Plastic Face Masks Sparring

[RenDaHai]

Hey Team,

I love putting gloves on and getting my nose bloodied as much as the next guy, but has anyone tried those kind of plastic transparrent face masks that go over a head guard?

Can you use them with no gloves? How much of the impact does it dampen? Do you cut your knuckles up?

I prefer to fight with thin gloves or no gloves so I'm looking at the face mask as an option. Not to eliminate the usual sparring with gloves, but just as an extra training tool. I've never used them before and want to give it a try, what's the verdict?

[SanHeChuan]

Mine might be too big but I still get the plastic shield in the face so the one I have doesn't offer much. I have no confidence in these things. Maybe someone else has had a better experience.

[Yum Cha]

Tried a few versions - the bubble & catchers mask style - and found that neither was what we wanted.

They project the contact surface too far away from where it really is,
They don't let you move your head properly and effect your breathing and vision, and
They apply too much leverage when hit sideways.

In my humble opinion.

Best we found was the regular headgear with cheek and chin, and you have to use light gloves.

[B.Tunks]

They can cut your hands pretty badly. Particularly just below or on the 2nd knuckle when wearing MMA gloves. Without gloves you will definitely end up with cuts. With the old kuoshu/garden gloves type thing they are o.k as long as you sand down any sharp seams. Some of these masks are good to use occasionally, because you still can get k.o'd and rattled but don't get broken facial bones or cuts. Definitely still need to use a mouthguard though because it's very easy to chip teeth, bite tongue and dislocate jaw. If you're interested here's a couple clips from my channel, sparring using this kind of mask and there are some reasonably heavy shots there, including a decent spinning heel kick which although dropped the kid, did not damage the mask at all (2nd clip).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQ2z_QUvjN8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHT6OxwBSCI

I think Yum Cha's assessment is spot on, though I would add that it's pretty much the only truly 'safe' headgear with non-training MMA gloves at 100% intensity. Personally, I think they are rubbish when used with boxing gloves unless used for those with some kind of facial injury (though we did muck about with them in the clip)

BT

[pazman]

There are full contact tournaments in Japan that use those "space helmets". I guess they aren't so bad if you want to fight full contact without messing your face up before going to work the next day.

Then again, one of my friends, a Baji practitioner, broke is hand on one during one such competition. It was so bad he had to have surgery on it.

I prefer a standard sanda headgear and light boxing gloves. And a cup and a mouthpiece, which the boys in China seem to neglect.

[RenDaHai]

Thanks for the replies guys,

Yeah thats pretty much what I expected.....

I like to do two types of sparring. One heavy contact with gloves, sanda rules. The other kind of like a cross between sparring and chi sao and pushing hands. You start with hands crossed and anything goes except that we use just touch contact, open hand and no gloves. We call the first Sanda the second Sanshou. I wanted to combine them into one, but I guess the face masks are not good enough.

Cheers

[sanjuro_ronin]

Ren,
I competed in a few daidojuku fights, the one with the "space helmet".

They work well to protect your face for next days meeting but you feel the precussive shock, they do very little to stave off KO's.

They have their place if you want to fight full contact and don't wanna damage your pretty face, but not on a regular basis though.

Like all things, they serve a purpose.

[David Jamieson]

they cut vision and don't bring a lot more in the way of protection than other head gear.

I also think they provide people with a somewhat falsely enhanced sense of security.
You can still get hurt pretty good with gear on and the more stuff, the harder someone is likely to hit your head.

especially with the propensity of people who spar in a competitive spirit (this is a great deal of people in the ranks of student in my experience).

Personally I prefer a well made chin and cheek piece of headgear.
with a mouthguard, cup and 14 oz gloves, good to go.

[taai gihk yahn]

tried them once, never liked them

to me, certain gear makes you neglect your defenses on a sub-conscious level - what's the point of defending what can't be hurt? of course, contact level is important as well - if u know the guy is going to try to take your head off, even if you are wearing head gear, you will be conscious of protecting yourself - it's more the light to medium contact arena where you can ignore certain things because the gear protects you...

I seem to recall some "old school" guys back when I was starting up (mid-80's), complaining about gear leading to more injuries than when they didn't use anything at all, because people got sloppy; just an observation...

[SanHeChuan]

How about some headgear recommendations from people?

I use .

[goju]

this is dissapointing i wanted to protect my pretty face

[GeneChing]

I suppose it depends on how hard you spar and what kind of sparring you do. Here's our version:
Clear Face Shield

[B.Tunks]

Despite their negatives I think they have their place and are definitely good for certain things, eg - introducing the inexperienced to hard head contact (both giving and receiving), self defence type sparring and application at high intensity.

[SteveLau]

I have a MMA head guard with mouth and chin protection. May be there is a need for me to use it more to have a sure opinion of it. Because I have not used it many times to spar with a live partner. In the last time I did, I got hit on my face twice. And it looks like the head guard reduces the peripheral vision. So an incoming hand or foot strike will be too late to handle when it starts below my visual range. I would like to try the clear face guard too. There is one that I have seen others used in the gym, but it does not have protection to other parts of the head besides the face. The one that is suggested by Gene Ching looks very good to try.



KC
Hong Kong