does you gym use head protection in sparring?

[the tick]

what do you thank about my gear

Looks like it belongs to an Imperial stormtrooper.

[matbla]

what do you thank about my gear

[matbla]

thanks for the replys i like tio say headgear is great
and you know you have to work the next day

[the tick]

Nope. We never use headgear.

[matbla]

here is my gear from matt blake

[gabbah]

I wouldn't dream of sparring without my mouth piece. In fact, I don't do anything without it. Not even when I'm making out with my girl. Hmm maybe that's why she wants to leave me.

[EmptyneSs]

yeah wearing headgear will alow you to take harder shots and spar a little harder. in addition to protecting your head, it also plays an important role of protecting your eyes. taking gloved punches to your eyes repeatedly can be real bad sometimes, and can leave your vision permanently damaged, but the headgear at least provides some protection.

also make sure to wear your mouthpiece and cup. i think wearing a mouthpiece is more important than wearing the headgear, but together they give the most safety.

[gabbah]

We normally use 12oz gloves, nobody has thicker than that. Some sparr with 10oz gloves.

[Drag'n]

In Daidojuku we always use headgear when we spar. But we only wear thin bag gloves,or MMA gloves, so we still hold back a little with the power. The best thing is it allows us to throw elbows which is great for Muay Thai enthusiasts.
At the kickboxing gym I trained at we rarely used headgear. But we sparred with 16 ounce gloves and used enough control to prevent any serious injury.
Sometimes we'd wear head gear if we were preparing for a fight and wanted to spar extra hard.
I wouldnt recommend going too hard all the time though. It does lead to injuries and its just not good for your brain! Having the control to pull your punches while still sparring with good technique and speed is an important part of the learning process anyway.

[kwai chang pain]

Wearing headgear is no guarantee of safety, but I'd HIGHLY recommend wearing it for any striking art.

I had my hearing tested a few years ago and the doc said I had some mid-level hearing loss. He says it can't be proven, but there's strong evidence that blunt force head trauma could've caused it.

I've always been a big fan of watching boxing/kickboxing/etc., but I'm a little worried about the risks involved. Guess it all comes down to personal choice.
If you're willing to take the risks, more power to 'ya.

[gabbah]

Yeah, now that I use headgear I can sparr harder without running risk of that much damage, at least it feels alot better. Still get nosebleeds of course.
But we just had a guy from Germany in our gym, and he was surprised my gym didn't use headgear, and told me that in his home gym, you were pretty much considered an idiot if you didn't use it.
My gym should learn to wear head gear... :/
Not only because it's safer, but also because we can sparr harder to the head, which makes it more realistic and closer to real match conditions.

[dmcdonnell]

Unless you are a pro fighter, you should never NOT use headgear.. Pro fighters need to spar without headgear at some point in the training, just to get used to taking shots without it..

Dave

[pfighter]

why not?

While not as macho - do you want to end up like Mike? What are the reasons for not wearing it?

On a daily basis (non-competition) I find no reason you should spar, beyond light sparring, without headgear. You dont have to pull your punches as much, you are more protected from scapes, and despite what some headgear critics claim, it does reduce brain trauma.

[gabbah]

Seems there are more gyms using head gear than not... but still quite a few without it seems.
I hope more people would vote, so we can se what the trend is.

[matbla]

i got my proforce at awma.com
frommatt blake