No matter if it’s something small, like kettlebells, or big, like a rowing machine, home gym equipment can cost an arm and a leg. For this reason, we were excited to find a potential way to save money on a necessary part of any home gym: non-slip floor mats. ProsourceFit’s Puzzle Exercise Mat—which is meant to be used as an impact-absorbing mat system in your home gym—promises solid results for a miniscule amount of money. Given the low cost, we were slightly concerned with how they’d perform, though. Would the pieces fit together tightly enough to maintain their shape? Could they stand up to dreaded split lunge jumps or repeated burpees? Would they be firm enough to support joints but malleable enough to reduce the shock to our feet? And would they be able to withstand the constant drops of heavy weights and bars? We picked up a set to see.
Assembly and Disassembly: A simple puzzle
The package contained six 24-inch square tiles and 12 border pieces that fit together like a puzzle. This allowed us to shape the mat to our specific needs—a handy quality, given that like most garage gyms, ours is filled with various benches, Crossfit boxes, and free weights. Assembly was a breeze. All we had to do was cut open the box and lay out the pieces in a shape that fit the surface we wanted to cover. In this case, that was the cement floor in our garage. It took 10 minutes—at most—to get the floor laid out and snapped together. Disassembly was just as simple. We usually don’t move workout mats around a ton, but there are times when we need to; for instance, if there’s an exercise we don’t have enough room to complete in the normal spot, or if we want to get to a place with more air flow. As suspected, disassembly was as simple as assembly. The mats popped right apart and we were able to easily drag them to a new spot.
Material and Texture: High-density, non-slip foam
Let me be blunt about one thing before we really dig into this review: I do not particularly like working out. I do it, mind you, but it’s because I’m getting old and it’s the healthy, adult thing to do. Given my distaste for lifting weights, I’ll do just about anything to lessen the strain on my body. And that’s why things like the ProsourceFit Puzzle Exercise Mat are so important: I need whatever I can get to make working out more pleasant. Or at least, less taxing. Luckily, ProsourceFit mats are made of half-inch-thick high-density EVA foam, which is meant to absorb the terrible impact of jumping or planking, while the textured surface—which resembles the tread of a new tire—is meant to keep you from slipping. We were pretty pleased to find that the mats were as thick as they are, as we half-expected them to be flimsier than the higher-end mats we’d previously purchased for our garage gym. Aside from giving our joints some much-needed relief, the thick foam also really helped to temper inevitable noise. With the mats in place, fallen weights barely made a sound. Our shoes didn’t squeak atop the mat, and it also didn’t make any noise as the bottom came into constant contact with our concrete floor.
Size: Tons of options
The ProsourceFit Puzzle Exercise Mat comes with six tiles and 12 end pieces which can be configured in a variety of ways to suit your specific space. The included pieces are big enough to create a 24-square-foot workout area. This is ample room for one person, but we can’t imagine two people sharing the space. That said, the set is so cheap that you can buy a few if you’re looking to cover more square footage.
Durability: Slightly shifty but still durable
The ProsourceFit mats are pretty durable, but there are a couple of issues to be aware of. The first is that with a ton of impact, the mats can shift. We were completing a particularly intense round of burpees when we started to notice that the pieces were shifting apart from each other. The moves were slight, mind you—they didn’t pull apart from each other or anything—but there were a couple of noticeable gaps by the time we were done. Had they pulled apart further, if could have been a potential tripping hazard, but that wasn’t the case this time. We also noticed the separation got worse if the mats were butted up against something. In our case, the mats were pushed up against the cement step that leads to a workshop area in our garage, and for some reason, they began to shift and buckle more than normal. When we placed the mats in the middle of the garage without anything around them, though, they didn’t shift much.
Cleaning: A quick wipe-down
The mats were super easy to clean after a workout, and this is an important purchasing factor considering that they take a pretty filthy beating from sweat and grime. While we’ve had issues with other mats absorbing sweat, the mats didn’t appear too porous. A quick spray of disinfectant and a wet rag took care of the grimy shoe prints and the sweat marks.
Price: Can’t be beat
The price of these workout mats really can’t be beat. They retail for about $20 a package and cover 24-square-feet of space. The mats are a steal given similar mats can cost a whole lot more for the same square footage.
Competition: Not much can compare
Yes4All Interlocking Exercise Mats: Yes4All’s set retails for roughly $16, and like the ProsourceFit mats, the pieces fit together in an interlocking puzzle system. They’re also non-slip, cushion your joints from impact, and mute noise. At the end of the day, you only get 12-square-feet of space, though, compared to the 24-square-feet you get with ProsourceFit. BalanceFrom Puzzle Exercise Mat with EVA Foam Interlocking Tiles: These mats are thicker than the ProsourceFit mats—three-quarters of an inch vs. half an inch—and you get the same square footage from one package. You’ll pay a premium for that extra quarter inch, though, because the BalanceFrom mats are about $28 a box, as opposed to $20 for a set of ProsourceFit mats. ProsourceFit’s puzzle mats aren’t the most high-end option for your home gym flooring, but they’re really a solid deal. The price tag is unparalleled and the performance will please most at-home atheletes.
