I’ve trained on a lot of different types of mat in my day: wrestling mats, foam core mats, puzzle mats, and rock hard old school Judo straw tatami, just to name a few.

And I’ve also rolled around on a lot of non-matted surfaces including concrete, wood and carpet.

(Of all those surfaces, carpet is the WORST by far!!  The carpet burns you can get on your head, back and elbows are unbelievable, take forever to heal, and give your friends an infinite amount of snigger-material if they tend to reach dirty-minded conclusions anyway…)

Here’s how to make a mat in 3 steps for less than $20 broken down for you in a 62 second video…

If you do BJJ or submission grappling it’s very convenient to have a mat handy so you can squeeze in some drilling or a sparring session even when the place you normally train at is closed.

That’s why I’m sharing something that has worked really well for mel.  It’s a perfectly serviceable grappling mat, but is also cheap, super portable, and a lot of fun!

First, get a large tarp and some tent pegs that you can get at any hardware or … Continue reading The Cheapest Grappling Mat