Buying Pilates Mat

Many people thought that Pilates and yoga mats are the same, because they are similar in size and are used for exercises done on the floor. Actually, a Pilates mat needs to be thicker than most yoga mats.

This is simply because there are many standing poses in yoga, mats used for yoga have to let the practitioner feel the floor for balance. This is not so important with a Pilates. In fact, Pilates mats are thicker so that our spine and other bony structures are padded from the floor. Trust me, doing exercises like "Rolling like a ball" or "Open Leg Rocker" without sufficient padding will give u more of painful bruises than a relaxing massage on the back! Also, yoga mats are sticky, designed to prevent slipping, a hazard which is not as likely with Pilates exercises.

So, a good Pilates mat must be:

• At least a half inch thick.
  
• Firm. A mat that is too soft will not support balance and alignment properly. These mats are usually made of dense foam/ closed cell foam or rubber.
• "Non-stretch". I used to enjoy using AIREX mat, but I realise it stretches length-wise when u do weight-bearing exericses on all-fours, such as "Inverted-V" or "Leg Pull". This make it difficult to keep proper positioning of palms and feet thus causing the body to lose alignment. It can be quite annoying having to keep adjusting the palm and feet position while u do the exercises, just because they "slide" away as the mat stretches.
  

So far, personally I find that the mat available for sales at Focus Pilates Studio is quite good and is reasonably priced too. I bought a used mat for myself and a new mat for my student from there. The only down thing about this mat is that it is so firm that it leaves some pressure lines on the forehead after lying face-down for awhile (like after doing "Prone Press-up". But of course the pressure lines are just temporary :)

Drop me a note if you know where else to get good mats for Pilates. I am sure many of the readers and my students will appreciate it.

Updated on 6 Jun: Heard that Option Studio also has pilates mat for sale. let me check it out one of these days and write a review soon!! ha