Exercise mats are a tool we use to workout safer and more comfortably.
With their layers of padding, they keep our joints in our body safer by reducing the impact of our exercises, and make it much more comfortable to stretch and do activities like yoga.
In yoga, you hold a lot of poses while on your knees and arms and even your head.
Some of these are brutally uncomfortable when you attempt them without a yoga mat, so it's important to pay attention to this often overlooked piece of equipment for your workout and pick up one for yourself for when you go to yoga class or decide to exercise or do some stretching or yoga on your own at home.
A yoga mat is an invaluable tool in every exerciser's gym bag.
Exercise mats aren't just for yoga though: there's pilates, stretching, aerobics exercises, gymnastics, weight lifting, and many more.
Each of these tend to have their own corresponding exercise mats that work best with the type of exercise they involve.
A pilates mat tends to be quite a bit thicker than a yoga mat, whereas a simple stretching mat will usually be a bit thinner.
The thicker gymnastics mats can be upwards of 2 inches thick, sometimes even more, providing the athlete with increased safety and support cushioning for executing and practicing the complex and otherwise risky movements involved in the sport.
Lifting weights is often done best on thicker, harder mats, protecting the floor from damage and giving you the much needed flex between you and the ground that makes the weight exercises much easier on your joints by reducing the force impulse acting upon them when doing reps.
Exercise mats are often overlooked because they're "just a mat", but you'll find working out with them much more enjoyable due to the increased physical comfort and the fact that they provide excellent traction so your feet don't slide and, also to that end, some of them even absorb sweat that drips off your body so you don't slip on the mat.
So if you're getting into a new exercise activity, make the highly valuable and relatively inexpensive investment in an exercise mat; your body will thank you for it.