A Guide to Boxing Gloves

[fightstuff]

Colour and the pattern design of a glove is really down to personal preference. The real question should be what oz and brand should I buy?

The weight of a boxing glove is measured in ounces. The range can be between 6oz to 18oz. However people will rarely go under an 8oz gloves or over a 16oz, so for the purpose of this post we will say the range is between 8oz to 16oz. I will now provide a synopsis of why you would choose a particular oz.

8oz and 10oz Gloves: These two ounces are the weight of a glove you would use if you went in for a professional fight. However some people will use these ounces for pad and bag work as opposed to use bag gloves. The reason why is that the added weight will build strength and punching power.

12oz Gloves: Generally these gloves are used for pad and bag work. They can also be used for light free sparring. No hard head shots.

14oz and 16oz Gloves: These two ounces are generally used for free sparring. The heavier the oz of gloves relates to how much padding is in the glove. It is important that you use at least a 14oz gloves when free sparring this is not only for your protection, but also your partners.

I would always recommend buying a branded name when it comes to boxing gloves. A good pair of boxing gloves can last you years. However a copied and unknown brands can be inferrer and only last a few months. I have seen copied and unknown branded gloves with the dye coming out after one training session and the leather splitting because its made of pvc. The main brands I would recommend are Fairtex, Twins and MTG.

Finally when wearing boxing gloves you should wear hand wraps to reduce injury.

[fightstuff]

A Guide to Shin Pads

Shin pads are an integral part of any Thai Boxer or Martial artist training equipment, therefore it is important to understand which shin pads will be best suited to your needs. As with all brands from Thailand the sizing differs between them. For Example, a Twins shin pads in Large will not be the same sizing as a Fairtex Large, therefore it is important to consult a sizing chart or contact the retailer before purchasing to ensure that you get the size that fits you.

Presently shin pads fall into 4 main categories:

Cotton Foamed Filled Elasticated
Synthetic/Leather Standard
Synthetic/Leather Special Prints
Synthetic/Leather Double In-Step

The cotton foamed filled elasticated shin pads are often the cheapest and offer the least protection out of all the shin pads. However this doesn’t mean they should be automatically written off. These are the first shin pads I brought when I first started Thai Boxing and I am still using them to date (obviously not the same ones!). However I like these shin pads as they are extremely light weight and are easy to slip on and off. However they do have a tendacy of moving around your calf and often need readjusting to cover your shin again.

The Synthetic/Leather Stardard are the preferred choice and best seller in the Thai Boxing community. They offer superior protection than the cotton foamed ones and due to their velcro straps and elasticated foot straps they do not move as much. The only draw back is that they are slightly heavier than the cotton foamed ones. However Twins have compensated for this with their SGL-3 shin pad, which is very light weight and was designed with tournament usage in mind, but this doesn’t mean you can’t use it for training as well. However I guess if you start out with these pads the weight will not be an issue.

The Synthetic/Leather Special Print are exactly the same construction to a Synthetic/Leather Stardard shin pad. The only thing that differs is the colour and design on the shin pad.

Presently I am only aware of Fairtex manufacturing the Synthetic/Leather Double In-Step. This pad builds upon the synthetic / leather shin pad with respect to the way it is constructed. The main difference is the amount of padding they use in it. They use this padding to form a raised shin ridge running down the shin and instep for additional protection. These pads are also 30% lighter than the stand shin pads enabling you to deliver your kicks harder and faster. This pad could be compared with Twins SGL-3 but with more protection.

[fightstuff]

A Guide to Gum Shields

Protecting your teeth when it comes to sparring and/or professional fights is very important, as teeth are expensive to fix and the lack of dentists in the UK is becoming a real problem, therefore choosing the right gum shield is essential.

Gum shields come in different colours, shapes and qualities. The colour is really down to your personal preference. The real decision factors are the shape and quality. Gum shields fall into 3 categories: Budget, Middle Range and Custom Made.

Budget Gum Shields - offer minimum protection when it comes to sparring and should only be used for very light shots to the mouth and chin. Obviously you should be aiming not to take any shots to the head at all. However no one is perfect and you will get caught eventually.

The budget gum shield was the first gum shield I brought. It is moulded by putting the gum shield in hot water and then popping it into your mouth and biting down to mould it to the shape of your mouth. It may take several attempts to get the gum shield to fit the properly.

Middle Range Gum Shields - have built upon the traditional budget gum shields however they are several significant improvements: (1) small shock absorbers to cushion the impact to the jaw, (2) an air channel to allow breathing even when the teeth are clinched, and (3) a dental warranty to give piece of mind to the wearer. These gum shields are moulded in exactly the same way as the budget ones by using hot water and biting down on to the gum shield.

Custom Made Gum Shields - after losing my budget gum shield this was the next gum shield I went for and I still have it to this day. These gum shields are specially made by your dentist. The dentist will take a mould of your mouth and will use that to make the gum shield for you, because the gum shield is made from the mould it will be a perfect fit. The cost was £25 (10 years ago) and took approximately 2 weeks.

I would always choose a middle range or custom made gum shield. Each have their pros and cons. For Example, a middle range pad has shock absorbers and an air channel, where as a custom made gum shield would be a perfect fit to your mouth. If someone could come up with a hybrid between these two shields I think they would be onto a winner.

[fightstuff]

A Guide to Elbows

Elbow techniques are perhaps the most effective weapon of any martial artist. The reason why is that there is very little flesh surrounding the elbow, which means they are like blades when hitting an opponent causing a lot of damage. I have seen many fights stopped because of cuts caused by elbow techniques. They might not look very powerful. However when they connect they can cut or knock out very easily.

There are five main elbow techniques in Thai Boxing which are: (1) Straight Elbow, (2) Uppercut Elbow, (3) Circular Elbow, (4) Reverse Elbow, and (5) Flying Elbow. If you combine these basic elbows with footwork you will be looking at an arsenal of around 35 - 50 different elbow techniques. Also when you start to use the elbow technique try not to go head hunting all the time, as the elbow technique is very effective to the body. I have dropped people by elbowing to the solar plexus and elbowing to the back of an opponent.

The question is now, how can you safely practice elbow techniques?

Traditionally we would only practice elbow techniques on focus mitts and kicking bags. Obviously this has it cons and pros. For Example, using focus mitts will allow you to hit the pad hard and build on your accuracy to a certain degree. However I’ve always believed that pads work and free sparring should go hand in hand, because when you free spar the target reacts and you will not be 3-4 inches away from connecting with the target like you are with pads. However you can’t exactly start free sparring with elbows, because the injuries would be horrendous. However there are elbow pads on the market, which will now you to practice elbows (in a free sparring controlled environment) without killing each other.

[liquidice]

great posts

[nosebleed]

I've read that word for word on a website before - maybe someone has ripped off your work?

[thaiboxer67]

good posts, just one disagreement, gloves are for protecting your hands not the fighters head... he will still suffer brain trama if you snap that punch you just don't want to break your hand while doing it.

[Shaman Of Sexy]

I don't wear handwraps because im new and my glove is tough.
Is that acceptable?

[thaiboxer67]

yes if you enjoy broken bones and sprained writs..then it is perfectly ok

[Ghost]

I don't wear handwraps because im new and my glove is tough.
Is that acceptable?

depends how often you train, if you are training a couple of times a week or so then its probably ok to train without, i often dont wear wraps these days, only if i were training 3 days a week plus. which i dont anymore.

[Ghost]

aslo, fightstuff, nice guides

[Shaman Of Sexy]

depends how often you train, if you are training a couple of times a week or so then its probably ok to train without, i often dont wear wraps these days, only if i were training 3 days a week plus. which i dont anymore.

For me once a week.