Review: Raven Fightwear Four Horseman Fight Shorts – War

Today I am very excited to bring you my first ever gear review. I was approached by the very nice people at Fight Co, http://www.fightco.co.uk, a couple of months ago about doing a review for them. I definitely have a minor obsession with buying gear for training. I couldn’t tell you how many gis I have and I purposely don’t count them as then I will have to admit I have a problem and seek treatment. So naturally I jumped at the chance to pick out something new to try and review.

Because Fight Co is a UK based site, they had some companies that I haven’t seen much on this side of the pond (as they say). I really liked the Raven Fightwear gear, specifically their Four Horseman Fight Shorts. It was hard picking just one but I really liked the War ones so I selected them. You can check them out here: http://www.fightco.co.uk/clothing-c44/fight-shorts-c46/mma-shorts-c48/four-horseman-fight-shorts-war-p922.

First Impressions

I really liked the looks of these shorts when I got them. I know that many people like just plain shorts, gis, etc. I personally don’t mind a little bling with my gear and although these have a fairly large design, I didn’t think they were tacky or overly flashy. I really liked the knight on the front. The text on the back comes from Revelation I believe and reads:

“When we broke the second seal,
I heard the second living creature saying,
“Come.” And another, a red horse,
went out; and to him who sat on it,
it was granted to take peace from the earth,
and that men would slay one another;
and a great sword was given to him.”

This is probably a little heavy for training shorts. I briefly felt like the fate of the world was resting on my ability to submit an opponent (sorry world). Also I guess that if you wear these shorts you sort of have to accept that people might be reading your butt. As someone who likes to play turtle, I don’t mind giving people something to pass the time while I try to figure a way out.

These shorts are so badass that they put a crack in the floor of the change room

Performance:

I really liked the feel of these shorts when I put them on. They aren’t the typical material for shorts (think Venum and similar companies) but were very stretchy and soft. This lead them to be a little heavier when sweaty (and since it was in the 90s and my gym has no AC, they definitely got sweaty) but not something that bothered me too much. I did notice that they also rode up a lot. Not a big deal for me because I always wear compression shorts under my fight shorts but might be more aggravating if you don’t wear anything under.

I got to test these out in two classes this week. First up was conditioning class. In this class we do a ton of annoying things like pushups, squats, lunges, sit-throughs, etc. so I definitely got to test out the movement. I felt like they kept up with me well other than the riding up I mentioned. As an added bonus, every time I felt like giving up I looked down at my knight buddy and didn’t want to let him down so I kept going.

Next up I got to test them in jiu-jitsu. I felt like with a knight of war on my side, there was nothing that was going to stop me so I picked a couple of higher belts to roll with and figured we’d have our way with them. Well that didn’t work out so much (the product description doesn’t mention super powers but I was really hopeful) but the shorts worked out really well for rolling. I didn’t feel them or notice them which is all I am looking for in shorts. Again, I did notice I had to pull them down a lot but that is not really that unusual.

Ready for war

Overall:

I found these shorts to be really comfortable and I really liked the feel of them. They got me through some tough classes in some ridiculous heat so I can’t ask for much else. I have a feeling the other 3 horsemen will find their way into my wardrobe eventually.

Special thanks to the people at Fight Co for giving me the opportunity to do my first review.

Thanks Fight Co!