What Cheer Mats Do Before a Hard Landing Becomes an Injury
Every tumbling pass ends the same way: an athlete meeting the floor. What's between them and that floor decides whether the landing is routine or a season-ending problem. Cheerleading mats exist to absorb that impact — practice after practice, pass after pass — so athletes can train full-out without the floor punishing every rep.
These are roll out cheer mats built from carpet bonded foam: an athletic carpet surface laminated to a shock-absorbing foam core. Sections join side by side to build exactly as much floor as the program needs — a single tumbling strip along one wall, or a full competition-size cheer floor.
And the construction scales down as readily as it scales up. The same carpet-over-foam build that covers an all-star gym comes in home practice sizes, so the surface an athlete drills on in the basement matches the one waiting at practice.
Why Carpet Bonded Foam at 1-3/8 Inch, and Why This One
The build is specific: 26 oz athletic carpet flame-laminated to cross-linked polyethylene foam at a 2.2 lb density. That density is the working number — firm enough to give tumblers a consistent, predictable surface, forgiving enough to take the shock out of landings. Cheap foam does neither for long; it packs down where athletes land most and turns dead spots into rolled ankles.
The 1-3/8 inch thickness is the reason to pick this exact mat: it's the standard used throughout the cheerleading world — the thickness athletes perform on. Training on it means practice conditions match performance conditions, so nothing about the floor changes on the day it counts. It's made in the USA. Programs that want extra cushion for high-repetition drilling can step up to our 2 inch version of the same construction.
The roll system is built for real gyms, where mats go up and down daily. One person can set up or break down a section, no flipping required before or after rolling, and each roll includes a storage strap. Order multiple sections and hook fasteners come included, joining the seams so the floor performs as one surface instead of shifting pieces.
Where It Belongs — and What It Is Not
This surface belongs anywhere athletes tumble and stunt: cheer gyms, school athletic programs, all-star facilities, rec centers, and dance and acro spaces. The smaller 3 x 6 and 5 x 10 sizes bring the same construction home — a basement or garage practice mat for an athlete putting in extra reps. It sits alongside the rest of our gym flooring as the roll-out option among permanent surfaces.
Know what it is not. This is a dead mat — the industry term for foam over a solid floor. It is not a spring floor, and it is not an inflatable air track. That's a feature, not a gap: dead-mat foam is the surface programs train and compete on when they need consistent response, and it stores in a fraction of the space.
Three Things to Check Before You Spec It
Walk through three decisions before you order.
First, confirm the competition match is what you want. This 1-3/8 inch thickness exists to mirror the standard performance surface — that's its job. If your program's priority is instead maximum cushion for drilling new skills or younger athletes, the 2 inch version of this same mat trades exact surface match for extra shock absorption; pick deliberately, not by default.
Second, size to the program. A single 6 x 42 section makes a tumbling strip. Nine sections build the full 42 x 54 competition cheer floor. Home athletes are covered at 3 x 6 and 5 x 10 — and custom sizes fill whatever your space demands, so an odd practice room doesn't force a compromise.
Third, plan the calendar. Home-size mats typically ship in about two weeks by ground carrier; full-size sections and custom floors travel by freight and are quoted at order. If the floor needs to be down for a season opener or a scheduled competition, count backward from that date and order early — a floor that arrives after the first practice helps no one.
Why Mats Inc.
Mats Inc. has covered floors since 1964, and athletic flooring is where getting it right matters most — the consequence of a wrong spec here isn't a worn corner, it's a hurt athlete. We'll help you land the layout, colors, and logo before anything goes into production, and every mat is backed by our 1-year limited warranty.
| Construction | 26 oz carpet flame-laminated to cross-linked polyethylene foam |
| Foam density | 2.2 lb |
| Thickness | 1-3/8 inch — industry-standard cheer thickness |
| Standard section | 6 ft x 42 ft |
| Full competition floor | 42 ft x 54 ft (nine sections) |
| Home / practice sizes | 3 ft x 6 ft and 5 ft x 10 ft |
| Section weight | About 107 lbs (6 x 42 section) |
| Rolled size | 32 inch diameter x 72 inches tall |
| Colors | Blue, red, black, purple, teal, light blue, and gray tones; white for inlaid logos only |
| Customization | Custom sizes; inlaid carpet logos from vector artwork (max logo width 60 inches) |
| Included | Storage strap per roll; hook fasteners with multiple sections |
| Typical lead time | About 2 weeks for home sizes; full-size and custom floors quoted at order |
| Origin | Made in the USA |
| Warranty | 1-year limited (Mats Inc.) |
Frequently Asked Questions
What's actually inside a carpet bonded foam cheer mat?
Answered by Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO
Two layers doing two jobs. The top is 26 oz athletic carpet — the traction surface athletes plant, pivot, and land on. Beneath it, flame-laminated so the layers can't peel apart, is cross-linked polyethylene foam at a 2.2 lb density. Cross-linked foam holds its structure under repeated impact, which is why the mat feels the same on the thousandth landing as it did on the first instead of packing down where tumbling passes end.
Why is 1-3/8 inch the thickness most programs choose?
Answered by Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO
Because it's the thickness the sport performs on. Cheerleading runs on a consistent surface standard, and 1-3/8 inch carpet bonded foam is it — so training at this thickness means an athlete's timing, rebound, and landings transfer directly to performance day. A floor that feels different in practice than in competition makes athletes re-learn their skills at the worst possible moment.
How heavy are the sections, and what does daily setup look like?
Answered by Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO
A standard 6 x 42 section weighs about 107 pounds, but the roll system is designed so one person can handle setup and breakdown. The mat rolls in either direction with no flipping required, and each roll comes with a hook-and-loop storage strap. Rolled up, a section stands 72 inches tall at a 32 inch diameter — compact enough to stage along a gym wall between practices, and the mats can be cut down with a utility knife if a room demands it.
What sizes are available?
Answered by Jinna Hopson, VP of Marketing
The standard cheer section is 6 x 42 feet, and nine sections joined together make the full 42 x 54 competition cheer floor. For home athletes there are 3 x 6 and 5 x 10 practice mats in the same construction. If none of those match your space, custom sizing is available — tell us the room and we'll spec the floor to it, whether that's a narrow tumbling strip or a full training floor with a logo at center.
Can we get our team colors and logo on the mat?
Answered by Jinna Hopson, VP of Marketing
Yes — this is one of the places a mat becomes yours. The carpet comes in a palette that covers most team schemes: blue, red, black, purple, teal, light blue, and gray tones. Logos are done as inlaid carpet, cut into the mat surface itself rather than printed on top, up to 60 inches wide. Artwork needs to be in vector format (.ai, .eps, or .pdf); if you only have a regular image, vector artwork can be produced for you.
Are these practical for home use?
Answered by Jinna Hopson, VP of Marketing
Genuinely, yes — the 3 x 6 and 5 x 10 sizes exist for exactly that. They're the same carpet bonded foam construction as the full gym sections, sized for a basement, garage, or playroom where an athlete drills between practices. They ship by ground carrier rather than freight, typically in about two weeks, and they roll up for storage when the space has to go back to being a garage. Skills stay sharper when the practice surface at home matches the one at the gym.
By Dustin Thompson, Owner & CEO, Mats Inc.
