WTF Do They Use? A guide to weird fight gear.
If you walk into a gym dedicated to any of the major combat sports, then you would probably expect to see certain items. Maybe even if you have never trained yourself, but watched Boxing movies like Rocky or perhaps some Kung Fu flicks, you might have some idea that there would be some heavy bags or a boxing ring. However, one look across the many training videos on YouTube or perhaps even on TV shows, such as UFC Embedded, then you’ll notice a raft of training equipment which could definitely be termed “weird fight gear”. So WTF do they use that stuff?
Ever since an odd looking cannon ball with a handle attached called a Kettlebell, started appearing in gyms everywhere about 15 years ago, there seems to have been a new weird piece of training gear appear every other week.
It Started Here….
Its quite often the case that the latest training craze that sweeps across gym classes in North America and Europe actually started in Martial Arts systems or combat sports.
Now, martial artists everywhere are looking into the roots of their sports and often rediscovering the benefits of training methods used by the old school of their sport or martial arts systems, sometimes for centuries beforehand.
On the other side of the fence, new training gear which sometimes takes elements of older training methods, such as the popular TRX system or resistance bands, have found their way into many a combat sports gym regime.
So…..WTF do they use that?
Each article in this series focuses on a different piece of kit commonly found in combat sports gyms around the world. We look at what, why, when it started and where it is used. Over the coming weeks we will look at gymnastic rings, Indian clubs, maces and gada, Bulgarian bags, throwing dummies, medicine balls and many more.
We’ll look at items now commonly seen, as well as those which are less well known, but perhaps will spark the next big leisure industry gym craze. Perhaps you might be inspired to give one or two of them a go, once you know that is… WTF they use that.
