Gear Review: Retrospec Yoga Mats

These reasonably priced, grippy yoga mats are available quite a lot of thicknesses.

I nonetheless bear in mind the primary time I attempted yoga. Just a few cute women in my sophomore highschool class had began a “yoga membership” after college, and a buddy and I assumed that becoming a member of up can be a surefire technique to get into their good graces.

An hour of sweat, gritted enamel, sore muscle mass later, I threw within the towel. Yoga was laborious, I discovered. It additionally was considerably painful, as a result of whereas all the ladies had yoga mats, my buddy and I have been doing “yoga” (or our greatest imitation of it) on the laborious tile flooring of the varsity hallway.

Quick-forward fifteen years.

I am on the cusp of thirty, and yoga has turn out to be a key a part of my morning routine. The distinction between a day once I’ve carried out 10 to twenty minutes of sunshine stretching within the morning and a day once I have not is fairly important. I’ve additionally discovered that yoga’s much more enjoyable when you might have a little bit of cushion between you and the ground. Enter the common-or-garden yoga mat.

Yoga mats aren’t simply good for yoga, both. My mats are a number of the most versatile and helpful items of “gear” in my closet. They’re good for just about any flooring train, from push-ups to sit-ups, planks, mountain climbers, burpees, bicycle kicks… the record goes on. They’re additionally useful for savasana (mendacity down) meditation, and a thick(ish) yoga mat may even function a reasonably respectable mattress for tenting. I typically use yoga mats to arrange climbing gear earlier than a visit, and greater than as soon as have slept at the back of my Subaru with a thicker yoga mat as a sleeping pad.

Yoga mats, after all, are available quite a lot of thicknesses and supplies. Thinner mats supply extra stability and a extra “grounded” really feel that’s usually most well-liked by critical practitioners (they usually’re additionally simpler to hold round city), whereas thicker mats supply extra cushion and alleviate strain on the joints, perfect for inexperienced persons, aged practitioners, the arthritic, and so forth.

The mat I obtained to check on this overview was the retrospec Solana, their thickest (1-inch) mat. Priced at a really affordable $39.99, this mat is accessible in a dozen completely different colours, and is comprised of comfortable NBR foam. However retrospec’s lineup of yoga mats is a flexible, reasonably priced unfold. In addition they have a thinner Solana (0.5″), comprised of the identical NBR foam, a 6mm mat, the Pismo, and a 5mm mat, the Laguna, which mixes a polyurethane higher layer with a rubber backside for grip.

Yoga mats are a reasonably simple piece of substances. By that I imply that until the producer does one thing severely heinous—like infuse their yoga mats with poison ivy or asbestos–what you see is what you get.

A yoga mat does not must reinvent the wheel, it simply must be secure, grippy, sturdy, and (relying in your choice) supply some degree of portability and luxury.

With that in thoughts, I am very proud of my Solana. It ticks all of the bins. These yoga mats supply strong no-slip assist, are simple to wipe clear on the finish of a session, include a carry strap to retailer and transport, and better of all, are very reasonably priced. The Pismo and the half-inch Solana are simply $25, and all retrospec’s yoga mats are beneath $50.

That is the kicker right here, for me. That worth level is similar to what you’d pay for a knock-off yoga mat at Walmart or Goal, however the high quality here’s a noticeable step up. I have never seen any of the scuffing and ripping on my retrospec mat that I sometimes see on $20-$30 yoga mats. It is held up very nicely even after a number of months of normal use.

Shop Yoga Mats Now