Good Cup, Bad Cup?

[arnisador]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Wallace_(martial_artist)

He also suffered the loss of one testicle during a point fighting tournament, when his protective cup was struck at an unfortunate angle.

 

[Virtual Jim]

I've yet to own groin protection for sparring that was even remotely comfortable. Most were mildly distracting at best and some were just plain awful.

So I am in the market as it were. Who has a good cup story and a bad cup story? Which cup brand is best?

When I used to wear the combo of plastic cup and jock strap, I always found it incredibly uncomfortable.

When I spar these days, I use compression boxer shorts--under my actual gym shorts--built with a pouch for a cup. I use a metal MMA cup on the advice of my instructor. (I'm strictly Muay Thai.) The first day it felt slightly weird, but since then, I haven't noticed it at all. It's not cheap (just under $40 total? I can't really remember) but worth every penny.

 

[Dirty Dog]

I wear compression shorts with a pouch for the cup (actually, I wear the same compression shorts - without the cup - under my wetsuits) and it's much more comfortable than a jock.

 

[oftheherd1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Wallace_%28martial_artist%29

Ouch!

 

[bluewaveschool]

I have a very small asian female black belt (like 100 lbs on a good day) that has all kinds of trouble breaking boards. However, we've nicknamed her 'the nutcracker' since the time she was sparring and her side kick slid underneath the kick of her opponent, and CRACKED his cup in half. She get embarrassed about it to this day.

 

[Steve]

There's a kid who trains at one of our affiliate schools who's MMA nickname is "Nutshot."

 

[Tez3]

I wear compression shorts with a pouch for the cup (actually, I wear the same compression shorts - without the cup - under my wetsuits) and it's much more comfortable than a jock.

I can imagine having a jock in your underwear is not particularly comfortable!

 

[Instructor]

The last shot I got was just a stupid accident. I was trying to teach a student a good hammerfist strike and didn't have the right kind of target with me. I decided to substitute a kick target instead. He hit the target and it hit me. Several deep breaths later I was able to laugh along with my friends.

You would think with all the tech advances we've made they would have a better solution to this simple problem. Yet after all these years we still insert our senstive bits into a plastic or metal cup.

 

[Tez3]

The last shot I got was just a stupid accident. I was trying to teach a student a good hammerfist strike and didn't have the right kind of target with me. I decided to substitute a kick target instead. He hit the target and it hit me. Several deep breaths later I was able to laugh along with my friends.

You would think with all the tech advances we've made they would have a better solution to this simple problem. Yet after all these years we still insert our senstive bits into a plastic or metal cup.

Gelding?

 

[Instructor]

:mst: awkward..

 

[MaxRob]

There is a school of thought that says, "Unless you plan to wear one 24/7, don't wear one at all."

For those of us with a high genetic threshold this is an an interesting point, but.... Being misled by our bodies receptors working half mast understating levels of injury may be a serious issue, this is valid to both genders.

 

[MaxRob]

The problem is when you step out on to the street and three guys pop out of the bushes, and you go into Karate mode... Will you forget you aren't wearing a cup, or worse yet, remember you aren't wearing one, and stress. LOL I am just throwing little wisdoms and hypotheticals out there just to burden ya'll with "What Ifs" I have picked up on through the years.
Sean

Good point that is where pain conditioning comes in.

 

[Dissertating]

Of course, there's also a school of thought that says it's fun to put one round in a revolver, spin the cylinder and see if you blow your brains out.

Best match I ever saw was a guy that managed to make it pretty far in his match. Sadly he lost in the sixth by KO from a splatter technique by his opponent, colt. He had to retire from competition due to injuries from the match with a 0-1 professional record. Last I heard though, he went underground. It was the lax application of the rules on the part of the International Russian Roulette Federation. Usually only 5 people can face Colt at a time but they had six contestants (these tournaments tend to be small) and didn't want to hold multiple qualifying rounds.


On Topic: As others have said there is really no comfortable cup (that I've found), just some you can get used to. I prefer Shock Doctor using compression shorts.

-D.