Floor exercises — burpees, bear crawls, mountain climbers, push-ups, yoga flows — are some of the most effective movements in any training program. They're also the movements where most athletes are completely unprotected. Here's the gear that actually matters for floor-based training.
The Most Important Piece of Gear: Knee Protection
Every floor exercise that involves your knee contacting the ground creates direct impact on the patellar cartilage. Standard compression leggings provide zero meaningful protection against this. The fabric compresses completely under impact force.
The most important piece of gear for floor exercises is a pad over the kneecap. Our leggings with removable knee pads and training pants with removable knee pads are built specifically for this. The foam pad absorbs floor impact before it reaches the cartilage. Remove it in 3 seconds when you don't need it.
For Athletes Who Also Lift
If your floor exercise sessions include heavy squats or deadlifts, our knee sleeves with removable pads give you compression support for lifting and impact protection for floor work in one garment.
Other Gear Worth Having
A quality mat. For yoga and pilates floor work, a 6mm+ mat provides additional cushioning for kneeling poses. Combined with knee pad leggings, this gives you maximum protection during sustained kneeling.
Wrist wraps. Push-up and plank variations put significant load on the wrists. Wrist wraps reduce this stress during high-volume floor work.
Grip socks. For yoga and pilates, grip socks prevent slipping during floor transitions and improve stability in standing poses.
What You Don't Need
You don't need strap-on knee pads for athletic floor training. They shift during dynamic movement and are impractical for burpees and bear crawls. You don't need specialized "floor exercise shoes" — most floor exercises are better performed barefoot or in minimal footwear. You don't need a thick foam roller before every session — a targeted 5-minute warm-up is more effective.
→ Shop Leggings With Removable Knee Pads
→ Shop All Floor Training Knee Protection