Are WKF protection really that good?

[Iskrax]

Hey lads.

Do you use WKF foot protection or gloves? Are they really worth buying?

I do not have any foot protection because nobody in our dojo is using them. We only use gloves, but not the light WKF approved but a little bit heavier.

Recently during kumite I injured my shin. It was painful. Also I always have callus on my feet from tatami and fast technique applications.

My birthday is coming up, I am thinking of buying adidas wkf gloves and foot protectors, answer these questions as detailed as possible.

Is there any possibility of breaking thumb using wkf gloves? They are really light and from what I had seen they do not fix your thumb. Are they comfortable? Easy to wear and protects your fist?

Does foot protection set save your feet from callus? injuries? Are they comfortable to use (I am talking about mawashi, ura mawashi, ushiro mawashi techniques)? Do you kick stronger with them? slower?

So should I buy them and use them in my shotokan trainings?

Thanks

[Wastelander]

We have found that the WKF shin/foot gear is actually very good. It protects well, holds up to abuse well, and stays in place pretty well. It's also pretty light, so it doesn't really impact your strikes too much. Personally, I don't like the gloves, but I also don't do point sparring, and tend to spar more like MMA. They keep your hands partially curled the whole time, which protects your partners from accidentally getting fingers in the eyes, and the padding is sufficient for keeping your hand protects, but the thumb is definitely completely exposed.

[Nidan Melbourne]

I recommend the WKF approved Mits & Pads due to their quality and the protection that they provide.

At my dojo we can use three types of mits + pads; cotton (lowest quality, can't use in tournaments), AKF [Australian Karate Federation] (Good quality, can only use in Australia) and the WKF (Highest quality, use worldwide).

Your thumbs are protected quite nicely, dependent on maker they will have a thumb guard or not.

Overall they are very comfortable and after a while they almost conform to your hands and feet. Often people will kick harder wearing them because of that additional protection.

[JohnASE]

I don't know about now, but Adidas WKF karate gloves used to be available with or without thumb. This was just a loop of vinyl to stabilize the pad. The thumb cover itself was not padded. Some people like the thumb and some people don't. The option is yours, assuming they're both available to you. I got the impression that many vendors only had one or the other.

If you're not competing in WKF events, there are many other brands of WKF-type gloves that are not approved and not by Adidas, so they're cheaper. Like anything else, you're taking a bigger risk when you buy an unknown brand. Some companies use lower quality material to save money. When we started using higher quality material for our ASE gloves, it cost us a little more, but it made a huge difference in durability.

When Adidas karate gloves were made in China, the quality was great. When China stopped making them, and production shifted to Pakistan, there were some problems. That was years ago, though, so they might have fixed things. I'm not familiar with the current stuff. We use Tokaido WKF gear now.

[MAfreak]

there's a warning on them that they aren't for full contact.

if you hit someones elbow with your shin while wearing the protector, you will still feel it hard.