Wearing a mouth guard is always a good idea when practicing Jiu Jitsu. I wear a mouth guard regularly I was excited when Elite MMA asked me to review Shock Doctor’s Power Gel-Nano mouth guard.

The Power Gel-Nano is a heavy duty mouth guard with a high-quality look and feel. Looking at its packaging, one would get the impression that the Gel Nano is Shock Doctor’s “deluxe” item, like the nicest car released by by Honda or the most powerful laptop released by Apple.

Description

The mouth guard features a plastic frame encasing the gel mold material, which is the material surrounding the teeth while the mouth guard molds to your mouth. Both materials change shape when setting, but the design of the product ensures that your teeth don’t really touch the frame itself, only the inner gel mold. The mouth piece is designed to provide more insulating gel mold material than other mouth pieces.

Most quality mouth guards feature a frame for structural integrity, which often act a “skeleton”, giving the product form and structural integrity. A key difference in the design of Gel-Nano, however, is that its frame is bigger and more pronounced, surrounding the wearer’s teeth and gums at a deeper level than many other mouth guards.

For some wearers, this is bound to make the Gel-Nano feel larger then a typical mouth piece. There is a positive consequence to the large frame: it gives the wearer a more confident sense of protection. In fact, when I wear this mouth guard I have virtually no fear experiencing a mouth or tooth injury.

The Gel-Nano mouth guard also provides some indentations in the gel mold for the lower teeth, both for some front teeth and rear molars. Other mouth guards I wear regularly, including the Shock Doctor Gel-Max mouth guard (also available at Elite MMA), don’t feature dramatic indentations for the bottom teeth. These indentations in the Gel-Nano help the mouth piece feel more secure and protective, but it makes it harder to talk. Then again, no one wears mouth guards to give speeches or communicate effectively.

The Gel-Nano’s Trade-Off

While it is obvious the Gel-Nano mouth guard is meant to be an ultimate, premium mouth guard in terms of protection, you will likely trade some comfort for this protection. It does feel large –annoyingly so at times – but it’s something I mostly only notice when I’m not participating in a physical class activity.

Because of this the Gel-Nano is probably not going to be replacing my Gel-Max mouth guard when drilling grappling technique or rolling, but it is a very strong contender to replace it when I practice stand-up self defense and take-downs (I normally have my head gear and mouth guard case accessible in class). When we start doing activities which I feel warrant stronger protection I’ll grab the Gel-Nano. I’m slowly finding myself getting accustomed to the sense of protection it provides despite the size.

The protection does feel top notch. I couldn’t imagine fighting MMA (or sparring in Muay Thai or boxing) with anything else. I expect many professional MMA fighters have it on hand and use it regularly.

Pros
- Deep indentation in the gel mold surrounds more teeth and gums, providing greater protection.
- Deeper mold indents for lower rear molars add extra stability
- Feels well-made and of high quality
- Feels more protective and insulating than other mouth guards

Cons
- May feel large or uncomfortable to some people
- Related to above: for people with smaller mouths, the amount of gel mold in the mouth guard may also be excessive
- More difficult to mold to mouth.

Some Advice…

Although not related to a the review above, I did want to share a bit of advice: when you pick a up a mouth guard, make sure you follow its molding directions as accurately as you can. About 8 months ago I let mouth piece get too hot in the molding process: the result was a deformed mouth guard beyond salvation.

Not too long ago I ordered the Atama Ultra-Lite Gi, which, as confirmed via email with Atama-Kimonos.com, ships with the Mundial #9 pants.

This is a review for Atama Mundial #9 pants, size A3*.

Currenly, the gi and pants are sold only as a pair, but I expect them to be available individually soon.

For a rundown of the Atama Mundial #9 Gi, check out Georgette Oden’s writup where you can also find links to some reviews.

Materials & Structure

The pants are 57% cotton and 43% polyester, but feel like 100% cotton to the touch. Not surprisingly, they are thin – perhaps thinner than denim or an average tee-shirt. Despite the thinness of the material, the pants are still tough and most seams are triple sewn. The pants have no stretch.

Atama must have confidence the pant’s material. I was expecting to find the bottom cuffs reinforced with a thicker fabric, but found it to be reinforced by the same cotton material as the pants. The drawstring also uses the same material rather than a cord or rope (which holds very well when rolling).

The pants also feature a generously large reinforced knee area from about three inches from the bottom of the pant to the top of the thigh.

An interesting disadvantage of the material – at least in white – is that it readily collects and retains dirt and residue. I have owned these pants for a little over a month now and worn them about 12 times or so: they already show more dirt than another pair of pants I own – which was worn to almost every class for about 7 months.

Feel & Cut

Light! The pants feel light and don’t get in the way – and as alluded to earlier, tough. I am currently playing a lot of open guard so my pants are often grabbed (tightly) around the knees. I’ve never thought twice about the material or stitches not holding.

One of my favorite things about the pant is the cut. It is roomy enough not to impede movement, yet tight enough so that it feels like there is no excess cloth. I find the cut of the pants to be a perfect middle ground. They hit at a comfortable spot above the ankles.

From left to right: close-up of patch on upper right thigh, example of reinforced inseam, close-up of drawstring, and the bottom cuff.

Lastly, the pants have good “hang” – they tend to maintain their shape rather than drape over the legs when standing. They also tend not to stick to my legs when they are sweaty.

Summary

I cannot attest to how well these pants wear on every body type. I am 5′11 and about 168 pounds with long arms and legs, and I wear a 32” waist.

These pants are are a great find and I’d buy them again, but probably in a different color. I really enjoy the material, the cut, and I really do feel less “weighed-down” when I roll in them.

* I didn’t review the entire Ultra-Light because I did not feel I wore the top enough before having it tailored to fit me better. It took about 4 or 5 classes to realize the cut was really not for me, despite getting the correct size. I don’t feel right about giving it a review after the alterations.

I will say this, however: the material is good and light and I could really get used the room in shoulders.

Sprawl is the creator of the first “loose” short for grappling and MMA – a fact they proudly share in their their company history. Sprawl takes pride in its products – and based on my experience with their V-Flex CS Standard Short – they have good reason to.

Sprawl explains the V-Flex series are

“constructed of a heavy duty stretch fabric and incorporate the super stretch double layered flex panel…[and] are the first MMA short to incorporate varying degrees of stretch for unparalleled comfort and function”

Below is my review of the Sprawl V-Flex CS Standard short.

Overview

I have no complaints regarding their fit, material, or reliability. I am pleased and recommend the Sprawl V-FLex CS to anyone looking for a good grappling short.

Materials

Like most shorts from Sprawl, the garment has a great, light feel to the touch. They are quick to dry – and while the tag says they are overwhelmingly polyester, they do not feel like “traditional” mesh workout shorts. Sweat evaporates almost instantly for me, and they even feel virtually dry when I take them out of the washer.

There are two main “regions” of material on the exterior of the short – which seems fairly standard for many shorts from Sprawl: an “exterior” region – which covers most of the short – and an “interior” region that lies between the thighs and groin. The exterior fabric has less stretch and shine compared to the interior material. I was initially skeptical that the external material had enough stretch to it – but after wearing them over and over, it was clear to me the material is just about perfect for the garment.

Fit

I have a size 32 waist – and a size 32 in this short fits me perfectly. The short also has a great closure system, featuring both velcro and a drawstring. Once I have these on I feel like they are not going to slide around, even in the most intense grappling session. The shorts look and feel good with or without a cup.

The length of the shorts are a good compromise between being long enough to look good and not impeding movement. I have never felt encumbered in my leg movements during grappling or stand-up fighting.

Reliability

These shorts have been my de-facto short for non-gi workout sessions and seem to take a beating well. There are some frayed threads in the stitching along the exterior of the legs but I suspect it is normal wear and tear. I don’t expect them to unravel anytime soon, either on the mat or in the washing machine.

Other Notes

Make sure to note the care instructions say not to tumble dry the garment -  if you are a person who is used to throwing everything in the dryer when doing laundry, recognize that these shorts should probably be hang-dried.

I am happy to answer any questions about these shorts or my experience with them in the comments of this post.

pic credit(s): First image is from http://www.sprawl.tv/Products/V-Flex-Series/V-Flex-CS-Standard-Black-Closed-Outseam.