MMA fighters are prone to injuries even when practicing to improve their skills. For this reason, MMA fighters use safety gear like MMA gloves and shin guards to stay on a safer side. Shin guards play a vital role in protecting your shins, ankles, and feet. Shin guards are a perfect option for training as they provide shock absorption and reduce the risk of injuries.
There are different types of shin guards used in the world of MMA. Professional athletes prefer shin guards while training because they don’t want to get serious injuries before they enter the ring and fight the opponent. Today, we will talk about the types of shin guards and how you can buy the best shin guards for yourself. So, let’s dive into the details.
Types Of Shin Guards
In the world of MMA, there are only two main types of shin guards.
- Stock Type Shin Guards
- Adjustable Strap Type Shin Guards
Stock Type Shin Guards
These thin shin guards are for training, mostly at the beginner level. They offer some protection over the shin and the foot, which is not enough for professional fighters. However, MMA fighters do prefer Stock Type Shin Guards while sparring or grappling as they are lightweight and leave less impact on the opponents.
Adjustable Strap Type Shin Guards
With dense padding and adjustable straps, these shin guards provide added safety while training, sparring, or grappling. These shin guards offer dense padding over your shins, feet, and ankles. For this reason, these shin guards offer the highest protection to the MMA fighters. You have to use shin guards to train your shins and ankles for absorbing your opponent’s attacks.
Apart from these two types, shin guards are differentiated in terms of their built quality, style, and other factors. However, most of these shin guards are not for MMA fighters (we will cover them later in this article).
Why Are Shin Guards Used In MMA?
Shin guards protect your ankles, shins, and feet from injuries. Also, wearing shin guards keeps your training partner on a safer side from getting injuries. That’s why MMA fighters use them during grappling and sparring. As a professional MMA fighter, you will not want to have a serious injury before your fight, will you? Who knows if you are training without shin guards and a kick from your partner deals damage to your shins?
To avoid such unwanted injuries, shin guards have become one of the most important safety gear in the world of MMA. Shin guards are not only for beginners and intermediates but athletes from all levels use them while training, to avoid any risk of damage.
Amateurs mostly use shin guards to boost their confidence because they don’t have any experience with MMA fights. Wearing shin guards keeps them motivated as they feel less prone to injuries. For this reason, they actively train, kick their opponents, and learn effective techniques about blocking opponent attacks.
Best Type Of Shin Guards For MMA
As an MMA fighter, you have only two types of shin guards to choose from: Stock Type Shin Guards and Adjustable Strap Type Shin Guards. However, it is not just about the type; other factors like quality and the brand name also matter. So, the following are the things you need to consider to buy the best type of shin guards for your MMA fights.
Material
Professional MMA fighters use shin guards made of leather or synthetic material. These types of shin guards are made for added durability and long-lasting performance. If you are looking for MMA shin guards that you can use for years, you better go with shin guards made of leather or synthetic material. And not to forget, these shin guards are unbeatable in performance.
Brand
Brand reputation plays a crucial role in determining the quality of a product. When looking for the best shin guards for MMA, you have to consider the brand reputation rather than the product specification. New brands mostly exaggerate the specifications to boost their sales. So, don’t fall into these traps and always spend your money on products from trusted brands.
How To Select The Best Type Of Shin Guards For Yourself?
Shin guards are only best for you if they give you your expected results. Buying shin guards that professional MMA fighters use doesn’t mean that they are the best for you.
Now, let’s check out how you can select the best type of shin guards for yourself.
Size
The most important thing is finding the perfect size. Amature MMA fighters mostly go after quality rather than comfortability. It is the reason why their shin guards slide out of place. Wearing shin guards that fit you is more important than wearing high-quality but uncomfortable shin guards. So, make sure to buy shin guards that fit your shin perfectly.
Mobility
While wearing shin guards, you have to make sure that your ankles move freely as if you are not wearing any shin guards at all. It might sound weird but you will find many lightweight shin guards for MMA that offer greater mobility and comfort. If your shin guards restrict your movement, you will not be able to perfect your kicks during practice.
Padding
The last but most important thing to consider is the padding. If you are a professional MMA fighter who likes to train harder, you have to go for densely padded shin guards. However, as a beginner, you should prefer lightweight shin guards as they will make it easy for you to practice and unlock your MMA fighting skills.
Note: Don’t buy shin guards with too dense padding as they might injure your opponents during grappling or sparring sessions.
What Types Of Shin Guards Should You Avoid?
Not all shin guards are perfect for MMA fighters. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced MMA fighter, you should never buy the following shin guards:
Cloth Shin Guards
Shin Guards made of cloth are the worst shin guards you should never buy as an MMA fighter. These shin guards do look beautiful but they offer almost zero protection for your shins or ankles. Not just that, wearing cloth shin guards will also make your opponent prone to some serious injuries, so never think about buying them at all.
Footless Shin Guards
Shin guards are not just for covering your shins; you have to make sure they cover your feet and ankles too. It is because your shins are not only for protecting your shins. You have to protect your ankles as well as your opponents from serious injuries. Also, you have to absorb the impact from throwing kicks, which is only possible if your shin guards cover your feet.
Foam Shin Guards
Foam shin guards are also the worst type of shin guards that you should not consider as an MMA fighter. You might think that foam shin guards would provide extra protection, but it is not the case. These shin guards are bad at absorbing the impact from powerful kicks. Also, foam shin guards are not comfortable and you have to adjust them during your fights.
Conclusion
There you have it, a detailed discussion about shin guards and their use in the world of MMA. Shin guards for MMA are only of two types, but you have to consider many factors when buying the best shin guards for MMA. If you are an amateur MMA fighter, you have to do thorough research to buy the best shin guards for your MMA career.
We hope that we made it all clear about shin guards, their types, and shin guards to avoid as an MMA fighter. Feel free to comment down below for any related queries. Or email us at [insert email].