Wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would ya?

[zen_celt]

Hmmm if only that were true...

I wear glasses. This can get to be a pain for me whenever I spar with anybody as it becomes hard for me to see anything until after it hits me. I find it strange that I have this problem mostly when sparring, and not when in an actual confrontation. If I'm just slap boxing/wrestling with friends and wearing glasses I'm ok, and if they get knocked off in a fight or something, I can usually work around it. But in sparring, I find it difficult as I won't wear them for fear of breaking, yet I just can't see a darned thing making it difficult to do anything but get hit. I was wondering if anyone had similar problems who could offer advice please?
Also, how well do contacts work? I haven't done it since I worry that if I get hit with them in, it could scratch my eye. But then again, I haven't heard of this happening.
-ZC

[JusticeZero]

What art are you in? I have two ideas:
First, if you wear some sort of safety glasses, then ask people not to hit you near your glasses (assuming you are in an art with a sufficient target choice) then you can take care of SOME training, albeit limited in ways.
Second, it is possible to compensate for not wearing glasses through practice. It sounds as though you have been doing this and that for some reason it fails only during sparring? Curious.
Third, perhaps an optometrist would be able to adress the question about contacts?

[oldwolf]

Never hit a guy with glasses, I always use a bottle.

Seriously you can get disposable soft contact lenses, I use them while doing the doors, the worst that has happened is one got folded over when a guy was trying to gouge my eye with his thumb, it was irratating, and blurred one eyes vision but was easly sorted when the fracas was over.

I would recommend that you train / spar with whatever you wear normally for reality ryu reasons. This means that although I wear contact lenses sometimes, I spar and train wearing my glasses. Over the years I have only had a couple of pairs destroyed, I have old pairs to use when training. :D

[Sharky]

laser treatment

[scotty1]

"Wouldn't hit a guy with glasses would ya?"

:)

Yes.

[wall]

Hi,

I wear glasses usually (I think I look more "professional" with them ;-) ) but I wear soft disposable contacts when training / swimming / playing / any other "physical" activity.
They are mostly made of water and cannot scratch anything, you just wear them for 1 day to 1 month (depending on the type / cost) then you just take them out, dump them and put on a new pair. As they suction over the eye and sit inside the edges of your eyelids they are almost impossible to lose too (I do lots of tumbling, I've been hit in training a few times, and I even surf with them including duck-diving with my eyes open).
If you are paranoid about potential confrontations you might still occasionally want to practice sparring with your glasses just in case you are caught in a situation when you are not wearing contacts.

wall

[Grappling-Insanity]

I would train without glasses becuz your going to fight without glasses anyway right? well if your smart that is.

[apoweyn]

i'm with oldwolf. i'd never hit a guy with glasses. a chair perhaps. or my car. but never glasses. they'd break.

i wear glasses. i'm brilliantly near sighted without them. but i never wear them when sparring. or training in general, really.

when i'm sparring, i don't need keen vision anyway. i'm not focusing on any one thing. i'm looking for general ideas of movement. everything's a blur, but i can that blur shift it's weight. i can see that blur lean forward or backward, etc. and i can react accordingly.

besides, even i can make things out from arm's length away. and that's as far away as they need to be with me still worrying about it.


stuart b.

[ewallace]

Might want to try some clear prescription sport goggles like some baseball and basketball players wear.

[zen_celt]

Thanks guys. I wear my glasses all the time unless I spar. I'll look into the soft contacts.

Apoweyn- you're right, I see the blur and generally can see it's movement but it's still that extra difficulty, I probably just need more practice.
Thanks for the advice guys.

BTW, in Godfather III, they kill a guy with his own pair of glasses. Food for thought.:)
-ZC

[apoweyn]

zen celt,

no worries. can i suggest more practice without the glasses? it's disconcerting, i know. but i think it'll pay off.


stuart

[Silumkid]

Re: contacts...I wear mine for everything. I use Acuvues...interested in looking into Acuvue 2's since they claim it "form fits" to the eye to negate any "popping out" as has happened to me with the ones I use now. No eye scratching to report, ever, but trying to drive home with one contact is...interesting. That's the only bad thing about disposable contacts...once they pop, they are pretty much dead unless you carry saline solution around to refresh them.

[LizMantis]

Maybe you could just wear contacts only to class I know alot of guys up here do that. I just wear glasses and the take them off. Maybe it will make my kungfu better.

[MaFuYee]

well, in crippled avengers (aka the return of the 5 deadly venoms), kuo chui got his eyes poked out by lu feng, with his iron hands, and then went to chiang sheng's master, who taught him how to fight by using his ears to hear the attacks comming...

* of course, if your enemies are using drums to distract you, you may need some backup.

[scotty1]

"BTW, in Godfather III, they kill a guy with his own pair of glasses. Food for thought. "

How?
:)

[dezhen2001]

i really don't wanna know...:eek:

david

[WCFighter]

Many years ago, I wore glasses, and when I sparred I would put on some sport (racquetball) glasses. (I looked like a complete idiot wearing these things.)

I liked the fact that they could take a lot of punishment, but I
didn't like the fact that I felt vunerable without them.

I would suggest you get soft contact lenses (which won't scratch your eyes, by the way; they may even protect the surface of your eye if someone's nails touch your eyeball). I have been wearing them for years now, and they work fine.

Try to bring some contact lense fluid ,and an extra pair in your gym bag just in case you need them.

[LizMantis]

I know there is no way I could wear racquetball glasses for anything, hehe. I think I am big enough of a **** as it is, and thats natural. I would not need to push it with anything else.