I don't know about you, but in the UK it seems there's not many weeks when I don't need to wear some sort of padded body layer under my goalkeeper kit. We start the season in August when the ground is dry and rock hard, then it softens up for a few weeks in October, before going rock hard with the low temperatures of Winter. That lasts through to March when it starts to soften up again, then the season ends April/May and by June it's rock hard dry again!
Even with more and more artificial 3G & 4G pitches being built in the UK, I find that wearing a thinly padded impact base layer takes the edge off the landing when diving.
Over the last 2-3 years I've bought a variety of padded under garments to help protect my hips, knees & elbows. I started off age 6 with the old-style thick tracksuit bottoms with padded hips and knees and a padded goalkeeper top with padded elbows. These gave good protection when I was first learning to dive. But as I've got older and developed my quick movement around the goal, they feel too heavy and I find they restrict my agility. So I've ended up buying various brands to find which one works best for me.
There are a lot more to choose from now, with better technology in clothing materials. So I now prefer to wear the lycra-style body layers which are light and thin, but with padding in the right places.
With a variety of colours too, I decided to produce a video of my top 5 body layers for goalkeepers. Click on the image below to watch it;
There are padded shorts and long trousers with padded knees & hips, upper body layers with padded elbows and even shoulder & rib padding. There is something to suit everyone and often it's down to personal preference. I couldn't say which one is the best as I tend to wear a different one depending what colour kit I have on over the top and what sort of surface I'm playing on.
I hope you enjoy the video and that it is if some help to you.
Henry ⚽👐