they would fit the mats in it. Now, the frame was made of four joists (pardon my english can't find the word.. a very narrow wooden board, a girder or something), and for the convenience, every 'joist' was consisted of three elements, connected by a joint, so they could fold, and occupy less room later. The mats would fit in the frame, and they would hardly move. The whole thing wasn't supported anywhere, and the floor was a smooth parquet, and it did great!
I can explain in details, or draw a bit, if you like

perhaps the word you wanted was joint or hinge? i found your description very clear though

setting them up in a corner is the easiest way and means you wont have to tape other peoples mats and floors. but make sure theres enough room so people are not training right up against walls. also, you will still get some mat movement from the other two edges

good luck and let us know how you get on

Milos Savic wrote: There was a club which used the following method, I was surprised to see it work, and eliminate most of the problem. They made a wooden frame, opposite sides tied one to another by a piece of rope, and they would fit the mats in it. Now, the frame was made of four joists (pardon my english can't find the word.. a very narrow wooden board, a girder or something), and for the convenience, every 'joist' was consisted of three elements, connected by a joint, so they could fold, and occupy less room later. The mats would fit in the frame, and they would hardly move. The whole thing wasn't supported anywhere, and the floor was a smooth parquet, and it did great! I can explain in details, or draw a bit, if you like

In an other dojo i know, there is a wooden frame permanently nailed to the floor and the mats go in like when building a puzzle, seems to work very nice.

We use a frame all round with a canvas over the mats, the canvas fastened to the frame with ropes..works well and protects the mats.

There is a neoprene (sp?) mesh (I "think" that's what it is) that comes in rolls that some dojo's I know of use to place under tatami on wooden floors and it does a great job.