Yoga Mats

Yoga mats give you a consistent, familiar surface for poses, flowing movements and breathing exercises. A yoga mat can offer more grip, cushioning and comfort than a cold or slippery floor and helps define your own practice space. Which features matter most to you depends on your yoga style, body, experience and training environment.

At NRG Fitness, you will find yoga mats and fitness mats for home use, group classes and professional training spaces: thin and thick models, roll-up and foldable yoga mats, and versions made from TPE, PVC, foam and rubber. By comparing material, thickness, length and storage method, you can choose a yoga mat that suits the way you practise.

Why Use a Good Yoga Mat?

A yoga mat gives you a fixed place for standing, seated, lying and kneeling exercises: more grip for hands and feet, cushioning for kneeling and lying poses, and a clearly defined, easy-to-maintain surface. Compared with practising directly on a wooden, stone or tiled floor, a mat prevents parts of the body from resting on a cold, hard surface.

How much grip and cushioning you need varies by yoga style. In a calm yin class, the emphasis is often on comfort, while in vinyasa or power yoga direct contact with the floor can be more comfortable. A thick or soft yoga mat is therefore not automatically better than a thin yoga mat.

Which Yoga Mat Suits You?

Do not start with a brand or colour, but with how you will use the mat.

• Yoga style: dynamic forms require grip and stability; calm sessions and meditation benefit from a little more cushioning.
• Experience: beginners often benefit from a versatile yoga mat; advanced practitioners and yoga teachers choose more specifically based on yoga style and frequency of use.
• Body height: check whether you fit comfortably on the mat in lying poses; the range includes models measuring 173, 175 and 183 cm.
• At home or on the go: a mat that stays at home can be heavier or thicker; for a travel yoga mat or classes at another location, weight and whether it rolls or folds are more important.
• Private or professional use: in a studio or gym, wear resistance, cleaning and storage are more important than for occasional home use.

Choosing the Right Yoga Mat Thickness

The range includes thicknesses of 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1 and 1.5 cm. A thin yoga mat of 0.4 cm provides plenty of floor contact — useful for balance work and dynamic transitions, but with less cushioning when kneeling. One example is the thin PVC yoga mat measuring 173 × 60 × 0.4 cm.

A 6 mm yoga mat offers many users a middle ground between cushioning and floor contact, such as the TPE yoga mat measuring 183 × 60 × 0.6 cm. A thick yoga mat of 0.8 to 1 cm, such as the Toorx Fitness Mat Studio, provides extra comfort when the knees, hips or back remain in contact with the mat for longer periods. An extra-thick yoga mat of 1.5 cm, such as the Toorx PRO mat measuring 172 × 61 cm, provides plenty of cushioning but may feel less stable during balancing poses.

Yoga Mat Materials

The material influences grip, weight, cushioning and maintenance, among other things. The range includes TPE, PVC, foam and rubber.

• TPE is light, flexible and easy to roll up, such as the Liveness TPE yoga mat with a pattern on both sides.
• PVC creates a firm, shape-retaining mat and is also available in thin versions with plenty of floor contact.
• Foam is soft and cushioning, practical for floor exercises, and is combined with a non-slip pattern and hanging eyelets on the Toorx PRO models.
• Rubber provides a firm, relatively heavy base with a vinyl non-slip surface, as used on the Toorx Fitness Mat Studio, and is well suited to studios and gyms.

Materials such as cork, cotton or sheep's wool are currently not part of the range linked from this page. If you are specifically looking for a wool yoga mat or a cork yoga mat, first check the current product information elsewhere.

Yoga Mats for Different Yoga Styles

For hatha yoga, a medium-thickness mat often provides a practical balance between stability and comfort. In yin and restorative yoga, you stay in a pose for longer, so a little more cushioning can be comfortable — possibly supplemented with yoga blocks or a blanket. For vinyasa and power yoga, a stable, thinner mat with sufficient grip generally provides more control than a thick exercise mat. In hot yoga, the material, surface texture and maintenance play a greater role in grip because hands and feet can become damp. For prenatal yoga, comfort and stability are important; always discuss adaptations for physical complaints with a qualified teacher or healthcare provider. For meditation and breathing, sitting comfort usually matters more than maximum grip.

Grip and Non-Slip Properties

Grip helps you place your hands and feet with control, for example in downward dog and plank variations. The grip of a yoga mat is determined not only by the material, but also by moisture, dust, wear and the surface beneath the mat. The term non-slip does not mean that a yoga mat will remain completely still in every situation: place the mat on a clean, flat and dry floor and check before class that the surface is not damaged. For dynamic or warm classes, you can choose a model with a clearly defined texture, such as the patterned TPE versions.

Yoga Mat Size and Length

A yoga mat should be long enough for your head and torso to fit on the mat in lying poses. The range includes sizes from 173 to 183 cm long, with widths of around 50 to 61 cm. Foldable models are more compact, such as the foldable yoga mat measuring 175 × 50 × 0.8 cm, which folds into five sections and is well suited as a travel yoga mat. If you are looking for an extra-wide or extra-long yoga mat, such as a 200 cm yoga mat, always check the current product dimensions; this size is not automatically part of the range.

Combine Yoga Mats with Yoga Accessories

With the right accessories, you can adapt poses to your range and training goal.

• Yoga blocks bring the floor closer during standing, seated and lying poses.
• An adjustable yoga strap helps when your hands or feet cannot yet comfortably reach each other.
• Yoga props are useful for yin, restorative yoga and meditation.
• Fitness mats often provide more cushioning for general floor exercises and core training.

Scientific Information About Yoga

Research into yoga concerns the possible effects of the practice itself and does not prove that a particular yoga mat, thickness or material provides health benefits. In 2015, Luxmi Sharma published a descriptive review of yoga for athletes, which discusses flexibility, balance and concentration but does not describe an experimental design that can demonstrate causal effects. Chandra Nanthakumar included a review of yoga in children