Repeated impact from the rigors of Martial Arts can take their toll on the participants. Injuries and attrition often are the result. One of the best ways to ease this issue is to provide additional energy dispersion in the form of a Spring Floor below your matting.

A Spring Floor for Martial Arts is similar to those used for Cheer, Gymnastics and Aerobic activity. But they do vary in the matting used to top them off and the options for finishing them off for a sharp look. The underlying Spring Floor is structurally the same. A great place to start is studying the diagram to the right.

Most Martial Arts spring floors are composed of some combination of three separate parts - Springs (and hardware for their attachment), Plywood, and Tatami Mat (or similar vinyl covered matting.

Your choices for these will affect the price and performance of your floor. We would be happy to provide these assembled and ready for placement in your facility or as kits to be assembled by your crew.

The Springs
There is a difference in Springs generally offered. When you compare flooring systems, be sure you take note of the type of spring you will receive. The American Power Spring™ (at left) is our preference. It features a durable, oil-tempered 2" x 4" coil with plastic retainer caps (top and bottom) that assure vertical alignment. The top and bottom caps are identical. We feel that the American Power Spring's coil has a preferrable coating and the caps have a more robust retention system. It is sold with the t-nut, washer and screw for attachment. The t-nuts are applied to drilled 1/4" holes in the top of the bottom boards. With American Power Springs™, the caps, springs and hardware all ship together within a week, if you are getting another brand find out if this is how they will ship and how soon. The top caps are attached to the Plywood with a washer and screw secured into the t-nut. The Springs fit snugly in the caps that are attached to the boards. The Spring's bottom caps are put in place - these sit directly on the concrete or whatever sub-floor is present.

There is one spring per square foot. Some vendors offer floors with foam blocks instead of springs, or a combination of both. Remember that foam block will wear out (lose its height) far quicker over time under that constant weight, than springs. So, for longevity, consider springs over foam.

The Plywood
Our Spring Floors feature two layers of 9mm (3/8") plywood. These two layers are staggered so that your floor's response is uniform and the panels do not separate. The wood decking is the most important (as well as the most expensive) aspect in the performance and life expectancy of your floor. We use 9mm (3/8") Baltic Birch on both layers of our spring floors. It will provide superior strength and longevity for your floor. If you opt to go thicker, it will become less likely that the springs are engaged during activity - especially for lighter participants. If you use thinner or OSB substitutes, other issues such as breaking and warping of the boards.

You can purchase an Assembled Spring Floor, like those sold here, where the springs are already mounted on the optimal wood for spring floors. We provide our floor in boards 5' x 5' sizes, although you will generally have a variety of board sizes as your floor will likely come to you in custom sizes for your facility and have 'offset' boards provided for the tops. The 5' x 5' size is a great size to ship and handle for installation. We provide these floors with all cuts already made ready to set in place in sequence in your facility - no tools are needed. You can also order just the wood and make the cuts yourself. Below, see how a 25' x 25' floor goes down.

To Top Off Your Spring Floor
The most common matting for Martial Arts is a vinyl coated foam mat. The best of type is a Tatami Mat. We are proud to provide these mats from the leader in the industy in the US, FujiMats. They provide a Smooth or Traditional Tatami (textured) mat.

These Mats offer:

• Traditional Tatami Textured Surface or Smooth in 1", 1 1/2" or 2"
• Multi-Density Foam Core for Maximum Impact Protection
• Thermally Sealed Corners & Bottom
• Industry Best Warranty (10-Year limited warranty)
• Superb Customer Service

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