Defensive Tactics Mats for Police

The short answer

What mats do police departments need for defensive tactics training?

Departments need a surface officers can be taken down on, sized to how many pairs drill at once. With a dedicated mat room, fixed foam works well. Without one, a portable inflatable mat sets up in a briefing room or wellness center and packs into a duffle bag afterwards.

Why does defensive tactics training need a mat at all?

Because the curriculum puts officers on the ground. Takedowns, ground control, weapon retention on the ground and getting back to the feet are core to defensive tactics programs and to Gracie Survival Tactics, and every one of them ends with somebody falling.

Repetition is what makes those skills hold up under stress, and nobody gets enough repetitions on a carpet or a concrete floor. A mat is what lets an instructor run the drill ten times instead of twice.

What if the agency has no mat room?

Most do not. Training happens in a briefing room, a wellness center, a gym shared with fitness classes, or a community room that has to be handed back the same day.

That is the case a portable mat is built for. An inflatable mat goes down in a few minutes with an electric pump, takes the class, and deflates into a duffle bag that fits in a closet. Nothing is fixed to the floor and nothing has to stay out.

What size mat does a defensive tactics class need?

Size follows how many pairs are working at once, not how big the room is.

• Home FlowMat 10x10, 10 ft by 10 ft: one pair drilling under an instructor.
• Pro FlowMat 10x16, 10 ft by 16 ft: the workhorse, with room for more than one pair at once.
• Arena Bundle 20x16, two Pro mats joined: one continuous floor for an academy class or an in-service group.

How do police departments buy training mats?

Usually on paper rather than a card. The common path is a written quote with line items and a validity date, a W-9 and any vendor registration the city or county uses, then a purchase order raised against the quote.

If your agency is sales tax exempt, send the exemption certificate with the quote request and the invoice goes out without sales tax. If the budget runs on a fiscal year, say when it closes or opens and the quote can be timed to it.

What will an inflatable mat not do?

Standing work feels different. A mat held firm by air pressure does not feel like dense foam underfoot, and instructors who have taught on foam for years notice it at once. Ground work, takedowns and breakfalls are what a 4 inch inflatable surface suits best, so run one pilot session with your own instructors and curriculum before committing a whole unit.

We make no impact-attenuation or surface-certification claim. These mats have not been tested to ASTM F355 or any equivalent standard. If your purchasing process needs an independently tested figure, say so early and we will tell you plainly that we cannot meet it.

FlowSpace Mats is not affiliated with or endorsed by Gracie University or any law enforcement training body.

Common questions