Mattress for athletes

Hey everyone,

I’m an athlete, primarily a weightlifter, and I also work a desk job. I bought a poor mattress at a Jordan’s furniture in the area (New England) and am suffering from stomach/back pain when I wake up. I already sink in a good inch or 2 by the time I wake up.

I thought the issue might have been the platform bed frame I was using which was lacking as well, I’ve since upgraded to a tatamiroom Yamaguchi platform which solved the lack of stiffness at first but now the mattress is sinking again. It’s clear that I got burned and I’m past the time that I can do anything about it, so this mattress will be on Craigslist once I find a proper replacement so I can at least recoup some of the loss.

The mattresses I’m looking at now are as follows:

Brooklyn Bedding - Firm option

  • I like that I can specify that I want this mattress to be firm and I like the 4" of latex on top. $750

BEAR Mattress

  • I think this will be more firm than the CASPER and here is why: the Casper has a 7" 1.8lbs polyfoam layer while the BEAR has a 5.5" 1.8lbs polyfoam layer. Same weight yet more compressed leads me to believe it is more dense and therefore more firm. I also like the Celliant cover. $850

Essentia - Grateful Bed

  • Essentia markets themselves as “the Athlete’s bed” which you can discover just by googling “athlete mattress.” I know their claims of natural are suspect, but in my case I don’t need natural I need firmness. This bed has a high firmness level and is the only option from this company I’d consider since it’s also the cheapest at $1.8k.

People in my sport often prefer to sleep on the floor for proper firmness and to stimulate recovery after hard workouts. Many of them are on Caspers currently, but the BEAR is a new entry and I think it might be more firm than the Casper and less prone to sinking under the weight of heavy people.

Any thoughts on these choices? For someone who is more comfortable on the floor than on their bed, should I eliminate any of these options or am I just down to preference now?

I’ve coached and advised many elite athlete, and I can share a few general observations.

High-level athletes generally train their core very stressfully, and I found (including my own personal experiences) that they responded best to something using a very strong support core and avoiding items that were overly plush in the comfort layers. Obviously there are personal variations but I found that with the added stress to the core that my athletes needed the stronger support to have a lower potential for low back issues with their already fatigued core muscles during sleep (dovetailing with sleep ergonomic research). I’ve had very good response with mattresses using strong innerspring units containing high-resiliency polyurethane foams, and then using latex toppers for added softness, if needed.

Again, these are general statements and we need to take into consideration an individual’s specific health concerns, level of fitness, state of training, size and somatotype.

Hopefully that information is helpful.

Hi baconneggs,

I’m assuming that you’ve read the mattress shopping tutorial here but two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists (based on all the parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you).

I would keep in mind that the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial)or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

I or some of the more knowledgeable members of the site (such as Jeff) can certainly help you to narrow down your options, help you focus on better quality/value choices that are available to you either locally or online, help you identify any lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you may be considering, act as a fact check, answer many of the specific questions you may have along the way that don’t involve what you will “feel” on a mattress, and help with “how” to choose but only you can decide which specific mattress, manufacturer, or combination of materials is “best for you” regardless of whether anyone else has the same criteria or would make the same choice.

There are also no “standard” definitions or consensus of opinions for firmness ratings and different manufacturers can rate their mattresses very differently than others so a mattress that one manufacturer rates as being a specific firmness could be rated very differently by another manufacturer. Different people can also have very different perceptions of firmness and softness compared to others as well and a mattress that feels firm for one person can feel like “medium” for someone else or even “soft” for someone else (or vice versa) depending on their body type, sleeping style, physiology, their frame of reference based on what they are used to, and their individual sensitivity and perceptions. There are also different types of firmness and softness that different people may be sensitive to that can affect how they “rate” a mattress as well (see post #15 here) so different people can also have very different opinions on how two mattresses compare in terms of firmness as well and some people may rate one mattress as being firmer than another and someone else may rate them the other way around. This is all relative and very subjective and is as much an art as a science.

When you can’t test a mattress in person then the most reliable source of guidance is always a more detailed phone conversation with a knowledgeable and experienced retailer or manufacturer that has your best interests at heart and who can help “talk you through” the specifics of their mattresses and the properties and “feel” of the materials they are using (fast or slow response, resilience, firmness etc) and the options they have available that may be the best “match” for you based on the information you provide them, any local testing you have done or mattresses you have slept on and liked or other mattresses you are considering that they are familiar with, and the “averages” of other customers that are similar to you. They will know more about “matching” their specific mattress designs to different body types, sleeping positions, and preferences (or to other mattresses that they are familiar with) than anyone else.

While I can’t speak to how a mattress will feel for someone else … I can certainly make some comments about the quality or durability of the materials inside it.

I would keep in mind that the density of polyfoam or memory foam is related to the durability of the material but has very little to nothing to do with firmness and any density of polyfoam can be made in a wide range of firmness levels. Foam density is measured as pounds per cubic foot of material so the 1.8 lb density isn’t the weight of the entire layer … only one cubic foot of the material. The upper layers of the mattress will also have more effect on how firm the mattress “feels” than the deeper layers.

There is more information about the Bear Mattress and the Brooklyn Bedding BestMattressEver in post #2 here in the the simplified mattress topic.

The firm BestMattressEver would be firmer than the Bear Mattress which is closer to a medium firmness range.

You can read some comments about Essentia and some of the misleading claims they make and some forum discussions with them (as well as some of the FTC issues they have had about their claims) in this thread and this thread and posts #3 and #4 here). I certainly wouldn’t treat the information on their website as a reliable source of “fact based” information. I would also make some very careful “value” comparisons before purchasing any Essentia mattress because they tend to be in a much higher budget range than other mattresses that use similar quality materials as well.

Phoenix

I’m an active runner and recently purchased a Bear Mattress. My wife and I both love it. I’m a bigger guy and the support and comfort it provides us is perfect. I’ve only had it for a few weeks, but already like it 10x better than my old tempurpedic. My tempur slept very hot, and I’d continually wake up with a sore back. Bear sleeps cool (which is incredible coming off a tempur), but more importantly, I actually wake up feeling great. No sore back, re-energerized, etc. The fact that bear has Celliant is awesome and I noticed a difference after night 1.

I rarely ever post reviews about products, but I’m a huge fan of Bear. I def. would recommend based on what you were looking for.