A New Exercise Mat!

The only yoga mat I've ever owned is from Nike, and it's 15-years-old. It's a bit worn. It's seen me through many workout sessions and weathered them well. Thought I would re-purpose it for the dog or put it in the car for outdoor use, and get a new one for myself.

The friends were telling me get one from Gaiam, Liforme or Manduka because these brands do really good mats. A check with Manduka indicated that stocks won't arrive so soon. Since I'm not actually using it for yoga, I don't need to go into an excruciating analysis of a mat's grip strength, sweat-absorption power or aid markings. The mat shouldn't have any sort of markings because I find that mildly irritating. The mat should be practical in terms of cushioning knees and palms. That's all it needs to do.

In the end, I picked a new one from Lululemon. Hahaha. I've got a discount anyway, courtesy of a Strava + Lululemon tie-up if one completed a challenge. It shipped out from Hong Kong and arrived really fast, like in three days. I was most impressed. However, when I unwrapped it, I was a little horrified. I blinked at the color. It wasn't the misty grey I had expected! Had to google its color and description. The description on the site stated 'Iced Iris/Island Mist/Iced Iris'. It looked like light purple to me! Had to look at the color range of 'iris'. When I looked at Pantone's 'Iris', I sighed. What I got isn't even close to Pantone's 'Gull' or 'Gray Violet'. Okay. So it is light purple and not grey. My eyes had picked out 'Island Mist' and added to the mat to the cart. Fine, I'll live. 😒

The quality of Lululemon's 3mm mat is decent! Well, I'm not the best judge of yoga mats since I don't use it for any sort of yoga practice. I'm happy with what I have. Took it out for a first spin at pilates. Holding static poses on the 3mm-thickness works very well. I don't perspire that much even if I stretch out on the patio without air-conditioning. Whatever patches of sweat stains seem to dry out quick. The color didn't irritate me as much as I thought it would.