Crane Fitness Mat

Last Updated on December 20, 2023

EDITOR’S NOTE: Updated with a 1-year progress report.

This post contains affiliate links.

As amazing as the holidays can be, there’s a chance your bathroom scale will scold you afterward. That’s why the most popular New Year’s resolution usually involves fitness.

Aldi sells many different fitness products to start the new year, from equipment to exercise surfaces. The Crane Fitness Mat (Product Code 91411) falls into the second category, serving as a place for the likes of gymnastics, aerobics, or Pilates.

The Fitness Mat is an Aldi Find, meaning it’s only in stores for a limited time. At the time of this post, it cost $19.99, which was cheaper than any other mats of this general size that I could find. [EDITOR’S NOTE: the 2021 version is $22.99, an increase of $3, but then Aldi sold the mat again for $19.99 in 2022 and in 2023. The mat is otherwise the same.]

It came in a few different colors — our resident gymnast asked for purple.

The mat measures 74.8 inches long, 31.5 inches wide, and about 0.6 inches deep. That gives you about 6.2 feet of space front to back and 2.6 feet of space side to side. Most other mats I saw online were 71 inches or so long and 24 inches wide, so the Aldi mat has a little more surface area than the average. (The Aldi mat is about the same level of thickness as other mats I’ve seen.)

The mat comes with the following:

• The mat itself
• A storage and carry strap
• An exercise chart

I don’t see any indication of a warranty or after-sales support. The mat is made in China but otherwise doesn’t say who manufactures it.

A warning about the exercise chart: it’s the inside of the paper tube the mat comes with, so if you get too excited tearing off the tube, you’ll destroy the chart. (An eager someone in our home might have started to do what you see in the picture above.) Fortunately, exercises for a mat are easy enough to come by online, but if you like the idea of using the chart that came with the mat, make sure you carefully pull it open along the seam when you first unpack it.

That’s about the only unexpected part I found. Otherwise, the mat unrolls easily, and it rolls back up easily. Like just about any mat that comes rolled up, it has a bit of a curl when you unpack it, but because it’s rolled up with the top facing out the curl is down when you place the mat on the floor and it smooths out easily.

Our resident gymnast tried it and liked it. The surface has a slight ribbing to it so it’s easy to get a grip on both carpet and hardwood, with ample thickness to keep the ground soft, and a bottom with enough tread that it seems to stay in place well.

Our tester on the mat. She’s about 5’2″, so this gives you some perspective on the size of the mat. (Click to enlarge.)

UPDATE (December 2021): You can watch our 1-year progress report video below.

The Verdict:

If you’re looking for an all-purpose mat for exercising, this is a good one at a good price. At over 6 feet long and over 2 1/2 feet wide, it’s larger than the average mats out there, and it’s soft and versatile.