for my feet
http://www.martialartsmart.net/10x110.html
http://www.martialartsmart.net/14x070.html

hands http://www.martialartsmart.net/10x300.html
(if u can use then in tkd, then id want to)

what do u guys reccomend or currently use
http://www.martialartsmart.net/korean-martial-arts-martial-arts-pants.html

I wasn't aware they allowed you to use shoes or gloves in Taekwondo competitions. I've only seen people use:

helmet
chest guard
lower arm guards
shin guards
cup

then again, I could be wrong.

i do a full contact tournament style.

the olympic style is very different.

we can wear whatever we want to in regards to body armour.

what we MUST have to compete:

head guard
mouth guard
gloves (closed fingers}
groin guard
closed boots

optional that i have are shin and wrist protection, but to be honest the more you wear the slower you'll be so only wear what you feel you need to and listen to your instructors advice

top tip for buy is the material

the shinyier and fancier the item the more likely it is that it will move or slip once you get a bit sweaty. so go for something that will let your hands breath and make sure evverything straps down well

i was virtually allowed to choose what i wanted as long as it met basic criteria set by my instructor

being in the UK products are few and far between in their variations so i shopped over in the states (where i'm guessing you are)

the site i used was www.karatedepot.com

hope thats of help to you, i wish someone had told me about the shiny equipment...i have really cool gloves...but as soon as i get hot the slip round when i backfist [IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/frown.gif[/IMG]

looks.....try to ignore them and get what you require...then worry what it looks like

[IMG]http://www.fightingarts.com/forums/ubb/biggrin.gif[/IMG]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by J1MBO:
i do a full contact tournament style.

the olympic style is very different.

we can wear whatever we want to in regards to body armour.
[/QUOTE]

Oh, I see, my school was definitely Olympic style then, we weren't allowed to grapple, only strike.

I find a huge need to wear chest guard and shin guards, and maybe helmet, but that's about it. We often skipped the cup just because it was uncomfortable, but they're definitely needed for the unexpected...
http://www.karatedepot.com/pr-se-005.html
These look reeeally nice, I doubt the shiny helmet would slip much since it's just for your head.

It depends on your style of Tae Kwon Do.

I'm WTF, and the closed boots and the covered hands are NOT allowed in tournaments and most dojangs.

I own two sets of equipment, one for training in the dojang and the other for competition. The one for the dojang is just cloth, like the second option you showed for your feet.

My competition set is Adidas foam. I have a pair of forearm guards without the hand that use two straps to stay on your arm. Two shin guards with attached insteps, a more advanced laced chest guard, and just a simple head gear.

If you are WTF, your equipment must be white. Helmets cannot have anything covering the face or cheeks.

Ask your instructor for help!

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Hannah:
It depends on your style of Tae Kwon Do.

I'm WTF, and the closed boots and the covered hands are NOT allowed in tournaments and most dojangs.

I own two sets of equipment, one for training in the dojang and the other for competition. The one for the dojang is just cloth, like the second option you showed for your feet.

My competition set is Adidas foam. I have a pair of forearm guards without the hand that use two straps to stay on your arm. Two shin guards with attached insteps, a more advanced laced chest guard, and just a simple head gear.

If you are WTF, your equipment must be white. Helmets cannot have anything covering the face or cheeks.

Ask your instructor for help![/QUOTE]

And I did the exact opposite. When I was fighting in tournaments I liked cloth. When I trained I did the Adidas.

One exception was during international level of play where the instep is optional then the adidas shin gaurd was the best.

Adidas also makes a great hogu.

Hannah, it sounds like we have the same equipment load out, but I think they were speaking of ITF style point sparring. That kind of sparring you have gloves, booties, helmet, mouth guard and cup. Extra equipment like shin guards, forearm guards, and chest protector (Not a hugo, rather a smaller chest protector that is worn under the uniform) are sometimes worn. The gloves are needed because unlike in WTF sparring you are allowed to use hand techniques to score (You can use hand techniques to score in WTF sparring, but you need to either knock down or double your opponent over to score from most judges) and those hand techniques are allowed to make contact with you opponents head. The sparring is stopped after every scoring contact, judges score and then sparring resumes. This is very different than WTF style Olympic sparring and require skills of a different (But no less useful) kind. If you check with a local Karate or Tang Soo Do (sorry if I mispelled it) school they might be able to give you some information about an open Tournament that allows people of many styles to compete, and then if you get you instructors permision, you could go to one of these tournaments and give ITF style sparring (You will not find many open tournaments that allow WTF style sparring) a shot. The things that you would have to watch out for would be that ITF style sparring can hurt a bit more than WTF style sparring, so you might want to go a few rounds without a chest protector at you own Dojang to get used to taking a hit just in case.

-Andrew

Very dangerous to think ITF hurts more than WTF.

WTF has to wear the body hogu for a reason. I had the opportunity to do a lot of competitions and train with a lot of people from different federations. As a black belt I have seen ITF wonder why WTF wears those chest protectors. Right up until they saw how hard we hit.

Point sparring is not full contact. A lot of controlled contact is involved. WTF is full contact.

your'e right, the better thing to say would have been, it is different to get hit without a chest protector on, and if you aren't used to it can be a bit distracting. As a student in an ITA school, we do mostly WTF style sparring with a little bit of ITF sparring.

-Andrew

[This message has been edited by Christiancadet (edited 07-18-2004).]

ITF only requires fingerless gloves, feet, mouth guard and groin guard (headgear is optional so no one wears it).

The controlled contact only really applies to the kiddies divisions. I have seen enough knock outs in ITF taekwon-do to know that they allow alot of contact. The only time abssesive contact is called is whn people start throwing haymakers (which are illegal) and when people strike an illegal target area very hard.

The main difference in the contact levels are that we throw alot of kicks off the front leg which obviously arn't as powerful.