Sparring gear

[YongChun]

For those who are into heavy duty sparring, what kind of safety sparring gear would you recommend? I have read some people like Tiger headgear with plastic shield, others say AWMA with plastic shield or with cage type shield. Some say Centure fingerless bag gloves are good. What about pads and shields?

[Kevin Bell]

I originally came to VT from Boxing so i got a load of gear i still use.

Pad useage for impact training as well as wall bags training muscle memory to hit obviously in Chi Sau you dont want to be taking your partners teeth out.

Sparring/live scenarios just the bare minimum Gloves,gumshield,headguard.

I think if one puts a nuclear protective suit (well you know what i mean)we're missing the point.My opinions only...

[yellowpikachu]

With the inch punch of Wing Chun which can penetrate 3 inches of phone book.

I like the Kyokushin rule with no gear or min arm pad or legs pads, but restrain in attempting to injured others.

[Ernie]

I like the Kyokushin rule with no gear or min arm pad or legs pads, but restrain in attempting to injured others.


same frame of thought for me just some gloves , keeps you honest

i say this through chipped teeth of course :D


head gear if your working termination drills

but this should sll be complemented with sensitivity training as to not get to one sided with your power

[t_niehoff]

Yes, the less gear the better.

I've found that especially with beginners (to fighting) gear often helps them become comfortable until they gain confidence. Also, different types of "sparring-type drills" may require different gear (one drill I like is having one person fully geared and having them go full-out, Tank Abbott-style while the WCK fighter they're facing isn't geared; this gives the Abbott impersonator more protection as he's more exposed).

Regards,

Terence

[Kevin Bell]

Originally posted by Ernie
same frame of thought for me just some gloves , keeps you honest

i say this through chipped teeth of course :D


head gear if your working termination drills

but this should sll be complemented with sensitivity training as to not get to one sided with your power


Funny you should say that Bro.I just come back from the Dentist yesterday having some front teeth repaired legacy from Boxing.Took a munch into some Steamed Veg and out the filling came.Gonna have to get a new dentist me thinks!!!!!

[anerlich]

You guys DO use mouthpieces right?

That said, I had six teeth removed last year and am up for a $4000 AUS implant to fill the "beauty gap" left in my smile. One was cracked from a training accident.

I startted wearing my mouthpiece even for BJJ, after one unlucky session when I got unintentionally headbutted pretty hard once and kneed right under the chin twice - one of those was when we were just drilling sweeps, and it was a beautiful, precise, tooth-grinding shot.

Depends on exactly what we are doing, but gloves (either 14 oz boxing gloves or vale tudo gloves), groin cup, shin pads, elbows and knee pads, open face or grille-style headguards.

This is to stop injury, but still let you know you've been hit and feel pain with a good shot. Keeps you honest while still avoiding most of the black eyes, cuts, fractures and the worst of the bruises.

Escrima jacket and helmet, cricket helmet, forsarm protectors and gloves for weapons sparring.

All of that said, full power sparring should be occasional, not all the time. Moderate speed and power lead longer, more productive and enjoyable workouts, with much less injury downtime.

[Kevin Bell]

Yeah i do wear a gum shield just spent the last year or so rectifying my teeth which were damaged when i was younger from boxing with ill fitting gum shields.I advise anyone to get their gium shields molded to the shape of the teeth bya dentist

I feel the 14oz/16oz are a bit to heavy for sparring.However i feel they are perfect when practising Milling (British armed forces drill to practice controlled aggression).With regard to the shin and arm pads i dont really use them to be honest.Also i dont go for the Grill type headguard i feel they impede my vision badly.

[anerlich]

I know what you mean about the grille headguards, but I prefer them to the clear plastic faceplates, I can't breathe in those. I also saw an "unbreakable" Anzen Bogu helmet get busted once by a roundhouse kick at a tournament so I am less than impressed with such claims.

I only use those if there's a real chance of something coming in to poke my eye, like a practice weapon or the like. For weaponless, Id prefer open face boxing headgear.

IMO it's not so much how clearly you can see but how much peripheral vision you have - the latter being pretty bad with both grille and faceplace headgear. I've sometimes sparred with an old pair of squash goggles on to protect a damaged eye and felt I did OK, despite my view being pretty blurry, because I still had pretty reasonable perpheral vision, albeit smudged. Though with a helmet, I feel I get clocked a lot more by shots I never see.

Still it comes down to personal preference I guess - there seem to be no choice of customers for all types, and even in our academy some guys naturally gravitate toward the clear faceplates.

[SevenStar]

we use:

head gear - no faceplate
gloves
shin guards (optional)
cup
mouthpiece

as far as brand, either twins or ringside.

[curtis]

Hello guys!

If you are looking for heavy contact gear, look up FIST at http://www.fist-inc.com/tg/progear/Default.htm

there pro gear is GREAT, it is light weight, and realy absorbs inpact, I belive it is the best protection on the market.

check it out.

C.A.G.

[Toby]

Originally posted by SevenStar
as far as brand, either twins or ringside. 7*, what about Fairtex for headgear? Just that Twins is a bit hard to find where I am in Oz. Also, for headgear I presume trying before buying is a necessity because there are lots of online places but then I wouldn't be able to try sizes first.

[SevenStar]

fairtex is great. they are sometimes a pain to deal with though. I know people who waited in excess of 5 months for gear from them - service seems to have declined since gong was killed. However, I found out how to circumvent the system - they have some awesome shorts, IMO, and I ordered a pair for my last fight. I ordered them two weeks before and told the rep that my fight was coming up and I really wanted to fight in them...I had the shorts in 3 days.

[Toby]

I'm probably interested in full face, cheek and chin headgear. I guess I could get it online - I did find a Twins one at the same price as the comparable Fairtex here in Oz. I'd presume I'd be a large since there are only two sizes - large and medium.

[Ultimatewingchun]

1) Century fingerless gloves
2) Customized some basic martial art headgear - put a hockey facemask on it (thin vertical and horizontal metal bars cover the entire face area)
3) Shin and knee pads
4) groin cup
5) chest protector

All of the above for moderate to heavy contact.

For light contact: nothing but a groin cup

In both instances we wear light sneakers (Converse All Stars)

[SevenStar]

trying to restore meaning to the phrase "kiss my converse"? :)