# Martial Armor?



## Msby (May 3, 2009)

Found this chest guard at century martial arts. 
http://www.centurymartialarts.com/Sparring_Gear/Martial_Armor/Martial_Armor_L2_Vest.aspx

Looks kinda interesting but it's overpriced IMO.  Has anyone here had any experience with this?


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## phfman (May 3, 2009)

One of my kali students bought the forearm guard from this set. It was to be used for our medium speed kali class. He found that it was not as shock absorbing as it appears to be. There are much better foam-based products out there that would be more power friendly but then you have to consider the bulk factor. If you plan to use this for light contact sparring then it would be appropriate. Harder contact and I think you would still feel too much power sinking in. Weigh the pros and cons to see if this would suit your purpose.


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## terryl965 (May 3, 2009)

It does not asorb that much from a hard strike, there are better protectors out there.


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## Msby (May 3, 2009)

So basically it has good mobility but is lacking in the area of shock absorbing? Thanks for the info!


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## Stac3y (May 4, 2009)

I have a couple of friends who use a similar one (it's attached to a shirt rather than open like this one), and they love it. They like the mobility, and since we are light to moderate contact, it works great. I don't know about hard contact, though.


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## Dave Leverich (May 4, 2009)

I've used the Macho one, but I prefer to ditch all the pads and just use control myself. This one looks cool, but I'm not sure how effective.


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## tallgeese (Jun 29, 2009)

It's higher end, but what I really like in the way of armor for high impact training is the Blauer "High Gear" suit.

It allows for excellent mobility, so your partner can actually move like are real attacker not a determined zombie; and it has excellent absorption capabilities.  It's pricey, but well worth it.


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## Blindside (Jun 29, 2009)

In my experience those things suck at doing what they are supposed to do, absorb impact, the standard TKD hogu (is that the right term?) is better.


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## bowser666 (Jul 17, 2009)

I agree.  A friend of mine at our Kung Fu school bought the chest protector and while front impact is decent, the floating ribs has almost no protection and guess who fractured a rib ?   You got it !!  Find something better IMO.


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