Best Backbend Trainers of 2026

The cover is where a foam octagon ages first — seams give out long before the foam does. Matladin reinforces the stitching on all sides and wraps the block in a thickened PU leather that is non-slip, waterproof and crack-resistant, with a firm foam core inside. Nothing needs assembling: it comes out of the box, goes on the floor, and a kid can start walking over it.

We think it is the value pick of the guide. It is the cheapest octagon here, and it does not behave like the cheap one: the surface grips bare feet, the seams sit flat instead of puckering, and the whole block wipes down in under a minute. New foam carries a factory smell for a day or two, so stand it in a ventilated room before it moves into a bedroom.

Backbends are the stretch you cannot really do alone: your hands need somewhere to go, and a wall gives you nothing to hold. This strap solves that. The anchor drops over the top of a closed door, the strap feeds through the D-ring, and you have a pair of handles overhead to lower yourself back by. Once it is rigged, setup is a ten-second job, and it is the cheapest item in this guide.

We found it most useful for holding rather than for depth. Instead of bouncing in and out of a bridge and hoping it gets deeper, you take the strap, walk your hands down the door and stay there, letting your back open at its own pace. It is just as useful for legs: hook a foot in the loop and pull a split a little further than your hamstrings want to go on their own.

The door is the whole system. It needs to be solid, closed, and not about to be opened by somebody else — a hollow interior door flexes across the top when you load it, and a light bedroom door is the wrong place to hang your bodyweight. Rig it on the sturdiest door in the house, shut and locked, and check the top edge for give before you lean back.

Twenty inches across is small for an octagon, and here that is the point. At 7.1 pounds it is the lightest mat in this guide — light enough to lift with one hand and slide into a closet — and it sits lower than the 24-inch blocks, which is what a four- or five-year-old needs under her: enough height to make the shape, not so much that going backwards is frightening.

We like it as a first mat, not a forever mat. For a preschooler working on her first backbend it is the right height and the right weight, and it is the one a parent can move without help. The cover unzips, too, so you can pull the foam out and wash the outside properly instead of spot-cleaning it forever — which matters more than it sounds when a mat lives on a playroom floor.

Dense is the word for this one. The EPE foam in the Goplus block is firmer than the We Sell Mats mat — press a thumb in and it gives a shallow dent rather than a soft squish — and for backbends that is mostly a virtue, because the mat's job is to hold a curve under a child rather than let her sink into it. Where it works against you is landings: a bony kid coming down on it repeatedly feels every bit of that density.

The block is a 24.5-inch octagon in a waterproof artificial-leather cover that wipes down after practice, and both the seams and the foam hold their shape under a tween's weight. It arrives fully assembled, so there is no cover to wrestle onto a foam core before the first session.

For a strong 8- to 11-year-old who needs a stable platform for back walkovers and back handsprings, this earns its spot: it is the firmest and heaviest mat here, and it takes the abuse an older kid gives it. For a nervous 5-year-old it is more mat than she needs, and the smaller Matladin fits a little body better. One small mercy — it is yellow, so it does not show dusty footprints the way the pale pink mats here do.

The eight flat panels are the idea here. A round barrel rolls in one continuous curve; an octagon rolls in a series of short, controlled flips, so a kid can stop halfway instead of committing to the whole roll. The flat faces also give her somewhere to put a hand as she comes over.

At 29 inches long and 10 pounds it is the biggest footprint in this group without being a two-person job to shift. The high-density EPE foam holds its shape, the PU leather cover is waterproof and wipes clean, and the stitching is the best-finished of the covers here.

Where it gets hard to justify is the price. This is the most expensive mat in the guide, and it is up against the Goplus and the 24-inch Matladin, both of which do the same core job. The foam is dense and the shape is genuinely well thought out, but nothing about using it feels a tier above the rest of this group.

Our take: buy it if you want the roomiest surface here, have the floor for it, and like the way the flat panels control a roll. If you are buying a first mat for a 6-year-old, the extra size and cost buy you very little.

Sixty-seven inches of nylon with a wide middle section is more strap than the door-strap norm, and that is the reason to consider this one. There is enough length to loop over a door and still have slack to hold, and the wide part spreads across a foot or a shoulder instead of biting in like thin webbing. It rolls down to about the size of a towel, so it goes in a gym bag.

In practice it is a stretching tool first and a backbend aid second — which is fine, because the leg and hip work is what most people need before a backbend happens anyway. Foot in the loop, lie back, pull. The door anchor does the same job as the Xemz's, with the same requirement that the door be solid and stay shut.

Where we come down: this is a strap for an adult who wants one tool for splits, shoulders and backbends, and who will rig it carefully on a door that can take the load. It is the second-best strap here, and the gap is not in comfort — the padding and the length are the nicer end of the two. For a child practicing alone, the Xemz is the safer pick.