sparring at school, safest weight gloves?

[briggfoot]

hello,
just found this forum, its great. i have learnt loads already, there is alot of tips and information on the site.
just thought i would get off on the right foot

ok, onto my first question.......

its coming up to christmas and i can only think of one thing i mught buy.
me and my mate from school are really into training and geoff thompson stuff, we want to start sparring and reality training at lunch times but we dont want to knock each other out.

which gloves are best to get? will it be like 14 or 16oz and are the different types of glove for practise and for in the ring?

basically, which gloves are safest
i think we will be doing mainly head shots
all the best
andy

[ryanhall]

hey bigfoot,
welcome. i train with sammy franco, which is fairly similar to what geoff thompson teaches. depending on your size, you could use either 14 or 16 ounces. they both protect well enough, so it depends what you are comfortable with. you're pretty fortunate to have a willing training partner.

we want to start sparring and reality training at lunch times but we dont want to knock each other out.

sounds good, but you might want to clear that with whoever's in charge or at least make sure you're never caught. schools don't take kindly to violence of any kind these days.

i think we will be doing mainly head shots

i know geoff and the other reality guys are very much in favor of headhunting in a fight, but it's just not a good idea to take shots to the head with any kind of frequency. i would advise against just trying your best to bash each other's faces in. nobody fights full contact/power all the time--it's not safe. just a little advice. good luck training.

ryan

[MrPoopy]

no matter how thick your gloves are, if you are throwing solid punches you can still knock someone out.

Get yourself into a proper club and only spar under supervision. And I concur wirth what was said about too many head shots. Geoff Thompson is one of the most knowledgeable people in the self defence field world-wide, but I think he over plays the full contact sparring.

Of course it will help in dealing with a real fight, but done too much you may as well not bother training, as you will get beaten to a pulp so often you might as well take your untrained chances on the street. You'll get less long term and short term injuries.

But anyway, if you spar unsupervised you will just be brawling, learning bad habits and ratling your brain about for nothing.

[briggfoot]

yeah, geoff thompson is a good guy, he lives in my city (coventry) and i have had the luck to meat him once or twice

we will pull our punches then, i dont like the idea of brain damage,
i suppose doing body shots will help us to develop better guards.
i am very keen to join a boxing club, my family seem dissapointed that i want to though. dont know why, it wont make me violent i dont think- just give me more self defence.
anyone know any good ways of winning them over?

all the best
andy