Hi Tony.

I have been doing some training this morning just drilling with focus mitts and striking shields, and I noticed that when using an elbow strike for example the strike shield was not sturdy enough to absorb the impact, and at about 10 to 15 % power my strikes were penetrating all the way through the pad.

I notice Peter Consterdine and a few other instructors using what peter calls an etha-foam pad which is made up for his striking and absorbs a lot more impact than a regular shield and is more heavy duty.

Finding places that sell these are hard at best, and very expensive for the only supplier I found. being told that it is used to pack engineering parts, I thought you would be the ideal person to ask.

So...

Have you any ideas where I can obtain some of these for my own training.
any help on this matter mate would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks mate
Craig

Hi Craig,

Creating new striking pads is a personal interest of mine.

Here are some ideas for you:

• I replace all the filler in all my pads (focus, kick shield, Thai Pads,) etc by buying the foam filler from the Cotswold foam products in Gloucester; tel: 01452521364. They offer various densities so that for the same pad design you can create your own range of density for impact development. For example the standard Blitz sport long focus pads that go just past your wrist, when the foam wears out the leather is still good and you can simply undo the lace on the side and slip a new foam pad in – you can choose your own density and it is all cut to size for you – the cost is between £4.50 and £5.50 a pad depending what density you have – in fact I just put Peter Consterdine in touch with them and he is delighted with the choice and quality and the fact he can now have his own custom pad
• Staying with the Gloucester foam company you can order 12” x 12” (or bigger to suit you) foam high density to your own thickness and wrap it in polythene then cover it in duck tape and you have your own impact pad – you can have 2” thick and then tape 2 of these together to give you 4” and so on – I think Pete has the old ethafom pads as 12 x 12 and some at 2” and some at 3” thick
• You can use rice bags from Tesco’s or buy bulk rice in huge bags and make pads – I use a minimum rice bag size of 10” x 10” and 2” thick all wrapped in duck tape and you simply hold it top and bottom in the palm of your hands – you can have bigger rice bags if you want – in fact we just bought wholesale 100kg of rice in 20kg bags so that we can make 40 impact rice bags for the seminar on the 21st -
• You can do something I have been thinking for a while but never got round to it and that is to get a collective order for ethfoam pads from say 10 cubs the same size Pete uses and go to http://www.polyformes.co.uk/ethafoam.html and get them to make bulk order. The one thing you need to do is get samples so that you get the density right. There are four densities and you need a sample of each, although my guess is you will end up with the 102 kg/m³ - they are a UK company so you can call them – there is also the opportunity to start SDF forum based ethafoam pads and the profits could go to charity something like the NSPCC and on that basis you may find that Polyformes may do them cheaper as they are also contributing got a good cause. If you find them receptive then you should ask Peter if you can loan an ethafoam sample from him and send it to these guys to copy and quote you – we will certainly buy some.

Ethafoam 220-E / 35 kg/m³ / Packaging / Flotation
Ethafoam 400-E / 64 kg/m³ / Packaging / Flotation
Ethafoam 700-E / 102 kg/m³ / Highload Bearing
Ethafoam 900-E / 145 kg/m³ / Highload Bearing

Hope this helps

Regards,
Tony

Hi Tony

A lot of good ideas there mate, So I will definately be looking into it. I had a feeling you would be the man to ask and as always mate, you did not disappoint.

Cheers mate
Craig

Craig,

You are most welcome email/call me anytime - I am going to Egypt next week for one week but this time is actually a holiday with my good lady wife Jenny - but you can text or email me if you need anything as I have my blackberry with me - see you at the SDF semminar

Regards,
Tony. T

Thanks mate

Craig

Tony i have many of these how mnay do you want?

Hi mate i have loads of the foam to make the pad you want I can make you ten up if you like its high density impact foam i have twenty in my club and i can get unlimited amount..let me know

hi Craig,

most of the focus pads i have had the insides replaced i find then far to light to get any feed back and a little soft,i tend to use canvass or old jeans ripped up the gives them a nice feeling with a bit more weight,I've got sand in others just emptied the filling and doubled up some plastic bags and filled with sand they feel really nice for closed hand and elbows,I've used rice bags before they have a real good feel but i haven't tried it in a focus pad yet

sometimes ill also put a layer of foam on the outside of the pad as well for a different feel,i try to give them a more convex shape more like a head/body

i have tried water in some focus pads but haven't found anything that doesn't burst through a short time,the last one was a couple of 2 heavy duty balloons and a condom for security it worked for a short while and felt really good until it burst and gave mol a soaking,he wasn't that bothered until i told him it was a used condom

i have found that pads that suit punching/elbows don't necessarily work well for the open hand and vice versa i also have pad designed for certain strikes/angles

i also find that the etha-foam pads a bit hard if your on the receiving end(but depends who's hitting them)

Creating new striking pads is a personal interest of mine.

hi tony,

same here,
im going to bring some various pads and a few different training aids to the seminar,with a few incarnations of the latex ball,do you use anything like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEIWKSAK8J4&feature=channel_page

i got the original idea from a rick fay DVD he was using knicker elastic and a tennis ball,i find them very good for targeting hand/elbow to eye and have shown great benefits with my students,and also solo training

cheers karl

Hi Peter,

Been meaning to tell you that my daughter emma often talks about (all nice things) as she enjoyed training with you when she did Geoff's master class - if you were closer she would probably train with you once in a while.

Can you tell me what size the are including thickness and how much they are so that I can make a decision -

Regards,
Tony

Hi Kaarl,

Great stuff mate - Harry Cooke used a similar piece of kit except he tied a tennis ball to the end - I use a ball that size with no elastic and just hold in one hand as it is less noisy as I use it in hotel rooms when I travel -

I loved the clip you sent me - can you tell me how to make them or do you buy them - and I would love to try one if you have one spare that I can test on - let me know if you want to send a sample and I will give you my home address.

Once again great reply mate well impressed.

Regards,
Tony

Pete

Drop me a pm mate, its me who is after them
all the ones I found are horrendously expensive and a pain in the butt to get hold of.

pm me mate
Craig

Hi guys

Some great info and ideas on this thread, going off topic slightly but
if any one wants to increase the density or remove hard spots from a heavy bag then I would really recommend this product

http://www.lbsgardenwarehouse.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=DUNR&src=froogle

This is one of the few online shops that will deliver this material in single bags as opposed to 20 bag pallets. Your local garden centre may also stock it.

It makes the bag dense and heavy but is especially designed not to compact retaining its give when struck and fills out the bag perfectly with no inconsistancys in density, I used around 6 bags on a fairtex tear shapped bag and it now weighs around 110lbs.

Thanks for that Luke

Some nice ideas on here.

Craig

Hi Luke,

Good to hear from you - did you get some of those books I mentioned - hope you like them -

Regards,
Tony

Hi Tony

I've got hold of quite a few of them now mate, reading The Naked Ape at the moment, once thats done i'll be moving on to the NLP books. Thanks for the list, I really appreciate it. Have a good holiday, i'm sure it's well deserved.