Little Known Methods To Care For Your Taekwondo Sparring Gear
Games Guy | November 15, 2011
Taekwondo is among the most popular martial art so far based on the number of its practitioners. It entails combat, self defense, sport, exercise, meditation and philosophy, with focus on kicking techniques. Sparring, which is an important part of taekwondo training, is an official Olympic sporting event. Being such, its training usually concentrates on developing the skills of a practitioner in executing a system of blocks, kicks, punches and open-handed strikes along with techniques like take-downs, sweeps, throws and joint locks. And for a practitioner to be able to join in sparing sessions during training, and especially in competition, he must use a taekwondo sparring gear. It is but usual for every taekwondo practitioner to have spent a lot whenever he acquired his sparring gear. So it is but imperative that he knows how to care for his taekwondo equipment to make sure it endures long years of use. Caring for sparring gear requires understanding of proper cleaning methods.
Your gear will probably be exposed to sweat, bacteria, viruses and dirt every single training session. This can have a negative impact on the quality of your gear over time. But the long term effect is not the only concern here, because even after the practice when your gear is not given ample attention, it can develop bad odors, and as a result, become embarrassing and offensive to both you and your co-practitioners at the same time. This holds true for both taekwondo and karate sparring gear. For this reason, it is necessary that after the training session, you will take out the contents of your gear bag and begin cleaning. You need to let the gear dry in an area where there is good air circulation.
For cleaning individual pieces of the gear, the following techniques are helpful: the mouth guard is washed with soapy water, immersed in mouthwash for a few minutes and air-dried; foam protective equipment is cleaned by wiping with either antibacterial wipes or a moist cloth, together with the application of sanitizer specially for gym use; and cloth or fabric based equipment can either be hand washed or machine washed on a gentle cycle using soap and water, and then air dried. The gear bag should also be cleaned because no matter how well maintained your sparring gear set is, if they would be kept in a stinking bag, your attempts will be useless. You can also utilize antibacterial wipes to take away sweat and dirt from the bag. It should then be left open for air-drying and an air freshener can be kept inside the bag to further take out bad odor.