RDX CX Polygel Groin Cup Review

RDX CX Polygel Groin Cup (formerly RDX Gel Abdo Guard and Groin Cup) Review

Brand

RDX is one of the UK’s most widely known fight brands, who are now pushing thier products over to the US, as well as already having popularity in a large number of countries. They have a reputation for producing quality gear for any level, with reasonable price tags. They’re often people’s first choice for equipment when they’re starting out in martial arts.

Note: Since we originally wrote this review, RDX have made some minor updates to the product name and printed logos. As a result, some details may not be fully accurate, although the review is still representative of the current product.

Visuals

The RDX CX Polygel Groin Cup is a groin guard designed to be used with either a separate jock strap or compression shorts. Personally I used this in combination with RDX’s Adjustable Abdominal Compression Flex Shorts (See our review here). The groin guard itself comes in two colour variants – a blue and black version and an orange and grey version. The material is slightly textured, using the highlight colour around the rims and for the logo. As the guard is worn in either a jock strap or compression shorts, the appearance isn’t really too important.

Materials

The cup itself is a lightweight, high-impact polycarbonate. This allows slight flexibility of the cup, however this doesn’t reduce the cup’s strength. The rim is outlined with a thick layer of gel polymer, to transfer the impact into the body, rather than applying pressure to the groin directly. The cup is shaped to be longer and fit to the shape of the body, rather than to sit over the front.

Comfort/use

When wearing these, I found they fitted the body really well when in the right position, and the long curved shape fits the body well. Despite the fit being good, I felt that the gel around the rims wasn’t as comfortable as it could be. This meant that when moving around or receiving strikes, it could be a little uncomfortable. When accidentally catching a kick for example, the gel still left quite a shock to the body. While this isn’t ideal, it did mean that there was almost no pressure on the groin itself, but rather the pelvis instead, distributing the shock as a good groin guard should.

As mentioned earlier, these are comfortable in the correct position, however when worn with the compression shorts I used (which are one of RDX’s suggested pairings), I found it was never quite in the correct position, and were instead held slightly too far forward. This fit will likely vary from individual to individual however, so may well sit fine on most other people. The guard also has slots in the top corners and at the bottom for the straps to go through, which makes for a tighter fit but is only really useful for those specific compression shorts.

Ignoring the cup being too far forward, I found that the slight flex and the slim, tall design meant that there was plenty of manoeuvrability and it didn’t reduce the range of motion at all. One of the problems with the shape though, is that it sticks out and seems to create a much larger bulge than other groin guards. While some men will no doubt enjoy the ego boost, the reality is not so practical. I could see this getting easily caught or knocked if worn during Jiu Jitsu for example. Any accidental strikes can press into the body twice as hard.

Cost

RDX currently sell the RDX CX Polygel Groin Cup on its own at around £16. That really isn’t a terrible price for a groin guard with a fairly refined design and build.

Looking to buy these?