Throughout your training of Muay Thai, you’re going to end up acquiring a lot of equipment. You’ll constantly change between what you need and what’s right for the situation you’re training for. There are literally hundreds of brands and styles to choose from, so getting the right equipment for you can be a bit of a minefield. You want to get the right equipment before your wardrobe turns into an equipment warehouse, so here we’ll highlight some key features to look for before purchasing your next set of gloves or shin pads.

Gloves

When you’re starting out, you’ll need a pair of basic gloves to protect your hands when working an opponent or just a hanging bag. To be perfectly honest, you can get away with a standard pair of boxing gloves. You don’t want to splash out on anything expensive just because you don’t know if Muay Thai is going to be for you, as it’s not for everyone. As you start to get in to it, and begin to improve, you can invest in a solid pair of Muay Thai gloves. The difference being that Muay Thai gloves offer protection for both wrists as well as the hands, where as boxing gloves only cover the hands.

Once you’ve found a design you like, appearance is half the battle after all, its about finding the right weight. The weight of your gloves can be directly related to your weight category in terms of competition. Your glove weights range from 8 to 20 oz.

8 oz & 10 oz – Light and Agile for Competitive Boxers

12 oz – Gloves for women or people with small hands for Muay Thai Training

14 oz & 16 oz – Your average sized gloves for your average sized trainee

18 oz & 20 oz – Larger weight classes training gloves.

The weight of your glove is important as it will have some influence on the speed and power of your strikes. The majority of the UFC pros use 8 to 10 ounce gloves to stay agile and nimble in the fight. As we aren’t pros though, there’s a little more scope for choice.

The most desirable characteristic we are after is comfort. You’re going to be spending thousands of hours in these gloves so they need to fit snugly, to prevent your hands moving in the glove and causing injury. Eventually, you will beat the gloves into shape, so you can take a glove that feels a little too tight as in time it will become perfectly fitting for you. Don’t forget to try the gloves on over your hand wraps as that is going to add size.

Shin Pads

Shin pads come in a variety of types, defined by the amount of protection that they offer. The types are Cotton Foamed, Synthetic/Leather, Synthetic/leather special prints, Synthetic/Leather Double In-Step. The cotton foamed pads are usually the cheapest so may be the best choice if you are starting out, however they do offer the least protection. They do offer some advantages of being lightweight and easy to slip on or off, but often slip around when they are in use.

The most commonly used are the Synthetic Leather standard options. They are the best seller and there are reasons for that. They slip around much less than the cotton foamed pads. These are however designed for tournament usage so may not be the best ideal for your regular training.

The other types vary in design but offer much of the same protection, other than the double in-step pads. They offer a little more protection and as well as that they are around 30% lighter letting you train harder and faster.

Where it can be a tough choice to make, as long as you chose the right pad for your needs you can’t go too far wrong. Give the equipment time though, as they will mold to your body and become more comfortable as time goes on.

Arashi Do not only offers a good variety of training gear but Awesome classes too.

Come down to Arashi Do Edmonton and try out one of our great Brazilian programs like Fundamental BJJ, Women’s Only BJJ or Children’s BJJ for ages 4-7 and 8-14.

All those and you get a 30 DAY FREE TRIAL!