When you spar, do you wear protective gear or not?

Question

I prefer to use protection, but i will never get used to the stress that happens in times of danger or the physical pain, so i dont use gear much anymore, and if i do, it mostly would be just hand wraps

Answer 1

no not even a cup. because you start to depend on them. and in the street you do not have them

Answer 2

Use only the bare minimum. You won't gain as much pain tolerance and toughness by using excessive amounts of gear. However, gloves, mouthpieces, headgear, cups, and shinpads are a good idea. If you must, just use gloves, but still... all of those things on that list really come in handy. The more/better equipment you're wearing, the harder you can spar. Plus, certain equipment makes the practice of dangerous techniques more viable. For instance, a face cage allows you to practice elbowing somebody on the ground. Goggles and a cup will let you practice eye-gouges and groin shots. And remember, the only way to get good at technique is to practice it with a resisting opponent. Good equipment makes this possible with a wide array of techniques. (Although, in the old days, a lot of people had to make due without gear. They suffered a lot more injuries than modern martial artists, which often benched them. They're tough mofos because of it, but they still missed out on a LOT of training time due to a broken this or that.)

Answer 3

No. The body is not as week as it is made out to be, it is pain that makes us week. When I spar, I do so not only with fists but with hardwood staffs and bokken. There have been many times at which I have had chunks of wood broken over my shoulder or stomach. It just takes some basic brains. Shy away from the stick and it will hit your colerbone problably break your colerbone, but if you stop caring about pain and move into the strike, you can absorbe the blow with your muscle and tendon breaking the stick and protecting the bone. Try to dodge a punch sidewasy and you can get hit in the ribs and they will break, stand in the middle and you can absorbe it with your stomach muscle.



There comes a point at which you have to no longer care about pain. Going home with bruises covering the majority of your body is not a bad thing, nor is it so terible if you pull a few muscles or get a light sprain. This only makes you stronger. It hurts like hell, but you learn not to care. You keep fighting, when your thigh is bruised and your elbow has been hiperextended and you are dizy from the last hedshot and your spine is sore and you are not only still fighting, but fighting as fluidly as if you were not injred, ignoring the stiffness and the paion of movement, keeping a strong face so that if somone were to walk past they would not suspect that you started sparing more than thrity seconds ago, that is the strenght sparing is meant to build. When you get home, you can take a bath and rub your muscles, perhaps a nap. When you use any other suplement, you learn to rely on it.



It was genges khan who said "hard training, easy combat, easy training, hard combat". Ideally, the daily torment you put yourself through will be greater than the changes your oponetn offers. Some people punch a punching bag with wrist raps and boxing gloves, I punch a tree. If you practice on something softer then flesh, then making contact with flesh will be a surpise, practice on something harder, and contact with flesh will feel like a luxery. Reel fight lasts thirty seconds, spar lasts two hours. Reel oponetn you can see, sparing you do blindfolded (sometimes). Whatever it is, make sure your training is more dificult than fighting.

Answer 4

We don't use protective gear in my dojo. But if we enter a tournament then we must abide by their rules, which means we wear head gear and gloves and mouth guards.

I prefer not to use gear in my classes because students needs to know how it feels to get hit or kicked. When on the street you can't call a time out to run home and get your gear so learn to fight like you are out in the real world.

Answer 5

If you are doing a striking martial art and you do not use any kind of protective gear you are doing something wrong.



There is a limit of what your body can take if you go full force with no gear. It is a bit pointless go way slower or go fast and have to recover for days.

Answer 6

Depends really to be honest. In Kickboxing, while sparring within our gym we wear, head guards, spin pads (maybe), gloves (obviously), hand-wraps etc.



Professional kickboxers don't wear head-guards while fighting, so while training/sparring they don't wear head guards. Semi-Pro, Amateur, Friendly fighters all have to wear head guards, and another protective gear while fighting, therefore their going to wear them during sparring to get used to the feel of them.



So really, it depends on your discipline. If your a professional, don't wear your head guard, etc. Get used to the feel of being hit without your protective clothing. If your not professional, then don't risk a really harmful injury, wear what your expected to wear during a fight situation.

Answer 7

No I don't. Neither does any other adults in our school. Anyone under 14 has to due to legal jargon. We hit pretty hard, too. Not full force, but it is full contact. I haven't worn any kind of sparring gear in probably over 10 years.

Answer 8

Depends.

In class sparring - Not unless I'm told to.



Animal day - Head-gear, Groin-guard, Mouth-guard, Shin-pads, Bracer-pads, Gloves, Torso-shield.



Kyokushin competition (all open) - Mouth-guard, sometimes wrist wraps (Groin-guard is optional, I prefer to take my chances)



Open Karate competitions - Gloves, Booties, Mouth-guard, Groin-guard, Head-gear.



Open TKD competitions - Gloves, Booties, Chest and Back-guard, Mouth-guard, Groin-guard, Head-gear.



Muay Thai competitions - Gloves, Shin-pads, Mouth-guard, Groin-guard.



Kickboxing - Gloves, Shin and instep pads, Mouth-guard, Groin-guard, Head-gear.



MMA - Mouth-guard and Gloves (Groin-guard depends on competition) I sometimes wear a knee-pad on my right knee, it gets twitchy when it gets mat burn.

Answer 9

we just use gloves and mouth pieces. my master says its bad to be all wraped up because when you get hit for real you wont be able to handle the pain, which is true

Answer 10

i just wear a gi and that's it

Answer 11

Not.

Answer 12

No.