I'm in need of a new rash guard. I like the loose-fit style Sprawl makes, and that's the type I'm in the market for, but money's a bit tight right now. A quick websearch has shown absolutely loads of loose-fit rash guards made for surfing and watersports which are miles cheaper. So I'm wondering if anyone's tried watersports-type rash guards for rolling in and if so how well, on the whole, do they hold up compared to ones made by fightgear companies? Any recommendations for me? Cheers
As far as I know (from a surfer's perspective), they make very little difference as ultimately, the purpose is the same. The only difference that I know of is that a fight rash guard won't have any SPF, so its not much good for surfing.
My other half trains in a surfing rash guard. The material is not quite as thick, but its a lot cheaper, particularly if you get last season's colours.
Fight rashgaurd, like sport rashgaurds (think under armour) are made predominently from wicking fibers, designed to suck the sweat off you to keep you drier and cooler. Surfing rash gaurds generally have no wicking fibers at all, they're just a nylon shirt with an spf coating on them. You'll probably notice a fair difference in how hot you get in a surfing rashgaurd. You could always check out your local sporting goods stores, there are some good deals to be had in the brand name sports rashgaurds (at least the ones other than Under Armour). Big 5 near my house has everlast short and long sleave rash gaurds on sale right now for $9 each. They're noticably thinner than UA or the fightgear brands, but, they do wick well, and what the heck, I defiently get my money's worth out of them for that price. Nike makes good rashgaurds as well, and you can get good deals on them if you can find someone blowing out last years colors, as Ghost Frog said. I've picked up nike rashgaurds for as low as $14. They're thicker than the everlast ones and last longer in my experience. Cheers!
You can get rash guards pretty cheap these days: I bought mine from XFGear - $35 for a short sleeve, no problems when they sent it to me in the UK in terms of customs. Of course, that's tight fit, so may be no good to you. These ones are even cheaper at $29.95, but currently out of stock. Also, recently saw some cheapo Nike ones at JJB Sports on sale, for about 10-15 quid. May be worth looking around your local equivalent.
Personally I like Under Armour - retail at about 22 quid in the UK. Gotta get Heatgear though to stay cool.
This is something that's always cracked me up. The prices that grapplers are willing to pay for rash guards. It's obscene. The whole wicking fiber thing is just sales gimmick. I spent years and years hearing about the wicking qualities of different materials used in everything from jackets to socks to underwear for mountaineering. All of the hype courtesy of the corporations like DuPont and what not. One thing I'm certain of is after owning countless numbers of garments both with and without 'wicking' properties (North Face/Mountain Hardware etc.) is.... It made absolutely ZERO difference!!! At one point your sweating in such volume that there in NO wicking going on of any kind. Period. If you're anything like me when I train... I'm dripping within seconds. An absolute sweat bucket. Wicking means nothing at that point. It not as if the extra cash you laid down for that uber wicking grappling rashy is going to do anything different than a surf rashy. They're both going to end up soaking wet from sweat. Plain and simple. Don't get taken in by the hype.. Save your cash and get a surf rashy. I still roll in several of my old surf rashies (and for that matter an old pair of board shorts) not some uber slick... stupidly expensive version from whatever the grappling name brand at the moment is. To hear many grapplers go on about Sprawl gear you'd swear they were running catwalks with svelte models and not rolling with big sweaty men.
Very true. A few surfing rashguards have some sort of weird furry inside layer that is supposed to keep you warm, but most are exactly the same as any grappling brand ones.
While its true that there is no need to pay for some 'name' rash guard, from what I've been told (will have to dig out the thread) there are some notable differences between surfing rash guards and those specifically designed for grappling. For example, some grappling rash guards will come with a drawstring at the bottom in order to stop it riding up, as well as generally be cut longer than a surfing rash guard for the same reason. However, I've tried a grand total of one rash guard and never worn a surfing rash guard, so take that for what its worth.
Conversely, I bought quite a few V&M rashguards in Rio for about £4 a pop in a sale (they said Ricardo Arona on the back) and I used to go bodyboarding in them.
Thanks for the input, guys. Ordered myself a loose-fit Neosport one from eBay for about £12. As much as I loved my Sprawl one, I'm not up for spending that kinda money on another one
