Sparring w/o headgear

[RJ Powell**]

I'm training at a new daytime gym (muay thai), and we do "light sparring" without the headgear. But with us being men, "light sparring" can easily turn into playful slugfests. We do use 16oz gloves though. The only time someone trains w/ headgear is if he has an amateur bout coming up. Keep in mind this isn't boxing, so the number of punches thrown to the head are considerably less per round.

My instructor doesn't really like us wearing head gear. He says it damages our brains more than going without it. He told us to rub some vaseline on our face and gloves if we were gonna spar hard. But:

1)My gloves are really nice, and i think too much oil-based product would ruin the leather.
2)I think the excessive vaseline will give me some pimples, cause i got oily skin.
3)Vaseline is just some overall nastiness.

Should i just wear a headgear? It's not like i will be crucified for it. And can anyone point me to some real stylish and extremely comfortable headgears? Thanks.

 

[boxer steve]

I wore my head gear for the sole purpose of keeping my head from cutting or getting cut. I dont see it as a useful piece of equipment for dampening a punch. So I would wear it for cut protection. Plain and simple.

 

[Yanoush]

no headgear>headgear

 

[boxer steve]

no headgear>headgear

why?

 

[ambertch]

no headgear>headgear

fuck that. If you go to olympic boxing, or the golden gloves, they are wearing headgear.

You know who doesn't wear headgear and 20z gloves? People who don't punch hard enough. (or have iron jaws - how many of us do?)

If you had an extensive boxing background you would absolutely NUTS to be sparring without heavy protection.

 

[Rinksterk**]

fuck that. If you go to olympic boxing, or the golden gloves, they are wearing headgear.

You know who doesn't wear headgear and 20z gloves? People who don't punch hard enough. (or have iron jaws - how many of us do?)

If you had an extensive boxing background you would absolutely NUTS to be sparring without heavy protection.

Actually, headgear is used mainly to protect against cuts. Now I haven't seen any actualy research (if there is any) on headgear's ability to protect the brain, but I've been told numerous times it doesn't really do all that much for brain protection since damage to the brain is done by the brain jolting around inside the skull. I never hurt worse when sparring without headgear.

Fighters use headgear before fights because bad cuts be a reason to postpone or cancel a fight. You don't wanna go into a fight with a fresh cut on your face.

 

[GOCANES751**]

Actually, headgear is used mainly to protect against cuts. Now I haven't seen any actualy research (if there is any) on headgear's ability to protect the brain, but I've been told numerous times it doesn't really do all that much for brain protection since damage to the brain is done by the brain jolting around inside the skull. I never hurt worse when sparring without headgear.

Fighters use headgear before fights because bad cuts be a reason to postpone or cancel a fight. You don't wanna go into a fight with a fresh cut on your face.

Thanks for the information. I usually spar without headgear.

 

[Yanoush]

why?

because that shit smells and is always getting in my face

 

[stlnl2]

Sparring is rarely close to 100% contact wise, unless you are in a gym where wars break out and people are more interested in pissing contests than training.

IMO much more than bloddy nose contact is more than needed. So head gear is certainly not needed. Folks who spar "all out" are usually douche-bags who have no idea what sparring is for.

Pros dont go all out, they dont HAVE to to hurt one another. Landing clean and keeping your balance and wits about you is alot more important than trying to KO each other. Personally I dont wear head gear too often, but do once in a while if I expect there to be a few wild men sparring, or if I want green guys to stop worrying about getting poked a little and to work inside more. HEad gear does tend to turn otherwise tentative punchers into Tough man types (with inexperienced guys) and doesnt really change the work rate too much with good guys who trust one another.

 

[andrewbc]

headgear blows balls, your lucky, our coach made headgear mandatory a few months ago.

 

[Chris H]

We don't use headgear, however we don't spar at anywhere near 100% and we use 16oz. gloves.

 

[Graver]

I only wear headgear for kickboxing/muay thai for 90-100% intensity sparring, which is rare.

When I'm at a boxing gym we always wear headgear for sparring.

And headgear will help with cuts maybe but its not going to do anything when it comes to getting your bell rung.

 

[KOnah]

I see headgear as useful if you fall/get ko'd or vs headkicks, i don't see much point in them with punches.

 

[vu]

I spar with contact in and for the first time in 2 years, since I'd started MT, I had one of them knocked out...

My coach told me that if he'd known I wore contacts, that he would have told me to wear some head gear a long time ago when we spar b/c it'll help keep the glove from actually making contact with my eye when I get hit...

I still don't spar with one, though...

 

[vu]

*edit* Double post

 

[Vector_X]

hmm never worn headgear sparring either. I dunno it doesn't give you that safety net and forces you to keep your hands up in a hurry once you get kicked in the head the first time. One guy did wear headgear though for a bit after he broke his nose. We still gave him shit for it though because it was all in good fun.

 

[vince89]

At my gym we dont use headgear, we hit pretty hard but no one really swings to take your head off, if you get knocked down its more because of the timing of the punch rather than the power. I competed with headgear and I hated it, Id never used it in training and I couldnt see shit. I think headgear sucks, I can understand if you are a pro fighter and have alot of cuts and dont want to make a bad situation worse, but I would generally advise against it.

 

[TheCuttlefish]

Actually, headgear is used mainly to protect against cuts. Now I haven't seen any actualy research (if there is any) on headgear's ability to protect the brain, but I've been told numerous times it doesn't really do all that much for brain protection since damage to the brain is done by the brain jolting around inside the skull. I never hurt worse when sparring without headgear.

Fighters use headgear before fights because bad cuts be a reason to postpone or cancel a fight. You don't wanna go into a fight with a fresh cut on your face.

You are right and you are wrong.

There is a study, I will look for it, that shows boxing headgear limits head acceleration after impact by up to 50%. This is vital when preventing concussions and brain injury.

However there are also studies that show Amature boxers suffer from dementia pugilistica (punch drunk syndrome) as well though the percentages are hard to gauge.

HOWEVER, head gear also limits your vision so you will probably be hit more without it. Plus if you are doing MT or MMA it really gets in the way when clinching.

If they are swinging hard enough to KO you you should put your hat on.


EDIT: both studies are referenced here

 

[vu]

You are right and you are wrong.

There is a study, I will look for it, that shows boxing headgear limits head acceleration after impact by up to 50%. This is vital when preventing concussions and brain injury.

However there are also studies that show Amature boxers suffer from dementia pugilistica (punch drunk syndrome) as well though the percentages are hard to gauge.

HOWEVER, head gear also limits your vision so you will probably be hit more without it. Plus if you are doing MT or MMA it really gets in the way when clinching.

If they are swinging hard enough to KO you you should put your hat on.


EDIT: both studies are referenced here

Let's rephrase that..."If they are swinging hard enough to KO you, THEY ARE THE WORST TRAINING PARTNERS EVER"

 

[koreankid6413]

for the most part, headgear is used to protect against cuts, its not really going to stop a KO, it may stop lucky punches and glancing shots but if someone connects well enough to knock you out without headgear on it'll knock you out with headgear on