Thread: Class on a floor covered by judo mats

Dear Fellow Instructors
I moved to a new are and am trying to get new classes started. I found a studio with a great location, size, nice owner, parking... but it is a martial arts studio and the whole floor is covered by a thick judo mat. I juust tried it for a few minutes, because they had a class going on while I visited.
Does anybody have experience or can help me brainstorm pros and cons.
I asked how the floor worked for pivoting and the instructor told me that they do quite a lot of pivoting for their movements...
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!!!
Thank you, shukran,
Seyyide Sultan, Boston area
SEYYIDE Belly Dance Artist in Greater Boston area- Welcome
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I taught it a studio the last two semesters with mats. One plus is that it is easier on the joints - esp when I taught saiidi. It also give you and excuse to do floor work :) However, I found that my feet "stuck" to it more than I liked and my students agreed. We wore ballet slippers or socks for that reason. If the floor is a series of interlocking mats, you also want to check them each week so you and your students can avoid any gaps. I was always afraid someone would get their toe caught and hurt themselves. It isn't an ideal floor, but you can definitely make it work.

Dear Bella
Your reply is so helpful, thank you very much.
Yes, I thought that this would definitely absorb a lot of impact making it easier on the knees. There aren't too many joints, I believe. I'll advice everyone to bring socks and try with or without.
May I ask what level your class was (beginners, intermediate, etc) and what your style is?
Thank you again!
Seyyide
SEYYIDE Belly Dance Artist in Greater Boston area- Welcome
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My boyfriend is a karate teacher, so I get to go and bop around in the studio sometimes. His studio flooring is one giant blue mat, they put down additional mats for any rolling or tumbling they might do in class.
I find the floor very pleasant to work on, it's good to pivot on and generally very cushy. I like it better than some wood floors I've worked on. (And they have GIANT MIRRORS!)
My only con and this will vary from studio to studio, is that you'll need to make sure the floor is swept and cleaned. Otherwise you can end up with some unpleasant martial arts remnants stuck to your feet.

Dear Mahsima
Thank you very much for the info and your experience!
This floor seemed to be very clean when I visited today, so I'm hoping that won't be a problem.
Thanks again!
Seyyide

SEYYIDE Belly Dance Artist in Greater Boston area- Welcome

I taught in a judo room at a community college last year. I HATED it.

First, the one I was in had no mirrors. I can teach without mirrors, but over the years I've definitely decided that the vast majority of students learn much more quickly and develop better technique when they have visual feedback on their movements.

Second, the mats on the floor (and the ones on the walls) absorbed a LOT of sound. It was *very* difficult to find a balance that allowed the students to hear both the music and my verbal cuing. Everything seemed muffled and fuzzy,

But the worst, for me, was that the mats absorb a lot of *movement*. So, for instance, you're trying to shimmy but a certain amount of your muscular effort is being absorbed into the floor. Shimmying in particular was exhausting. Layering was very very difficult. (choo chooing may have been impossible, I never tried!)

Luckily it was only a beginner class, so we weren't trying to do a lot of layering or complex footwork.

I did finish the semester there, and a couple of those students have migrated over to my studio (where they tell me they're much happier). So I have to say it *can* be done, since I did it! But it was unnecessarily hard on me and my students, and not the best learning environment for them.

I haven't taught on a floor with a mat, but I can imagine as Lauren says that it would be difficult...floorwork is probably much easier, however, and I personally ache from wood floors. I like the sprung floors at the dance studio where I used to teach.

That said, regardless of floor type, I wanted to agree with bella and give my 100% approval and conversion to wearing ballet slippers if possible. Everything is so much more fluid, plus your feet don't get as dirty. ..g.:

depending on how squishy you could advertise that it's like paying for a bellydance class and getting a pair of those "shape up" shoes for free! ^_~

Originally Posted by raqFariha

depending on how squishy you could advertise that it's like paying for a bellydance class and getting a pair of those "shape up" shoes for free! ^_~

..l;,..l;,..l;,

Wow! I got so many insightful responses. Thank you very much to all of you for sharing.
Responding to everyone quickly:
1) The studio HAS mirrors, very nice and covering the whole width of the studio. That was a plus.
2) The studio has a sound system with speakers hanging from the ceiling, the owner tried it for me and the sound was loud and clear. The only problem is that you need to manage the music from the back of the room, so there will be a lot of walking for me every time I need to change the music (the mirrors are in the opposite wall and the studio is pretty big). But I've done that before.
3) I actually thought about thoss shapeup shoes and laughed myself about telling that to the students at the begining of the class LOL
4) Yes, I am only having a beginners class there because of this reason. I felt that this would absorb much of the movement and wouldn't plan on having a lot of layered shimmies in this situation. It's bad because that day/time was working for a lot of my more advanced students and I'm not offering the right class for them, but I need to offer them the right conditions for more challenging work.
Thanks to all of you.
You are wonderful for sharing valuable information... and giggles :-)

Seyyide
SEYYIDE Belly Dance Artist in Greater Boston area- Welcome

i taught workshops on judo mats. i found it really really hard and unpleasant. at a festival in cape town i taught at i had a traveling steps workshops on judo mats. luckily most of the students took their weekly classes their and were used to it;
i taught a 3/4 shimmy workshop and a veil workshop too and those were alright. but the traveling steps one was a nightmare to me.

i've taught beginners classes on them too, and didnt like it then either

personally, for classes i organise myself, it would really need to be an absolute last resort nothing else available before i would regularly teach on them

Our troupe once evaluated a judo studio with that kind of floor for a practice space rental, and we all agreed we didn't like the floor. It was too hard on on our knees for traveling moves and turns.

Taught on mats for awhile and hated it. The mats made it very difficult for students to hold proper center and balance plus travel. You wouldnt think that mats would have such a negative effect on knees but I found that people's feet didnt have as much "slip" to them and beginners especially would tweak their knees because their feet were wrong or just too much into the mats. I don't like Marley floors for the same reasons.

Originally Posted by patrisha

Taught on mats for awhile and hated it. The mats made it very difficult for students to hold proper center and balance plus travel. You wouldnt think that mats would have such a negative effect on knees but I found that people's feet didnt have as much "slip" to them and beginners especially would tweak their knees because their feet were wrong or just too much into the mats. I don't like Marley floors for the same reasons.

I feel the same my teacher taught out of a taekwando studio and for me it was un even and I hated going on releve because my poor arches and my anckles would hurt..

the pros where more floor work.but that was about it..

On the upside you can practice floorwork 'til the cows come home!
:-D

Reporting back after my first class at this judo studio!
I actually had NO trouble or akward feelings while teaching the entire 90 minute beginner class! Phew!
I did try the floor earlier, before the students arrived. Shimmying and translating steps were NO problem. Movements requiring pivoting were not a problem either, with the exception of arabesques.. perhaps a but harder to pivot to go side to side with those Egyptian arabesques, but possible.
The only trouble that I found was when I tried to do fast chained turns across the floor or in a circle. Yes, my little toe got caught in one the junctions between the mat pieces. I think that this could be very easily avoided by wearing socks or slippers - I was dancing barefoot.
Overall, I left with the impression that this place will work very well for my beginner classes, and I;[m even tempted to organize advanced beginner classes here too... Let's try it with the beginner level for a couple of more classes...
Thank you everybody again for your helpful inputs!

I used to teach at a studio with judo mats. I didn't have much difficulties with it, only turning was a little harder.

I actually liked the mats under my feet :-)
The only thing I hated was that our class was right after a judo class and oh my god the smell of sweaty men and their feet was HORRIBLE lol

hey luna, ik heb in hasselt es les gegeven op judomatten? waar jij?

In de sporthal van Zutendaal :-) Chadia geeft daar nog steeds les trouwens...
Mijn zomercursus zal trouwens ook op judomatten zijn want die gaat door in het judolokaal van Tennisdel Genk, de danszaal was niet vrij. Maar tis lekker groot, veeeeeeel spiegels en gelukkig geen zweetvoetengeur lol