Crash Mat Safety at Discover Happy Aerial Arts and Pilates

By Brett Hart Created: August, 2019 - Modified: October, 2023

After five years of owning a pilates studio in Decorah, Iowa, Amanda Rhine added an aerial arts program to her studio’s offerings three years ago.

Over the past two years, Discover Happy Aerial Arts and Pilates has been focusing more heavily on the aerial arts rather than aerial fitness as an outlet for creativity and a need for challenge.

While Rhine’s aerial arts program primarily focuses on youth, she does work with some adults as well. With the increased focus on aerial arts, Rhine felt the need to improve the safety precautions and equipment involved with the program.

As a member of an aerial arts and safety forum on Facebook, a lot of discussion focused on mats and her research soon brought her Greatmats.com, which offered the most budget-friendly options to meet her needs and specifications.

Knowing that a 4x6 foot crash mat with a minimum of eight inches of thickness would do the job for her, she opted for three Greatmats Safety Gymnastics Mats in those dimensions.

“We covered all our bases in case anybody was in propulsion, orbiting, and happened to fall out within a spin - within their dynamic movements,” Rhine said. “These met the best of everything.”

They also solved the problem of continually changing space requirements under her silks, hammocks, and rings. It's also made storage easier due to the convenient sizing of the crash pads.

“Being able to store this has been really easy,” she said. “That’s been an issue in other places before we moved into this gym.”

Described as “squishy” by one of her students, the aerial crash mats have lived up to expectations for providing cushion and safety for falls and landings.

Rhine and her students are doing more entertaining as the aerial arts program continues to grow at Discover Happy Aerial Arts and Pilates. And these mats are helping everyone involved breathe a little easier.

“They allow us to explore some more dynamic movement with a little bit more ease,” Rhine said. “We know that we're going to fall on something safe.”
Amanda Rhine
Discover Happy Aerial Arts and Pilates
Decorah IA 52101
Aerial Ribbon Crash Mat