A Guide to Muay Thai Pads
Muay Thai pad drills are an essential part of a Thai kickboxing training routine. It improves the speed, power, and accuracy of your strikes.
The main advantage of Muay Thai kick pads drill is that you can practice with your sparring partner and get instant feedback from him.
It allows you to correct your errors and test new techniques. You would not be able to achieve that with solo heavy-bag drills.
Training with pads will also let you strike with full power without worrying that you may injure yourself or your sparring partner.
3 important things to consider when buying a pair of Muay Thai pads:
- #1 The main purpose of training: first you have to decide whether you need to buy just a pair of Thai pads or maybe you do need focus mitts as well.
Do you want to get one pair of regular pads or maybe one pair of Muay Thai kick pads and one pair of focus mitts for punching?
It is always good to have both of them. But if your budget is limited you may want to choose more universal curved Thai pads instead.
Those pads are more of an all-rounder than flat ones. They combine most of the best characteristics of both: flat kick pads and focus mitts and are also easier to hold in position.
Thanks to its unique build curved kick pads allow you to deliver strikes with greater precision.
The downside to training with curved Thai pads is that they may upset the pad holder's wrist.
Some of the hits might land on the edge of the pad and they may not get absorbed well.
This is mostly true with beginner pad holders. Or when there's a great strength difference between the striker and the holder.
If that's the case, I would advise you to get straight pads or kick pads with just a minimal curve.
- Tip #2 is the comfort of use: my advice is that you buy Muay Thai pads with adjustable double velcro belts. You should also pay attention to the quality - and the number of - layers of foam that absorb the impact of strikes.
Pick a pair with a triple layer of shock absorption padding. This will make them much more comfortable to use and more suitable for long training sessions.
- #3 Another important aspect when buying Muay Thai kick pads is durability and the quality of used materials. Just like with Muay Thai gloves you should buy a pair that is triple stitched.
Leather Muay Thai pads are the most durable and also the most expensive ones.
If you want to save some money, you can get Muay Thai kick pads made of synthetic leather. They will not last as long as leather pads but they're still much better than vinyl pads.
I would not recommend buying vinyl pads since they will not offer the same comfort of use as other types of pads. The only advantage of vinyl pads is their price, so you may consider them when on a tight budget.
Vinyl pads crack quite easily when used and once broken they won't offer a good level of protection. And cracked pads may even damage your boxing gloves.
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