What is best for me? Andy Ogle guest post

Andy 'little axe' Ogle has kindly divulged his reasoning for shopping with us at fightstore. We were over the moon to get such a high amount of praise from Andy who is one of the nicest guys in MMA. Below are Andy's own words detailing why he buys certain products and what impact your gear choices can have on your training.

Many people choose price over performance when it comes to training equipment. When you think about buying a car you think about getting the best deal for you. You wouldn’t however buy a car which you felt was unsafe. This is the exact same thing when we think about equipment used in sports. For me I cannot just buy any products on the market because mma is my job. I must keep myself safe and my team mates safe. If I don’t then there is no training or no team mates for me to train with all due to silly preventable injuries. It would be like working at a fancy restaurant and wearing tracksuit bottoms and an old worn out tshirt. I would more than likely get sent home until I came in with the correct attire or I would receive my p45. I pick the best gloves for me because if I don’t then I will end up going to work with the wrong equipment much like a electrician turning up without his tools. Like I said mma is my job and I need to feel comfortable at work. It is said that elite marathoner Ryan Hall goes through two pairs of running shoes a month, switching them out every 200 miles. I have trained with many guys where their gloves had seen more than 20,000 jabs, hooks and upper cuts and you feel their knuckles through those gloves that are supposed to be 16oz. Training equipment can be expensive though I can imagine you are saying whilst reading this. This is why I would recommend you go to a shop that is local much like the fightstore. At fightstore you get to try reasonably priced products, which in a world of online buying you miss how great a product feels before you buy it. Whilst there you can see the way each glove is put together and decide which glove, shin guard or head guard is best for you. When products you buy online arrive at your door you are always risking wasting your money because you have spent it blindly. Training gear should feel comfortable and an online deal which hasn’t been tried on previously may not feel right. Even if it does feel great the manufacturing of the product may not meet your requirements. I for one like the revgear elasticated cover wrist boxing gloves because this prevents my training partners from getting velco marks on their faces during drilling but this may not be the right product for someone who wants to take their gloves on and off quickly. As we all know ‘a picture speaks a thousand words’. What we forget is that a picture on the internet can be misleading. I can’t stress to go to a store where you get to see the product and test it before you buy it, enough. Last but not least I bet you are also thinking “who can be the judge as to when to change my equipment over?” I am going to answer this question with another question. Ask yourself “would you take a punch/kick from someone wearing that same glove/shin guard?” Written by Andy Ogle