Olympics Athletics

When people are shopping for sparring gear, many of them tell us that they don’t think it really matters which brand of equipment they purchase, its basically the same, isn’t it?

Understanding there are so many variations and completely different styles of Martial Arts, we have decided to review sparring gear for the most popular ones that we receive questions about a regular basis. The most questions we receive about Martial Arts gear is:

Taekwondo Mixed Martial Arts Karate

1. Taekwondo As many organizations have formed in Taekwondo we will spend our testing on the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) which is the only recognized style of Taekwondo for the Olympics. When you are participating in WTF at competitions, there are rules and officially approved equipment that you must use or you cannot compete. For non Electronic equipment, the only current official sponsor that we are aware of is Adidas.

What makes up a set of sparring gear for WTF Taekwondo?

Arm Guards Hand Protectors Foot Pads Chest Protectors Helmets Shin Guards Mouth Guards Groin Protectors

These are the most well known brands: Adidas & Daedo

So far we have seen the best results between the two main manufacturers to be Adidas. Throughout our testing the Adidas seems to hold up better under all conditions. Keep in mind that our testing was not exclusive to Adults, we also tested the sparring gear sets across children and teens alike focusing on protection over price. The reason we focused on protection is that headshots are now worth 4 points in competitions so there is much more focus on keeping your head safe!

2. Mixed Martial Arts In MMA, competitors do not use sparring gear when a competition is involved rather this protective sparring gear is used when they are in striking training as opposed to grappling. These are very specific to what it is that the athlete will be training during these sessions so for this article, we will focus on an all striking training session:

What makes up a MMA sparring gear set for strike training? Generally hand, foot, shin, groin & only occasionally chest protection or chest armor is used.

MMA’s Most Popular Brands: Century, ProForce

Under the rigorous training conditions, ProForce and Century gear held up exceptionally well. Following this over the coming weeks we will report back on our findings on which one becomes the ultimate champion of MMA sparring gear.

Using the highest quality of sparring gear is critical to protect yourself, athletes sometimes overlook this when they are selecting their new gear. Keep in mind that you can’t put a price on your health, especially if you are getting ready to compete. I would rather pay more now, and not pay in injuries that could have been avoided with the right gear.

3. Karate Various forms of Karate require that in official competitions, competitors adhere to their sanctioned equipment list. Before you purchase your Karate sparring gear make sure that you know what pieces of equipment are required:

Head Gear Foot Protectors Mouth Guard Hand Protectors

Macho, Century and NKF are the most well known brands.

Since we have noticed some noticeable wearing on our Century gear, we have decided to extent out our testing with a new set as we believe this to be a defective piece of equipment, it happens. Over the coming weeks we will continue our testing and provide back our results when we have more conclusive results to report.

Safety should always overcome any price objectives that you have. Think about the consequences should you get injured in training, do you really want to risk this after all your hard work to make it to the tournament? Our recommendation is to always focus on protection, not price!

Over the coming weeks we will be working towards providing you with the pro’s and con’s of each sparring gear set to better help you in your purchasing decisions. Keep on training!