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Mouthpiece
Mouthpiece
A mouthpiece is the very first piece of equipment you should get. It not only protects your teeth but your jaw as well. A basic mouth guard is available for purchase at the dojo. More protective mouthpieces are available at the websites listed below.
For first time mouth piece wearers, mouth guards are uncomfortable. They may make you gag and it might make breathing difficult. Wearing your mouthpiece around the house will help you get used to having something in your mouth. If it’s causing you to gag, a solution might be before molding your mouth piece for the first time, trim the mouthpiece shorter using scissors to keep it from hitting the back of your mouth. As you're molding, the sharp edges where you cut should soften. Brands such as SISU (sisuguard.com) offer thinner mouth pieces. Thinner mouthpieces offer less protection than standard mouthpieces but something is better than nothing.
If you have braces, there are special mouth guards specifically designed to accommodate them. Shock doctor (ShockDoctor.com) has a whole selection of braces fit mouth guards. Or a quick amazon search will also bring up a large selection for you.
Gloves
Gloves
Boxing Gloves or Muay Thai Gloves should be your 2nd piece of equipment you buy. To a beginner, these are totally interchangeable. As you grow, you may want to invest in both styles of gloves. We usually have gloves available to purchase at the dojo but there are many brands, prices, and styles if you want to buy elsewhere. A few things to pay attention to when buying gloves:
Size: For kids, under 100lbs, 8-14oz gloves are okay depending on their size. For teens and adults, 16oz gloves are required.
Style: As you’re browsing gloves you may also notice words such as bag gloves, hybrid gloves, sparring gloves, etc. in the description. This refers to where the padding in the glove is located. Sparring gloves are what you want as this provides the most padding on the knuckles to keep our partners and team mates safe. You will also see lace up gloves and Velcro gloves, for your training Velcro is recommended as they are much easier to put on and take off by yourself.
Prices: as with most things, the more you spend the better the quality. Cheaper gloves will be made from plastics which in time will crack, when this happens, it’s time for new gloves as the worn out gloves can cut our sparring partners unintentionally. All gloves in time will wear out, some just take less time than others.
Boxing gloves vs Muay Thai Gloves: There are 2 main differences between the 2 gloves. 1st is the padding distribution. Boxing gloves have most of the padding on the knuckles whereas Muay Thai gloves have an even distribution of padding around the entire hand. Most Muay Thai gloves will be padded on the knuckles and the back of the hand. The back of the hand padding is to protect your hands while blocking kicks. Some premium Muay Thai gloves will include padding on the sides of your hands for defense against elbows and even the palms to protect against some kicks as well. MMA Gloves: 7oz sparring gloves minimum, open finger bag gloves are different from MMA sparring gloves please get the correct equipment. For more info this is a great article comparing the types of gloves: https://lawofthefist.com/comprehensive-guide-to-boxing-vs-muay-thai-vs-kickboxing-gloves/
Shin Guards
Shin Guards
Shin Guards and Gloves should be purchased at the same time if you are planning on joining the Muay Thai program. If you’re only here for boxing, shin guards are not required. We usually have shin guards available for purchase at the dojo but just like gloves there are lots of styles and brands to choose from to fit your budget. A few things to pay attention to when buying shin guards:
Style: Shin guards range from the basic cloth sleeve with a foam pad inside to dense molded pad. If you’ve ever banged your shin on something you know how much it hurts, a shin guard will dampen that pain as you condition your shins for kicking and blocking.
Muay Thai vs MMA Shin Guards: The differences between Muay Thai and MMA shin guards is the amount of padding and the strap system to secure them in place. MMA shin guards will have a lot less padding so they don’t get in the way when grappling. The straps will also never have any metal buckles and usually will be a slip-on ‘sock’ style or have very large straps to hold the pads in place.
Sizing: Every brand is going to be a bit different when it comes to sizing. Most will provide a size chart to help you pick the correct size. I try to have my shin guards cover my entire shin to just under my knee for total protection. If you have large calves pay attention to the strap length, some might not fit around your leg. If you are very tall 6’4”+, check out the brand Top King or Triumph United both carry XXL Shin Guards.
Hand wraps
Hand wraps
Hand wraps are an important part of keeping yourself injury free as you start learning how to punch harder. HOWEVER I recommend learning to punch without them at first. Building good technique and strengthening your hand/wrist muscles is crucial as you are starting to learn striking. If you always have the support of a hand wrap you may not develop the muscles in your wrist.
Sizing: For kids/adults with smaller wrists 108”-120” hand wraps are recommended. For most adults 180” wraps are recommended. There are a lot of different ways to wrap your hands with many tutorials on YouTube. Find a style that is comfortable for you.
Groin Protector (Cup)
Groin Protector (Cup)
A Groin Protector for our male students is better to have and not need it than need it and not have it. I highly recommend the shock doctor brand titanium alloy cup or Diamond MMA brand cup. I have seen the cheap plastic groin protectors break/shatter and that’s not somewhere you want shards. Both these options are extremely high quality and will not break when kicked. I also highly recommend a jockstrap vs compression shorts with a cup pocket. A jock strap will hold the cup in place much better and you don’t want your cup shifting around. Also please put your ego aside and order the correct size for you or even 1 size smaller, you don’t want ‘things’ shifting because you have the wrong size. These styles of groin protectors are for under your shorts and specifically geared towards Muay Thai and MMA. While they can be used for boxing, boxing has a totally different style of groin protectors which can be slipped on over your shorts. The boxing style will be required if you plan to compete in boxing competitions.
Headgear
Headgear
Headgear is an important piece of equipment for beginners. It allows you to have some extra padding around your head, face, and jaw. A good headgear will protect your eyes, ears, nose, and jaw as well as reduce bruising on your face. Any beginner competition in both Muay Thai and boxing will require a headgear to be worn. Please be aware, a headgear DOES NOT reduce the trauma to your brain. You CANNOT take a harder punch just because you have a head gear on! This is a very common misconception. The headgear’s main purpose is to reduce visible bruising and cuts to your face. Knowing when to wear one and when not to will be explained more in class but if you have desires to compete or just don’t want marks on your face that could affect your job, it’s a good idea to purchase one. Check the different websites linked below for one you like.
• Here is an article regarding the benefits as well as the detriments to wearing one: https://mmalife.com/should-you-wear-headgear-when-sparring/
• An article outlining the removal of mandatory headgear in the Olympics in 2016: https://www.wired.com/2016/08/olympic-boxers-arent-wearing-headgear-anymore/
Elbow Pads
Elbow Pads
Elbow Pads are required for advanced Muay Thai students. This will allow students to practice drilling and sparring with elbow strikes. While beginner and intermediate students will learn to use elbow strikes on bags/pads they will not drill with elbow strikes until they are ready and have the proper equipment. Elbows are sharp and can cause cuts to our training partners if not controlled. Elbow pads are not required for boxing class.
Boxing Shoes
Boxing Shoes
Boxing Shoes are an optional piece of equipment for boxing class. Boxing or Wrestling shoes are acceptable for the boxing class. Boxing Shoes should be worn on the mat only, do not wear them outside the dojo or inside the bathroom. This helps us keep the mats clean.
Links
Links
www.TitleBoxing.com is a great site for pretty much all the equipment you’ll need for Boxing and Muay Thai. For most items on this site, we can do special orders through the dojo’s account and it will save you from paying shipping, just ask one of the instructors.
www.CombatCorner.com has proved to be high quality and is our MMA equipment supplier. They also have a great selection of Muay Thai equipment as well. Same with TitleBoxing, order through the dojo to save on shipping costs.
www.ImpactMouthGuards.com offers mouth guards. They offer fully customizable graphics but most importantly they offer some of the best fitting mouth guards in the game. Use code COACHSAUL at checkout for 10% off your order.
www.DiamondMMA.com only sells one thing and that’s groin protectors. They are used by many UFC fighters as well as for many other sports. Use code COACHSAUL at checkout for 10% off your order.
www.Shockdoctor.com sells all kinds of sports protective equipment. Their titanium groin protector is no longer sold on their website but a quick google search of the phrase “shock doctor titanium” will turn up other stores that sell it.
www.Athleteps.com is the store recommended by Coach Mauricio for boxing or wrestling shoes. It is a great place to start shopping if you’re in the market for athletic shoes.
www.BJJHQ.com is a deal a day site for BJJ gear. Occasionally they will have discounted rash guards and shorts that can be used in striking classes.
Also be sure to check out https://www.coachsaul.com/for-sale/online-store for clothing, hats, bags, and other Watsonville Muay Thai accessories.
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