Should I do full-contact sparring?

[Silent Giant]

With head, hand a foot gear full contact sparring is alright. When I started doing kickboxing after I did Taekwondo, I went from using that bulky chest protector to jsut the bare essentials. Dont forget a cup. I found that it was easier to incorporate more techniques into my sparring sessions and get more out of it than before.

[Sean Dempsey]

One a mildly related note:

BJJ can be trained at near full speed without serious risk of injury. As long as you and your opponent agree to not totally crank on locks, you can go like 90% speed/intensity, day in day out. It's one of the few that you can really train how you'd actually fight, minus the bone/joint breaking.

[BadgerFu57]

BJJ you can grapple freely without injury. It will get you used to fighting.

As for sparring, I am sure you will be ok if you do it on a limited basis with black belts. The reason I say is with black belts is they will know how to help you improve, while a normal joe will just slug you.

Then again, if you just practice wicked attacks all the time on the heavy bag, they should come easier on the street.

[HeronSYL]

full contact sparring and traditional

You say you want to train in a traditional martial art and develop fighting? Try Chinese Kung Fu/ Wushu. It contains traditional and modern sparring called Sanshou which means free-fighting. Modern Sanshou uses protective gear and incorporates kicks, punches and throws.

[Uchiha_Anbu]

BJJ can be trained at near full speed without serious risk of injury. As long as you and your opponent agree to not totally crank on locks, you can go like 90% speed/intensity, day in day out. It's one of the few that you can really train how you'd actually fight, minus the bone/joint breaking

Do you train BJJ? I took in some San-Jitsu-Ryu for some years and most of the injurys occured rolling. Tendons ripping, joints cracking, dislocations... But brain damage comes from taking hits to the head.

[Sean Dempsey]

Do you train BJJ? I took in some San-Jitsu-Ryu

I do BJJ 5 hours a day, 4 days a week.

San-Jitsu-Ryo and BJJ are not the same thing.

Like I said, as long as you don't crank on joint locks, you're pretty safe. I am in a whole class that is evidence of that. We've got some great guys, super technical, but there's no need to slam on that armlock.

[decypheredbeats]

I love bjj
I couldnt train for 5 hours a day though, unless most of that is technique, and maybe an hour of rolling on and off.

I love that BJJ is full contact, its the main reason I took it, but finances dont allow it anymore so now its just boxing, wich I do full contact once a week with my roomate whose been doin it for years, then We roll for a bit.....

[T3rr0r_]

.

why shouldnt u do full contact all your aggresion into it and kick some ass :> safety? use your mind and body good thats more than enough

[Stigma]

Dempsey, you aren't related to the boxer by chance are ya? The Dempsey-roll is probably the only part of technical boxing i will ever consider an artform

As for protective gear, the most important thing is a good helmet. If you break a bone, or bust a rib, that will heal over time an be good as new, but your head is precious (and very fragile). To make matters worse, there is very little you can to do "condition" your head to hits like you can do with your torso arms or legs, so good protection there is a MUST, especially for martial arts wich include high kicks such as TKD, Karate and many others. A single such kick can very easily damamge you seriously, or even kill you, if your opponent gets an (un)lucky hit on you, and your not wearing protection.

As for other protective gear, you have to consider what you feel is nessecary. A chestplate will allow you to do a lot of heavy full-contact sparring, without the risk of getting anything more then a busted rib in the most extreme cases, but you will have a lot less mobility, and it won't feel the same as fighting without one. Generally, if you aren't going to be sparring all day, every day, i don't recommend it. if your style includes a lot of hard-blocks instead of evasions, then get some light forearm protectors and/or shin protectors so you wont be bruised for weeks after each sparring session.

Gloves is a nice thing, especially if you arent going to use a breastplate. If you don't use either, then expect a lot of broken ribs (but thats something you can live with). I don't recommend direct head-hits without some kind of gloves on. That _will_ cause both your first and your opponents face some serious injuries. If you want to be "hard-core", get some finger-gloves with very light knuckle-padding and some teeth-guards (wich you should use in any case, since there is no good reason not to). Atleast then you'l be beaten and bruised but actually able to chew your food later on...

Lastly, _get_a_cup_ ! Like the teeth-guards there is no good reason not to use one, and you'l thank me later in life

I've allways used cups, but i have a personal experience from a time when i forgot to bring it to sparring, and ignored the risk. I ended up pissing blood for 3 days after a my oponent lost control of one of his spinning kicks . Let me tell you, it HURTS, and theres no reason you need to ever experience that.

Stay safe.

[grubbogoppoly]

As for full contact sparring vs. the risk associated that is really up to you. But, I think that with appropriate gear it is a very valuable tool. Although I don't like to much gear. If you are training for real life situation then you don't want to take away the danger. If there is NO real danger then you take away the mental aspect of fighting. But, I also don't think you should go out there with no protection. Just my 2 cents

[Serrada]

1. Know your partner well or have a competent instructor in full contact boxing/kickboxing oversee the training.
2. I use Ringside Boxing Gear and have not seen any better.

Full contact is absolutely necessary, but will only aid in a street fight and must not be confused. The best thing it teaches is to respond after getting hit. Street fights have a lot more grabbing, charging, clinching and takedowns then just punching and kicks. One thing I teach my students is not to try to use the MA they have learned and only to use them to protect themselves, grab strike and takedown when the opportunity presents itself. Fight the fight. With enough training it will all come out naturally. A beginning student in MA, if they try to use what they have learned in class in a street fight will be to telegraphic and the result be devastating. Therefore, train full contact and try to employ your techniques in a friendly environment and understand like others have said there are many techniques you won’t be able to use. Full contact sparring is only one of many training tools.