When you first begin Easton’s Muay Thai program, you’ll be working on the bag in our Kickboxing classes. Your goal while in kickboxing is to learn the basics of punching and kicking. By first learning the movements on a heavy bag as you refine your technique, you’ll have more control over your strength and accuracy when you level up to Muay Thai classes and begin working with a partner.

So what gear do you need for striking classes? 

Starting Kickboxing doesn’t require much — just a pair of 16 oz boxing gloves and wraps to go beneath them. As you move up the ranks and begin attending more intermediate and advanced classes, the gear arsenal you’ll need will also begin to expand.

Each Easton academy has a pro-shop with gloves and wraps to purchase. We have plenty of gloves to rent, but we recommend purchasing your own if you plan on continuing past your trial month.

Likewise, the quick wraps we have as rentals make a good first-day option so you’re not fumbling with rolls of fabric, but they’re not a great long-term solution.

[Get Started Training In Muay Thai]

Wraps and Boxing Gloves

When working with high-impact striking sports where we use our fists, we want the utmost protection for ourselves. Our hands have up to 29 bones in each alone, and injuring even the smallest one can have a significant impact on your ability to perform. This means proper hand protection – boxing gloves with wraps beneath – is critical.

Wrapping your hands before putting on your gloves is the first step to successful training. Hand wraps provide an additional layer of padding, insulation and protection, helping to absorb the shock from repeated striking and allowing us to stay resilient. The more securely wrapped your hands are, the less risk of injury you’ll have.

We recommend the 180” Mexican-Style Boxing Wraps! The length allows you to customize the padding to your needs — like wrapping your wrists extra for support or making a thicker cushion over your knuckles. Learn to wrap your hands here!

Boxing gloves come in a range of styles, weights and prices, from lightweight to more padded, from fully covered standard gloves to open-fingered or open-palmed MMA gloves. At Easton, we require fully-covered boxing gloves for our Kickboxing and Muay Thai classes. 

We carry a few different options starting with the basic Ringside gloves, and you can always work your way up as you delve deeper into your practice. 

Good hand protection is vital for keeping all of the little bones in your hands safe, and it’s also the only way to ensure sustainability and longevity in your practice. Ask your academy’s front desk about gloves and wraps next time you’re in! 

[How to Take Care of Your Muay Thai Gear]

Shin Guards

Muay Thai involves a significant amount of kicking, often targeting the opponent’s legs or body with the shins. As you begin to work with a partner, shin-to-shin contact hurts a lot more than hitting a bag, so you’ll want to protect your legs. 

Shin guards provide protection for both the wearer and their training partner, reducing the risk of injury from hard impacts and minimizing bruising and trauma to the shins. They also allow practitioners to train with more intensity and confidence, knowing they can exert more power without worrying about injuring themselves or their partners.

Shin guards come in a variety of styles, from stretchy cloth to heavy-duty leather, with anything from elastic to velcro and belted straps keeping them in place. Shin guards also have a foot cap which covers all but the toes, so you can keep the top of your feet safe.

For adults, we recommend a heavier shin guard that can be strapped onto the legs – save the cloth shin guards for the kids.

If you’d like to try out Muay Thai first before committing to purchasing shin guards, we also have some for you to rent!

Groin Protection

For gentlemen specifically, we recommend investing in a groin protector. This isn’t a required piece of equipment until you work up to sparring, but it can be a great thing to have anytime you’re working with a partner throwing punches and kicks. 

All it takes is one misplaced shot to cause a great deal of pain. Even when holding pads, it’s better to be safe than sorry when it comes to groin protection.

For Muay Thai, you will need a hard cup meant to be worn under the shorts, as opposed to a large, soft groin protector worn above the shorts like in boxing. There are a variety of different styles of cups, some that slide into a corresponding pocket in compression shorts or athletic supporters, and others that slide or tie over compression shorts as a single piece of equipment. Ultimately, the style you choose will be based on your own preferences and comfort. 

Mouth Protection

Last but not least, as you begin your partner training in Muay Thai, you will need to purchase a mouth guard – an item of paramount importance for several reasons. 

Muay Thai involves high-impact striking with the hands, elbows, knees, and shins, which increases the risk of accidental blows to the face and mouth. A mouth guard helps to absorb and distribute the force of these impacts, reducing the risk of dental injuries such as chipped or broken teeth. It also helps prevent cuts to the lips and inside of the mouth. 

Additionally, a properly fitted mouth guard can also provide some degree of protection against concussions by cushioning the jaw and reducing the transmission of force to the head. 

There are a variety of mouth guards you can find, and they vary in thickness for different sports and activities, like BJJ versus Muay Thai. For Muay Thai, we recommend a thicker padded mouthguard for adults. 

To clean your mouth guard, rinse it after each use, brush it with mild soap or toothpaste, rinse it again, allow it to air dry, and store it in its case or a clean, ventilated container to protect it from dirt and bacteria.

For extra cleaning, you might consider using a specialized mouthguard cleaner or soaking the mouthguard in a solution of water and vinegar or mouthwash. 

Remember to replace your mouthguard periodically, as they can wear out over time and lose their effectiveness!

How to take care of your gear

The first thing you’ll notice upon starting Kickboxing is that training is a WORKOUT – a full-body experience using punches, elbows, knees and kicks. Both Kickboxing and Muay Thai lean heavily on cardiovascular endurance to create and sustain power, from burnout rounds to the necessary momentum to deliver a proper kick. 

You burn, you grow, and you build muscle. This also means you sweat – a lot. So how can you make sure your gear stays up to code? While it’s not quite the same as throwing everything in the wash like other laundry, there are a few tricks to keeping your fear fresh and clean.

Wash your wraps 

The inside of your gloves is a sweaty place, so it’s easy for a lot of bacteria to grow there. Washing your wraps after every session is critical for good hygiene; it’ll make your gloves last longer, and it’ll make your training partners like you more. 

To wash your wraps without getting them tangled, first turn the velcro inward by velcroing the hand wrap to itself. Next, unroll the entire wrap, and take the non-velcro end in one hand. 

Fold the length of the wrap roughly into thirds with the velcro end being a little shorter than the rest. Then, fold that in half. 

The velcro should now be in the middle. Grab the velcro in your hand and tie a knot around your fist. Once the velcro is sealed up in the knot, it can’t snag the rest of your laundry – and there’s still enough surface area that the whole wrap can get washed and clean.

It’s always a good idea to use a mesh laundry bag, especially if you have a top loading washer so that the wraps don’t get caught on the spinning post.

For a step-by-step demonstration, watch this short video and level up your wrap game. 

Wipe your padded gear

You might not think you’re sweating directly on the pads and the outside of your gloves, but these areas come in contact with many others – including sweaty parts of their bodies. Get rid of bacteria by making sure you clean your gear after every class and training session.

While you may encounter cloth shin guards which you can throw in the washing machine, we don’t recommend those for adults. For the most part, the shin guards you’ll use are made of leather or a similar material and aren’t meant to go through the washer.

For gear made of leather or a synthetic alternative, including gloves and pads, we recommend using 10-Second spray to both disinfect and deodorize. You can buy it at the academy as well as online.

For gloves, spray both the inside and the outside. Shin guards — you can spray the front and back as well as the inside!

If you have any other questions, make sure you reach out to your academy and coaches — they’re always happy to provide more information.

Curious about trying Kickboxing? Sign up for a free class today!