Protective sports equipment with layered segmented padding

A wearable article of protective equipment for protecting a portion of a body of a user, comprising:

• a. A first protective element to shield said user from impacts;
• b. A second protective element to shield said user from impacts;
• c. A flexible connecting means joining said first protective element and said second protective element;
• d. The first protective element having a first position and second position relative to the second protective element, the flexible connecting means permitting the first protective element to reversibly move from the first position to the second position;
• and
• e. a padding element configured to at least partially overlap said flexible connecting means in said first position and said second position to shield said user from further impacts.