When sparring in martial arts, control needs to be exerted to ensure you do not injure your training partner. This can sometime hamper training as you are unable to practice your kicks, knees or punches at full power. Blitz Sport have produced a Full Contact armour that allows the wearer to help absorb attacks and for the training partner to actually make full contact with their strikes.
The Blitz Sport Full Contact body armour is shaped like a bib vest with three stretchy straps to fasten to the body. The straps have plastic side release buckle fasteners at the end to securely fasten the body armour. When fastened, the buckle is quite stiff so there’s no chance of the fastener freeing or becoming loose. The straps also have slide adjusters allowing you to shorten or lengthen the straps as necessary. To fit the body armour, the two top side straps are crossed over at the back and fasten on the opposite buckle on the front of the armour (left to right, right to left). The bottom strap then fastens on the buckle on the bottom side of the armour to secure the armour around the waist.
At first look, it might appear that the body armour is too small, but with some adjustments to the shoulder straps, the body armour should sit shielding your torso. The body armour, however, does come up a little short in that it does not cover your lower belly area to above the groin. I would recommend wearing a belly pad to accompany the armour should your training partner wish to strike lower.
The CE approved and tested body armour features 2.5cm depth of padding throughout to protect the wearer from punches, kicks and other such strikes used in martial arts sparring. Whilst the armour does not absorb the entire power from the strikes, it dulls it to an acceptable level that the user can continue to spar pain-free and without injury.
We tested the Blitz Sport Full Contact Body Armour with Leigh Ju-Jitsu’s 5th Dan (Godan) Sensei Alan and 1st Dan, Sensei Jonathan, both wearing the armour whilst sparring. We then tested the armour by having Sensei Alan striking the considerably smaller and lighter purple belt, Gary, to see if he could withstand the powerful strikes, particularly kicks, that Sensei Alan would perform on him. The armour protected all the users, particularly Gary, from kicks to the chest, allowing them to remain stood up and to continue sparring.
The body armour is very comfortable and quite light to wear. Its winged bib shape folds around the body, which allows you to spar without hinderance or restriction. The edges of the armour are smooth and well finished with a stitched hem, stitched stress sections and double stitching on the circular sections on which the shoulder buckles reside.
As far as decoration goes, the body armour’s is fairly simple, available in black or red, with a white Blitz logo on the chest of the body armour and lined with soft blue woven cotton or polycotton mix.
The Blitz Sport Full Contact Body Armour is great for Muay Thai, MMA or even Ju Jitsu sparring where full contact is preferred, though the armour could benefit from being a touch longer to protect the lower regions. Two sizes are available, medium and large. Size medium was reviewed in black and red in our review and footage, therefore we’d advise opting for the large in the hope of a longer fit.
The armour is perfect for sparring when used with the Blitz Sport Open Face Headguard or Blitz Sport Full Face Head Guard, which we previously reviewed. In addition to sparring, the armour can be used in light weapons training.
Blitz Sport Full Contact Body Armour is available for £32.99 from Blitz Sport
Be the first to comment