Heavy Contact Sparring Gear

[DanT]

What gear do you use when you spar? For me:

Light Contact: No gear

Medium Contact: mouthguard, helmet, gloves, cup

Heavy Contact: mouth guard, helmet, chest protector, cup, shin guards.

I wear the chest guard for heavy contact to encourage my partner to really hit me and not hold back, especially on kicks.

 

[drop bear]

A combination of a mouthguard 16oz boxing gloves or i think about 7 or 8 oz MMA gloves shin guards and headgear.

I dont wear the hat with 16,s but I do with the mma gloves because they carve my face up a bit.

 

[Buka]

It kind of depends on what kind of sparring, and with who. Heavy contact - that's usually a couple of guys who are used to heavy contact sparring and have geared up appropriately for what it is they're doing. And the whole idea of "heavy contact" will be different for beginners, intermediate and advanced.

Cup and a mouthpiece are musts, IMO. After that, it's up to you. As for headgear, my opinion on that has changed so much, and so many times over the years - I really don't know.

I only go the chest protector route when sparring students for the first time. Their first time is always with me. Other than that I'm never wearing a chest protector, because I'm not letting you make me need one, regardless of how skilled you are. That just ain't happening.

Ii haven't, and won't, spar with leg kicks for a long time. If you kick me in the legs - I'll either cry or shoot you after class.

I like to wear shin guards.

Here's the thing - if you can find a sparring partner, a guy you can spar once a week after class, a guy who's as equally nuts as you are, regardless of what that level of nuts is, you're golden. A good way is to spar/roll for one minute after class. Definitely set a timer. Next week is two minutes, then three. And so forth. In a couple years you'll be surprised as to what you have accomplished, not only because of your extra sparring/rolling, but because you're both improving with a couple more years of class instruction under your belt. (and it will make all classes so much easier, and so much more fun than you can even imagine.) One of the greatest enjoyments in the Arts is to have a good sparring partner. if you find that, embrace it for all it's worth, because it's not forever.

 

[Ironbear24]

Heavy contact we do headgear and gloves, shin guards and foot pads. Everything else we use just a cup. You are required to wear a cup just to set foot in the dojo.

 

[Ironbear24]

Some of us spar heavy with no gear but that is if we choose to. I sometimes spar with them with no gear but that is after class is over and never part of class.

 

[marques]

I don't spar hard. My main objectives in sparring are timing and control. Usually, I use gloves (the smallest allowed in a given place) and shin guards (optional). Elbow protections sometimes.

But if it was for hard sparring, I would like to try the full body Tony Blauer stuff.

 

[KangTsai]

Gloves, mouth guards and shin guards. The intensity is determined by whoever lands the first strike c:

 

[Gerry Seymour]

For light sparring, I use cheap cloth-and-foam gloves. If I'm going to spar kind of hard, I'll get out my kempo gloves (more padding, and I still have fingers) and add shin/instep guards and forearm pads. I recommend students always use shin guards. I had years of soccer to toughen my shins, so light stuff doesn't usually bother mine. I've noticed those who didn't abuse their shins enough growing up have more trouble with the light stuff on bare shins. I should look into chest protectors for the program at some point - my students don't like my tendency to catch their ribcage up front.

If we're going to do head shots, that takes more prep. Add a mouthpiece and either remove glasses or add headgear that lets the glasses stay on (needs face protection). (Side note: all glasses-wearing students are encouraged to occasionally work without them, regardless of vision.)

 

[Danny T]

Shin guards are to protect your partner not you.

 

[Ironbear24]

For light sparring, I use cheap cloth-and-foam gloves. If I'm going to spar kind of hard, I'll get out my kempo gloves (more padding, and I still have fingers) and add shin/instep guards and forearm pads. I recommend students always use shin guards. I had years of soccer to toughen my shins, so light stuff doesn't usually bother mine. I've noticed those who didn't abuse their shins enough growing up have more trouble with the light stuff on bare shins. I should look into chest protectors for the program at some point - my students don't like my tendency to catch their ribcage up front.

If we're going to do head shots, that takes more prep. Add a mouthpiece and either remove glasses or add headgear that lets the glasses stay on (needs face protection). (Side note: all glasses-wearing students are encouraged to occasionally work without them, regardless of vision.)

My left shin is considerably much weaker than my right. Sad because my left leg can kick better than my right.

 

[Gerry Seymour]

Shin guards are to protect your partner not you.

They also protect you when you get blocked at the shin. We don't use a lot of shin strikes, especially not with beginners.

 

[Danny T]

Tempering begins first class after signing up...including shin conditioning.

 

[crazydiamond]

We dont do heavy - at least not our class. We spare light to medium light. Because of this our teachers do not ask for headgear because they believe in part it makes someone feel ok going harder, but if someone wanted to they could wear headgear

Cup (always), 14-16 oz boxing gloves, mouth piece, shin guards (if kicking).

We train but do not spar with MMA gloves (use focus mits).

We also have helmets and gloves and padded sticks for stick sparing.

 

[DanT]

On another note, what level of sparring intensity do you believe is necessary to develop an ability to fight? Light, medium, or hard at least?

 

[Gerry Seymour]

On another note, what level of sparring intensity do you believe is necessary to develop an ability to fight? Light, medium, or hard at least?

IIt depends what fighting capability you are developing. If it's for point-sparring, there's a different answer than mine. There's yet another answer if you're training for hard-contact competition (like MMA). I train for self-defense. I think there must be at least occasional visits to high-intensity. That can be in any combination of the following: sparring (which I classify as mainly strikes), rolling/randori (which I classify as primarily grappling/throws), attack simulations, and scenario drills. People have to learn to deal with some level of violence. I also think there must be some exposure to uncontained attacks, where the "attacker" is not trying to avoid getting hit/thrown/locked, but is committing everything to the attack.

 

[drop bear]

On another note, what level of sparring intensity do you believe is necessary to develop an ability to fight? Light, medium, or hard at least?

Hard at some point. At least enough that you dont turn to water when faced with some real pressure.

And that is often a pretty heavy immersion into hard sparring unfortunately. If you can't stay composed. You cant really use the techniques you have been training.

I am training up a bunch of noobs for the ring at the moment. We are getting a lot of this sort of stuff. Better to do it with me and get it corrected than to do it with someone who hates them.

 

[DanT]

Hard at some point. At least enough that you dont turn to water when faced with some real pressure.

And that is often a pretty heavy immersion into hard sparring unfortunately. If you can't stay composed. You cant really use the techniques you have been training.

I am training up a bunch of noobs for the ring at the moment. We are getting a lot of this sort of stuff. Better to do it with me and get it corrected than to do it with someone who hates them.

I agree, hard sparring is necessary to learn to fight.