Your Starter Martial Arts Gear
If you’ve never participated in martial arts before, you might not know what you need when it comes to training. We’ve put together a list of the types of things you’ll need to get started, mostly focused on products we’ve had experiences with. All of these opinions/impressions are our own. As we’re just starting out, we currently don’t keep our own gear in stock, so we’re going to be recommending products for the time being — ATX Tactics may collect a share of sales from the links on these page.
Your first priorities are going to be the things we recommend bringing with you to almost every class — mouth guards, rash guards, and MMA gloves.
Mouth Guards
It may not seem like much, but a mouth guard is one of the most important pieces of equipment you’ll need. Not only do mouth guards help protect from concussions, they also help guard your tongue, teeth, and lips from impact. However, mouth guards also help keep your partner safe from injury and infection — seriously, catching someone else’s tooth by accident is gross (it’s not common but it does happen).
We’d recommend any of these mouth guards. Shock Doctor and Safe Jawz are both well known brands for sports protection, and Venum’s fight gear is hard to beat. You’ll also want to consider a carrying case for your mouth guard (if it doesn’t already come with one), which is pictured below.
What class do I need a mouth guard for? We recommend this for every class we offer besides our fitness classes. This doesn’t that the training is always super intense, or that you’ll want one in for the entire class (the instructor will often cue you when it’s time). You’ll generally be fine without one, but it’s highly recommended to have it on hand for your protection and everyone else’s.
Kids Mouth Guards: For kids’ mouth guards, we recommend Franklin Sports Athletic Mouthguards — Amazon delivers them in a 2-pack, so you can take a couple of attempts at it to get the right fit for your child.
Rash Guards
Rash guards do exactly what they say — protect your skin from rashes and mat burn that may come from repeated contact. In addition to that, they also provide safety because they’re form fitting and lower the risk of limbs or digits hyper-extending by getting caught in loose material. Plus, they’re overall better for hygiene in training by limiting skin-to-skin contact and generally help limit you from flinging sweat on other people.
There are plenty of rash guards available all over (here’s a look at a category level on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3WNH5K8) but we’ve assembled some that we’ve had positive experiences with below. ROAR MMA has variety, Elite Sports will give you a price-friendly option on the higher end, and Gold BJJ offers superior comfort.
One thing we’d like to communicate about ranked rash guards — these are meant to signify your rank in BJJ. If there’s one you like, we don’t really mind if you wear one to ATX Tactics, just know that if you’re walking into a BJJ gym for the first time, you should make sure you’re wearing a ranked rash guard appropriate to your rank in jiu-jitsu so you don’t confuse anybody.
You might also consider leggings to keep your knees/legs rash free as well. (view: leggings)
What classes do I need a rash guard for? These are highly recommended for every class we offer, but are required for Ground & Grappling.
MMA Gloves
The benefit of MMA gloves (and why we prefer them over boxing gloves in most classes) is that you can still grab and grapple while also strike with padding. As far as types of MMA gloves, there are hybrid sparring and grappling sparring gloves. We recommend getting hybrid sparring MMA gloves specifically, as they have more padding and will give you the most versatility, so you’ll be able to use them in the biggest variety of situations. We really enjoy the ones listed from RDX, Revgear, and Sanabul for every day training. However, some people like having both types on hand for different training situations.
What classes do I need MMA gloves for? MMA gloves can show up in any of the classes we offer (besides Strength & Conditioning), so we consider them a requirement.
Boxing Gloves
Boxing gloves are best for situations where you want to hit hard (on pads) or train safely with appropriate contact with a partner. Because of the latter, we require that boxing gloves be 16 oz, no less.There are a number of brands that we’d recommend for different reasons. You can’t go wrong with mainstays like RDX and Sanabul. If you want something a little more high end for the type of work we’ll be doing, we’d recommend Fairtex gloves or Venum. Both have their positives, but the Venum (in our experience) tends to be more comfortable for people with bigger hands and want a little more padding.
What classes do I need boxing gloves for? These will generally only show up in our Striking classes, and are required for those classes.
Kids Boxing Gloves: For children, we recommend Hawk’s Sport Boxing Gloves, although there are many other good brands as well.
Shin Guards
Shin guards make kicking way more enjoyable for both parties involved. They protect the kicker’s shins, and add some padding to reduce discomfort for the defender as well. We love shin guards from Elite, RDX, Sanabul, and Venum (arranged from more cost-effective to high end). The Sanabul and Venum shin guards are more on the premium end, but you’ll notice the difference in comfort and padding. We strongly caution against cloth shin guards — it’s simply not enough padding for the way we will be training — also, try to avoid cheaper shin guards with metal hook and loop systems, as opposed to vinyl, as they may irritate your legs.
What classes do I need shin guards for? These will generally only show up in our Striking classes.
Kids Shin Guards: For kids younger 8, we’d recommend looking into the Elite Kids Shin Guards, and for kids older than 8, we’d recommend the smaller size of Sanabul’s shin guards. Same as adults, definitely stay away from cloth shin guards as it won’t provide adequate protection for your child and their training partner.