Expert: Alan Kahn - 3/27/2008

Question
QUESTION: Youre speed bag bible dvd is great.My question is about punching mitts and also about headgear.With so many choices how do you choose .I'm just looking 2 train with some friends.Should i purchase leather or vinyl.How do u determine what size mitts 2 use and why do the prices vary so much on items that seem 2 b so similiar.

ANSWER: Hi Frank.

thanks for the kudo's on The Speed Bag Bible.  I'm glad you find it useful.  

I would always recommend leather over vinyl.  If you are beginners to the mitts and the use of them, I would stick with the larger targets. Smaller mitts are a bit harder for the novice fighter to make clean contact on. As far as price, who knows why some things are priced the way the are. YOu are correct that there is a lot of variation in some products. I suspect brand name has about as much to do with that as anything. I would stick with good quality leather products at the lowest price you can afford.

Good luck and train safe.

Sincerely,



Alan Kahn
author,The Speed Bag Bible


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Mr. kahn thanks 4 youre response on the mitts.I'm still uncertain about purchasing headgear.I know leather is  a beter choice,but how does the sizing work and should i get full face or just side protection.

Answer
Hello again Frank

As far as headgear sizes, they run mostly like hats: Small, medium, Large, XL etc. When you order, I would ask the company rep how their gear is sized. You might want to know the hat sizes or head circumference around the forehead so they can determine the right size for you.  

Boxing headgear comes in two basic styles, (1) training models, which has more protection (cheek covers, full face cover etc) and (2) competition models.  The big difference is the comfort and field of vision. The Training models, or "face savers" http://store.titleboxing.com/face-protector-head-gear.html
or http://www.cheapboxing.com/lehegewino.html
have more padding protection but are less comfortable and tend to restrict vision due to the extra padding. The competition models are more open face with a bit less protection and a wider field of vision. http://store.titleboxing.com/title-competition-headgear.html

You can also find that similiar info here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headgear_(martial_arts)

There are lots of brands and styles avialable in a wide variety of prices

http://www.ringside.com/SearchResult.aspx?CategoryID=2431

http://store.titleboxing.com/headgear.html

The type you purchase would depend on the level of skill for YOU and your partners.  IF you guys are new to it and plan on mixing it up with sparring, then you'll probably get hit a bit more and want a bit more padding (face saver, training model), but with experience or sparring with the rule of "no hard headshots", then you might do fine with the competition model with a wider field of vision.

Here are some interesting articles about headgear

Effectiveness of Boxing Headgear
Http://www.asbweb.org/conferences/2006/pdfs/242.pdf

A system for measuring head acceleration during boxing competition.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18089922?ordinalpos=1&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEn

I hope all this helps.  Good luck and train safely.

Alan Kahn
author, The Speed Bag Bible