The 10 Best Wrestling Mats
Special Honors
Resilite Wall Padding Kit If you want to take the next step in building a safe home wrestling room, consider adding some cushioning for your walls as well. This package comes with five 16-by-59-inch panels, and the self-adhesive tape allows you to easily attach them to most common wall surfaces. It may take a few kits to fully protect your space, but they can really come in handy when a throw goes a bit harder than intended. resilite.com
Dollamur Custom Mats For those tasked with outfitting a school or gym with new equipment, you'll want to avoid buying a bunch of small, individual mats. Instead, consider these made-to-order mats that come in many shapes and sizes, and can be easily customized with your own logos or graphics. The online tool makes it very easy to upload your own images and design everything exactly how you want it, and since these are the same mats used in dozens of prestigious international competitions, you can trust that they're high-quality. dollamur.com
Editor's Notes
October 08, 2020:
This list was left fairly narrow, as we wanted to cover mats that are designed specifically for wrestling, since the smooth surface is made to work with wrestling shoes and minimize mat burn. If you were interested in a broader discussion of exercise mats, you may want to visit our list of the best exercise mats. Also, keep in mind, the recommendations on this list are for home use, so if you're looking to outfit a school's wrestling room or hosting a tournament, you will likely be better served to contact manufacturers directly to ensure you are meeting all of the safety requirements.
That said, a number of these mats meet ASTM certifications for impact, including the Resilite Jordan Burroughs Signature Series, Resilite Remnant, AK Athletics Roll-Up, Resilite LiteWeight, Resilite One Piece. If you are looking to practice full takedowns or throws, we highly recommend you select one of these mats instead of the others.
If you plan on storing your mat between uses, as opposed to leaving it rolled out on the floor, we would also advise against the Resilite Remnant or the Resilite One Piece. These are both made of rubber nitrile foam, which is about 60% more shock-absorbent than the polyethylene foam the other mats use, but it's also much heavier, making it difficult to move them between uses.
The Happybuy Home Gym and EZ Flex Home offer less protection, but with their reasonable pricing and easy storage, they can still be great for younger, lighter wrestlers. All of these mats would also be great for low-impact drills, so if you just want to get a young athlete started, they're all perfectly suitable choices. Just be sure they wear their headgear to prevent cauliflower ear.