Shellectra started this discussion ·
I am getting a crash mat for christmas and wondering if 2 inch is better than 5 inch thickness? I would imagine 5 inch to be squishy and springy and well, hard to do handsprings off lol. Is 2 inches much to land on?
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amy ·
if you're landing feetfirst, it's great. if you're landing head first... it depends on what height and what position. if i were buying one, i wouldn't bother getting one unless it's 5" thick. you can feel the floor through a 2" mat. it helps a LOT, but this is my order for a new, tricky/dangerous move where i would land head-first if anything went wrong: -try with two spotters -try with one spotter "ghost spotting" (standing without her hands on me, but close enough to catch me/break my fall) THEN try with 2" mat (that's all we have).
the 5" one I have is squishy, but I don't think it would be too hard to push off of. Honestly, I agree with Amy, it's way safer.
It also depends on what the "cush" material is. Think in terms of something like memory foam...all foams are NOT builit the same (the following info is from a memory foam site but its ideas are similar across the board). For a material to be visco-elastic, it will have to be temperature sensitive and have an ability to rebound fairly quickly and return to its normal shape. Memory foam is graded by its visco-elastic nature and its durability by breaking it down into the following grading system: 1. Weight (Density in pounds per square foot): The weight of a foam is determined by the amount of chemicals used in the composition of the polyurethane foam. The more chemicals, the higher the density and the more visco-elastic it will become. This density will not determine the hardness of the material, this is done through utilizing the ILD rating structure. Many memory foam mattresses use a 4 and 5lb. density, but some use as low as 2 and 3lb. densities. 2. ILD Rating (Indentation Load Deflection): The ILD rating is going to tell you how hard or soft a material is. The 25% ILD rating is the number of pounds required to achieve a 25% compression of a 4" thick foam using a 50 square inch indentation. An Example of this is as follows: 20lb. ILD foam indicates that this material took 20 lbs. of pressure to indent this foam 25%. Keep in mind that the higher the ILD, the firmer the foam. This rating is synonymous with the abbreviation IFD (Indentation Force Deflection). IFD is still in use, even though ILD was created just for the purposes of grading polyurethane foam. You can assume that a lower ILD for the top layer of your memory foam mattress or bed topper can be a real advantage in pressure point reduction. However, too soft of an ILD or too thick of a very soft surface layer, especially without enough support underneath, can sometimes be problematic for low back sufferers. That is why the best memory foam mattresses use a layered effect that properly offers a supple enough surface to disburse pressure points, but gradually firms up in the layers below, with a very resilient support base used in the final layer. 3. Resilience: This measures the foam's springiness by determining the percent rebound of a steel ball dropped from a height of 36". The term "H.R" (high resilient) foam refers to a highly resilient foam that will give a very high "ball rebound" reading. In general, the higher the resiliency, the better the more durable the foam will be with compression forces. However, with viscoelastic memory foam, less resilience indicates a better force dampening. This is due to less rebound pressure fighting the force of your body as it sinks into the mattress. Very high quality memory foam mattresses combine lower high resilient layer(s) with memory foam on the surface, so you get the pressure point reduction, while retaining the extra support below.
I completely agree - honestly, with how expensive mats are, I feel like a 2" mat almost isn't even worth it. I feel so much safer on my 5" mat than I would on anything thinner, especially since I usually don't have anyone to spot me at home - and I still wouldn't want to fall head-first from the top of the pole on it! Also, I'm only just starting to work on handsprings/cartwheel mounts and I'm totally fine with the extra squishiness.
