Ohiyo!
A common question that the Treadmill Sensei gets is about treadmill mats. I think I’ve covered this a few times now (such as in the Treadmill Maintenance guide — see link below), but with the huge amount of articles on the site now stuff sometimes information gets overlooked. I know I have problems finding articles on here from time to time myself!
Anyway, Mike just bought a treadmill and has a question about what type of mat he should get. Let’s see what he has to say. Take it away, Mike!
Good morning Sensei,
I really enjoyed your site while shopping for a treadmill. My family and I settled on a Smooth 7.1 as they were on sale this weekend. Can you please recommend a mat? Since it folds up do I need a short mat or long? The Smooth site says the treadmill has a 39″ X 73″ foot print. Does the 36″ wide mats work? Thanks for your help and for the incredible information service you provide. -Mike
Mike:
Thanks for your note. The mat isn’t needed as much for when the treadmill is folded as when it is running. You see, in addition to protecting your floor from the treadmill, one of the main benefits of the mat is to help reduce the amounts of dust and dirt that get sucked up in to your treadmill’s motor when it runs. The motor will build up a huge static charge which sucks dust in like a magnet and the mat will help reduce that quite a bit,
If you can’t find a mat that fits the foot print, you can go shorter but shouldn’t go thinner. Make sure to cover the width and front of the treadmill if you have to purchase a shorter mat.
Make sure to check out my Treadmill Maintenance Guide here on the site for some additional tips to keeping your equipment running well for a long time.
I hope that helps!
-The Treadmill Sensei
http://www.treadmillsensei.com
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