STOTT PILATES MAT - REVIEW AND VALUE ADVICE
For anyone that has been and will employ these lately they will be very familiar with the name of Stott Pilates, Stott Pilates is one of the biggest manufacturers of all equipment that has to do with Pilates including the mats and even exercise DVDs. I recently had a student ask me about the Stott Pilates express Pilates mat, and whether or not it was worth the $30 that they are charging for the Stott Pilates mat on Amazon. My first instinct was to tell her that all Pilates mats are the same however after being in the industry for many years you do find that the more expensive than well-made Pilates mats such as the one made by Stott Pilates, tend to last longer buys much as three or four times.
The Stott Pilates mat comes in five different colors, there is gray, green, purple, beige, pink however all the Pilates mats are of the same thickness and are all going to last you a lot longer than the $10 ones that you buy at Wal-Mart. If you're getting into Pilates for the first time, and do not want to spend a lot of money on a Pilates mat, then you may not want to buy a Stott Pilates mat. You may want to go with just a cheap $10 mat, but be aware that you will have to replace the mat after probably three to four months of usage.
The reason that the Stott Pilates express Pilates mat is such a good Pilates mat to use is that while being thin and light weight, it provides a lot of padding. The cheaper or Pilates mats will provide the same amount of padding on their first and second usage, but the foam inside of it will start to compress and therefore not work as well after a month or two of being used for your Pilates workouts. This also depends greatly on the way that the person that is doing the Pilates uses their mat. Also I have found that heavier set Pilates exercisers, tend to go through mats a lot quicker than lighter Pilates exercisers. On the plus side if you are an overweight person wanting to get into Pilates, you will find that you will lose weight very quickly so your mats will start to last a lot longer.
Other than just the padding giving out, on a Pilates mat you also have to worry about the actual fabric getting stained. Keep in mind you will be working out while using your Stott Pilates express Pilates mat so it will get covered in sweat, and some of the cheaper Pilates mats will steam from the sweat. In my history I haven't noticed this to be a problem with any of the Stott Pilates or any of the higher-quality Pilates mat manufacturers. However some of the cheaper no-name Pilates mats that you get definitely do have this problem.
Another feature that you'll definitely want in your Pilates mat is a Velcro strip to keep the Pilates mat rolled up. This is very handy if you are going to your Pilates classes and have to roll up your mat and transported in the trunk of your car. There is nothing more aggravating than a low-quality Pilates mat that will not stay rolled up when you're trying to get to and from the gym.