I agree with you to a point. Safety eqiupment prolongs the training but can also train one to take more abuse then they have to because of that protection. Take Kali for example. The difference between 99% of the standard Kali tournements and let's say ummm..... the Dog Brothers (you knew this was coming Terrence
) is that the guys with the tons of padding just race in swinging wildly and never feel the impact of the stick.... so it becomes more like a point sparring tournement. But the Dog Brothers?.... well they can really feel the sticks because they don't wear much protection.