I saw a demo of these suits on DVD, and I got to say that they look great for training MMA (especially the "ground and pound" and grappling aspects).
Obviously standing you can just use shin guards, head gear, and 16 oz. gloves.
Has anybody tried these suits? I'm interested in buying a pair but am hesitatnt to spend $2,500 without even trying the suits out myself personally.
Any firsthand experiences out there?
seems a bit excessive. ask yourself this: how many top fighters in the UFC, Pride, Shooto, etc need to use one?
save the money and go to an awesome school or get privates from the best.
2 friends of mine have them. They swear by them and think they are the greatest training tool in the world.
Now, neither of them do MMA now - they are strictly involved in the combatives side of training a la Blauer, Hochheim, and Moni Aizik - who happens to be doing a seminar in Akron, Oh on 12/17/06. I'm organizing it and yes this is a shameless plug ;-)
Send me an email at mark.juszczec@gmail.com and I can put you in touch with one of my buddies who uses these suits. They can tell you their impressions. They both have experience in combat sports too, so they should be able to tell you their suitability for MMA training.
Thanks for the responses so far guys.
it'd probably be cheaper to just pay a homeless person to let you beat the shit out of them
hasn't a few MMA top fighters used these or trained in these suits (randy and/or tito, etc)?
check out tony's site for more information.
Yeah, Jarrett tell my wife that! We don't all work at fancy-shmancy investment houses - some of us have to pay our own rent!
Hey, did you go to Jerry Mendez's grappling tournament in Jersey this weekend?
Biggie - actually, as long as I don't video tape that (like the paintball episodes) it might be a real cost saver. Way to think outside the box!
10040G - yeah, on the site they mention/show Couture, Diego, Randelman, Miletech, Hughes., Mike MacDonald, Cung Le, Loiseau, GSP, Severn...
Some pretty strong endorsements - but I'm so cynical about celebrity endorsements (nothing against those guys, it's just in my nature).
I bought one; it is an invaluable piece of training equipment.
Congrats, Jarrett.
Kirik, excellent use of the semicolon. It's an underutilized piece of punctuation.
Also, Kirik, how do you get along with just one? When you spar is it pretty much one guy is very defensive and the other guys beats on him?
Do you ever find yourself wishing that you had two of them?
As far as grappling goes, do you find it much more "restrictive" than a gi?
Sorry for all the questions, but thanks in advance for any insight.
Allen
IMO = glorified hockey pads
Spiderking, I was concerned about the same thing. Using my arts and crafts expertise I might be able to rig something similar together at a fraction of the cost.
But when preparing for someone to possibly beat me up I wanted to opt for something a little better than my personal 6th grade home-economic experience.
But if the Blauer suit isn't much more than glorified hockey pads (for lazy folks like me that enjoy cool MMA toys) then I've got to look into the homemade version.
(Ooh, that's another question for Kirik - is it something you feel you could just put together yourself? Or is it markedly better than our personal efforts might be?).
Also, I don't think the suit is needed for MMA training. I believe it's better "suited" for tactical hand to hand combatives training, weapons, etc.
For $1,400 I could purchase a whole gamut of equipment that would be more helpful in mma training.
The gear is like any other gear,...... who uses it and how its used determines its value. The gear is a great asset to mma training (hermes franca, kurt pellegrino are some) as well as personal protection training and law enforcement training (west palm beach police, jupiter police, palm beach police, PB Sherrif Office, etc). The Armory has used it for all of those markets and its a great tool. You dont necessarily need the whole suit, which for some people/gyms could get costly, there are components that can be purchased and are very useful.
The best use of this gear in the mma world, since this is what this forum seems to be about is that it allows professionals to train more intensely and it assists in insulating against injury but the fighter still feels the pressure, impact is somewhat muted but it still effects your reaction, timing, countering, etc...because if you arent feeling the pain, its going to screw up your realistic reactions.
A piece of gear should enable a pro to train a little harder or a little longer and reduce his/her chance of injuries. This way they get more reps in and get to work on the nuances of timing, details, stuff like that. This gear should not be put on just for 2 people to beat the shit out of each other, instead you can come up with small aspects of the fight game that occur very regularly and work thru those specific moments in fight that may make all the difference in the world to its outcome....
Designing drills practicing a tactical defense/counter of elbows against someone like Louiseau while being folded against the cage (elbows / headgear with shield for face)
Designing drills for leg kicks from Anderson Silva or a clinch from Silva with knees (chest protector / leg girdle)
The High Gear is just a tool, like any other piece of mma equipment, expensive, sure, worht it....depends who is using it and for what purpose.
We are big fans of it.
The Armory
Armory - great post. I really appreciate your time and effort.
Allen
Good investment if you are serious and have the $$$. I spent a week in one a few years ago at a school with Tony.
Anything you can do without it, you can pretty much do with it.
Last count, I think we own 8 full suits plus additional components, so not just a shameless plug :)
The Armory
"how many top fighters in the UFC, Pride, Shooto, etc need to use one? "
You saw Randy using the helmet in TUF1 to work ground and pound w/ elbows.
I have 5 of the suits in my school. We use them for Self Defense as opposed to MMA, but I think they would cross over very well. Great range of motion, lightweight, so you can move well. The suits offer impact reduction, so you still get that feeling of being hit. Great investment IMO.
video of suits in use for those who havent seen them
ttt